thomas hammond was married to george washington's niece, a woman named mildred washington hammond, andgot this coat, and he bought a number of things at the estate sales that took place after martha washington's death. but rather than remake this piece into a coat for himself, to expand it, to do anything different to it, he decided to preserve it and keep it as a relic. the piece came down 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 rarely ever actually been on view, because it is such a delicate piece, but it was recently on view at the metropolitan museum of art and will be back on view here at mount 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 galleries. there's a lot going on at mount 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 3rd. s

thomas. magnum. >> marion hammond. >> the private investigator. >> oh, you're probably wondering about the goat. um, just let me drop off. >> my friend, and then we'll talk. >> when we entered the 80s, a lot of one hour dramas that were light hearted, like magnum, p.i., were very popular. >> after mash went off the air. the next season, there wasn't a single sitcom in the top ten. first time that had ever happened in tv history. >> the prevailing feeling was that the sitcom was dead. >> brandon tartikoff, nbc programing chief, says reports of the sitcoms death were greatly exaggerated. >> time and time again, if you study television history, just when someone is counting a form out, that is exactly the form of programing that leads to the next big hit. >> so 1984, the cosby show comes on. now, bill cosby is not new to tv. he's had other tv shows, but the cosby show is very different. it stands apart from everything else he's done. >> mom, i wanted my eggs scrambled. >> coming right. >> up. >> we talked about. >> parenting previous to that on television. the kids were cool and the parents were i