It’s a common modern misconception that people living in 18thc America wore only rough homespun and drab colors. Nothing could be farther from the fashionable truth. In the global economy of the Georgian era, nearly everything that was available in a shop in London or Paris was also be found in New York, Boston, or Philadelphia. Even a sailor or maidservant could splurge on a bright printed scarf or length of ribbon to brighten his or her appearance. The amount of display rose dramatically with an individual’s wealth, with the most wealthy classes wearing richly colored silks and velvets, enhanced with lace, sequins, and polychromed embroidery.
At the very height of fashion - and cost - would have been this gold lace, now in the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Some time during the mid-18thc, this length (unfolded, it measures 283 cm x 5 cm) of gold wire bobbin lace was made in Europe. Whether bought by an individual there or imported to the American colonies to be sold in a shop here, the lace was purchased and carefully wrapped in blue paper (which has a French watermark) with the price written in iron gall ink. For whatever reason, the lace was never used, but instead put away in its original paper wrapping.
Metallic lace was a costly and luxurious trim, designed to sparkle and shine in 18thc candlelit rooms. It could be used to adorn a woman's gown or a man's waistcoat, or even the cap of a special baby. (I immediately thought of the similar gold bobbin lace that was incorporated in this mat embroidered c1780 by Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton.) It’s also found on shoes, stomachers, and even stays (corsets.) Metallic lace was usually a blend of gold and silver or other metals, and over time and wear often tarnished and lost its shine.
But this particular length of lace remains as bright as new, the intricate woven gold glowing against the blue paper. When the lace was given to the MHS, it was accompanied by a handwritten note from Susan Holmes Upham (1804-1877): "Gold lace given me with other old-fashioned things by my mother." It must indeed have been an old-fashioned curiosity by the mid-19thc. Today it's a sparkling link through the centuries to the shop of the now-forgotten milliner or mantua-maker who made the sale, tallied the price, and wrapped the lace, and the (I hope!) satisfied customer who carried the new purchase home.
Some of you may have been fortunate to see this lace in person last year when it was on display in the MHS exhibition Fashioning the New England Family. It will also be featured in the upcoming book by the same name devoted to the exhibition, to be published by the University of Virginia Press in April, 2020. Included in this book are clothing and accessories from the MHS collections, many that have never before or only rarely been seen by the public. There's so much here: Thomas Hancock's walking stick crowned by a clenched ivory fist; Governor John Leverett's 17thc buff coat worn to fight under Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War; Rachael Hartwell's light-as-air 1890s wedding dress, with the history of the wearers woven into each piece. The authors of the book are historian Kimberly S. Alexander, who curated the exhibition and teaches museum studies and material culture at the University of New Hampshire, and Anne E. Bentley, Curator of Art at MHS. Fashioning the New England Family can be ordered here. Many thanks to them both for showing the lace to me, and for their assistance with this post.
Above: Gold Lace, 18th century Europe, Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Read more about Alexander and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton in my historical novel I, Eliza Hamilton; order here. My latest historical novel, The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr, is now available everywhere. Order here.