First Ladies Hall pamphlet, 1968. (Note that Mrs. Johnson's gown, far left, is the most recent dress on display.) |
I’m sure that she offered a
snack but the real treat lay spread out on a large table: intricate drawings of
the First Ladies’ gowns, which were then displayed on mannequins in vast glass
cases in the Smithsonian Institution, along with the muslin patterns she was
creating.
Going back to a 3rd grade
homework assignment, First Ladies completely, utterly fascinated me. But
during the 1960s, just a few anthologies contained brief sanitized
biographies of the women. Bottom line: if you were interested, it was largely
about the gowns.
Mrs. Sally Taft had been
commissioned by the collection’s curator to preserve the designs and details of
the dresses that were starting to fall apart after years of being exhibited
under bright hot lights. A very fine seamstress, she had worked in couture at
some of New York’s best department stores. Her correspondence with the curator,
which resides in the Smithsonian’s archives, suggests that she came to the project
through a mutual acquaintance at Julius Garfinckel’s, an exclusive women’s clothing
store in Washington, D.C.
One of my mother’s friends
had arranged the visits with Mrs. Taft. Thrilling! Every few months during my
last years of elementary school, instead of walking home from school I went
over to her house. I knew a great deal about the First Ladies and she knew everything about the dresses. We found lots to talk about.
The ladies who followed
Eleanor Roosevelt into the modern era, along with Martha Washington, Abigail
Adams, and Dolly Madison, held little interest for me. They were far too
popularized. But the mournful mid-19th century women whose husbands were military
heroes (of a sort), who never wanted to come to Washington, rarely saw
visitors, holed up on the dark second floor of the White House – very intriguing. Perhaps unbalanced, too, although I
didn’t quite know the word.
One of my clearest memories
is of Mrs. Taft describing how the gowns exuded the ancient odor of
perspiration.
So many years later, the Smithsonian’s
exhibition smartly focuses on role and image with minimal whitewash. Some gowns
and memorabilia are also displayed. The staff includes experts in chemistry and
textiles as well as historians.
Sally Taft’s muslin patterns
are history, too. It’s hard to argue with technology. What I love most about
this story, though, is that in 1966 the Smithsonian curator didn’t think the
job called for an academic. She was just looking for the best dressmaker she could
find.
*Mrs. Sally Taft was not related to President Taft.
https://www.throughthehourglass.com/2015/11/first-lady-afternoons.html
I had to look it up to find out there was no connection to President Taft! (You might want to make that clear.)
ReplyDeleteBut I love the idea of you visiting her in third grade. She must have been thrilled!