Category: Identity National

Bicentennial Dress, 1976

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154 photograph

154 graphic - pattern envelope

Bicentennial Dress, 1976

Countless American communities put on historic pageants and parades at which “colonial” costumes were worn. Though hardly strictly accurate, they evoked “1776.” This one was worn at events in Sumter, South Carolina by Mackenzie Anderson Sholtz. The dress inspired Mackenzie to study historic dress and eventually to form a historic pattern company.

Cotton dress from Butterick Pattern, 1976. Photo of Mackenzie Anderson in her bicentennial dress, 1976. Butterick Pattern #4261. Loan and images courtesy of Mackenzie Anderson Sholtz.

Flag print shirtwaist, 1900-05

Flag print shirtwaist, 1900-05

Today we buy T-shirts in red, white, and blue and with stars and stripes for a patriotic event; in 1900, a woman might whip up a blouse such as this one. It was presumably worn in a Fourth of July parade or pageant or other patriotic occasion, perhaps even for the United States Sesquicentennial (125th anniversary) in 1901. The fabric is rather coarse and may not have been intended for clothing, but it is probably not bunting, which tends to be a much looser weave. The construction is basic and suggests it was made with speed rather than care, but such a garment would not need to withstand frequent wearing and washing. Nevertheless, the bodice has been carefully cut to display the design symmetrically and pleasingly.

Lent by Shippensburg University Fashion Archives & Museum.

Child’s Centennial Dress, 1876

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152 detail

Child’s Centennial Dress, 1876

Printed cottons celebrating our Centennial poured out of American textile factories. This dress’s print says “TO PHILADELPHIA,” suggesting its owner was one of the nearly nine million Americans—almost one fifth of all United States residents in the 1880 census—who attended the Centennial Exposition there.

Cotton. DAR Museum 2023.5

Eagle, 1860-1880

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151 reverse

Eagle, 1860-1880

The spread eagle has been a popular motif for patriotic statements in the arts since the early nineteenth century, made here from a commercial pattern. It may have been made around 1876 to celebrate the Centennial.

Wool on canvas. Gift of Leo Rocca 2011.17.2

Emblem of America, 1810

Emblem of America, 1810

Early Patriotic imagery featured allegorical female figures of America and Liberty, with flags and eagles in supporting roles. The “Liberty Pole” and red “Liberty Cap” were icons adopted from the Roman republic, on which (along with Greek democracy) we had modeled our own government.

Made by Eliza Camp, age 15, Middlesex County, Connecticut. Silk thread; watercolor and gold paint on silk satin; metal spangles. Gift of Marguerite Durkee 82.44