the may he protect each and every one of. may guide me in the days to.

i'm i'm adam irby. i'm the martha washington chief curator here at george washington's mount vernon. and i'm going to be sharing you george washington's inaugural coat that's made of wool for that from the hartford woolen manufacturer. this is the coat that george washington was wearing when he was sworn in as the nation's

first president on april 30th, 1789. it is an incredible object that has a number of really stories about it. the piece itself is made of wool broad cloth, which would have been a the the cloth that most coats made out of in the 18th century for for wearing outside washington was sworn in at federal hall on that day in 1789. and it was it was an outside event. so he was on the piazza there or there, the loggia. that's right in front there was right in front of that building. this piece has an incredible history. it represents really wanting to support american manufacturing. it is made of wool from the

hartford manufactory in hartford. and the story behind this piece is really significant because before during the american before the american revolution in the history of in the colonies was that colonists were expected send raw goods over to england that would be sent back as refined wares. so great britain really ran the manufacture of cloth of ceramics of all sorts of many factory goods and it wasn't until after the american revolution that these manufactories in the united states were able to get up and going this broad cloth is made from this woolen suit from the hartford wool in manufacturing. the cloth was made there. connecticut, washington saw an advertisement in the newspaper

for fabric made from this company. now really important about this fabric is it? it is not as refined is what you could buy from london at the time. it has a lower thread count. it is not quite as refined as what you're seeing coming out of england at the time, but it was the best that americans could do at that point as they were developing their manufacturing. so washington sees this advertisement in the newspaper when he sees that advertisement, he writes to a friend and asks him to procure cloth from the hartford woolen manufacturer for him to wear when he is sworn in as president. united states. this cloth is sent back here to mount vernon, not too terribly long before the inauguration and when gets the fabric there is a tailor that's indentured here, an irishman named calvin bowa who makes this piece into into a

tailored coat, george washington. there was also a waste kit or a coat that underneath and a pair of breeches or pants that go to the knees that went along with this. and so when washington was sworn in he wore this piece and everybody knew it the time. it was covered in all the newspapers that here washington was supporting the establishment of manufacturing in america. washington does that over and over, whether it's with textiles, whether it's with glass. all these manufacturers, he really is encouraging that work here in the united states. he wears this piece. but in the 18th century, you did didn't just wear an outfit. once he would worn this all throughout the president. see, it is a form style. it has it is single breasted is not intended to be buttoned. but there were buttons on it that are no longer here and can

sort of see where the shading where the buttons were. those had engraved on the great seal of the united states. so washington wore this suit all during the presidencies, didn't see, he had at least another two suits made from this same wool, which really about the style of this piece is that washington chose to wear what would have been a fairly ordinary business. this is what businessmen would have worn merchants, people in the merchant classes would have worn in that period in the united states. he doesn't show up to his inauguration in robes with with of orders. and these things he shows up a businessman suit. so he projecting what he wants the presidency to look like. he is a man of the people. he that to be seen. and there's a parallel between that and sort of abraham lincoln, all these men wearing

brooks brothers into the 20th century and looking and being the ordinary man wearing the business suit. so that's what washington is doing here. there is a portrait at the metropolitan museum, art of a man named elijah boardman, who was a merchant, connecticut, and he is depicted by ralph earle, artist wearing a coat very similar to this almost. exactly the same in cut in is the best depiction that we have of american man in the 18th century wearing a very similar coat to this. what's really important about that portrait is it shows boardman in an interior the interior of his shop. you see his account books behind him as well as all the textiles and goods that he was selling at his shop. and what that shows us is this was an ordinary business man's suit, someone of a sort of an elevated status, but a businessman, a merchant.

and that's what george washington was to show himself as when was sworn in as president of, the united states. this suit goes on. washington has it at his death. and it's divided. these these clothing items are divided up between family members. in 1802 after martha washington death. and what's really remarkable about this is that the family members preserve it as it was in the 19th century was really popular, cut up textiles and to divide them up and give them away as gifts. and you can see a little bit of has actually been done. you see, there's a little cut out there, but this piece was seen as such precious relic that the family preserved it and it's here us today. it's been conserved and said it was most recently on at the metropolitan museum art for their exhibit on fashion and

it's it's a really object that rarely goes out on view. it is it every all textiles are light sensitive and you can see that with this particular piece it's faded to this more brown color but it was a beautiful reddish color that you see there which is an ordinary color for these business suits that you would have seen. and there's a little bit of moth wear on it. would you expect a piece of wool from the 18th century? but it was really kept in a trunk and kept preserved as well as possible. so in the past of years, we done a tremendous amount of research led by it, spurred by my colleague amanda isaac and her colleague catherine, bright brown. they've done a tremendous amount of research to pattern this and to reconstruct a garment based on this. and it's a really interesting aspect of research that you can

learn a lot about something by taking detailed measurements and looking closely at it and what they were to do. there was always a question about whether this was the inaugural coat or not. and they were actually able to confirm that was because buttons were put on there. there's a story at the end of when washington acquired, had the suit made. he has only a number of buttons and he needs a few more buttons. and they were able to see that the abut that several of the were applied later the ones on the sleeves were applied later because they don't go all the way through the various. the tie in doesn't go all the way through the various layers of fabric. so when came on boa, when he did his work, he only got certain number on. and then when it went to new york, that's when it got the rest of its buttons tied in

there because they were working so quickly to get ready for the inauguration. so this suit comes down in a branch of washington's family. it built it in 1802 when after martha washington's death, all clothing was divided up amongst family members and died. and then there were also sales of the various object in the house to to family members, but also to some of the general public. but the clothing was divided between the family members. this was this coat acquired by obama named thomas hammond. tom hammond was married to george washington's niece, a woman named mildred. hammond and he got this coat and he bought a number of things at the estate sales that took place after martha washington's death,

but rather remake this piece into a coat for himself to, expand it to do anything different, to he decided to preserve it and keep it as a relic. the piece came down through his directly through his family until 1930 when the family donated it back to the mount vernon ladies association. and we have preserved it ever since. it's really ever actually been on because it is a delicate piece. but it was recently on view the metropolitan museum of art and will be back on view here at mt. vernon. we're really excited to have this piece on view. really for the first time in a very long time, it'll be on view in our gilder lehrman. there's a lot going on at mt. vernon right now, a lot of construction, but we're still open and there's a lot to see. this piece will be on view for a very brief period of time

between january 17th and february third. so please come out and see it. it's going to go after it, after its own view. it's going to go into its cabinet and it'll hopefully come out for the next inaugural. but this is a really rare opportune city to see. one of mt. vernon's most important objects and one of the most important objects connected to the history of the founding of the country. on display. so again, those dates are january 17th through february three third. and we hope to see you here at mt. vernon.