This brown silk satin gown is the only gown from Martha Washington's wardrobe to survive intact. The gown is constructed of narrow brown satin-weave silk, likely of English manufacture, and dates from the…

Dear…

Dear sister                                    June 1st 1760 (Mount Vernon)…

Invoice of Sundry Goods to be Shipped by Robert Cary Esqr. & Company
for the Use of George Washington

A Light Summer suit made of Duroy or by the inclosed measure
4 peices best India Nankeen
2 best beaver Hats plain each to cost a Guinea
1 ps…

Drinking tea was an important domestic ritual in early America. Wealthy women displayed their social status by using expensive porcelain plates and cups and a sterling silver tea service. Made around 1755, these tongs are engraved with the family…

5/21/1798: "I then went up to Mrs. Washington. She is the same age as the G[enera]l…, small, with lively eyes, a gay air and extremely kind. She had on a gown, with an even hem, of stiff white cotton, fitting very tightly, or rather attached…

“[November 30, 1780, Philadelphia]…I found there Mrs. Washington, who had just arrived from Virginia, and was on her way to join her husband, as she does at the end of every campaign. She is about forty or forty-five, rather plump, but fresh and…

Diary kept by attorney Thomas Boylston Adams, son of John Adams, 26 Dec. 1798- 31 Aug. 1799 (with gaps), during a return voyage to the United States from Europe, at home in Quincy and Boston, Mass., and Philadelphia; and on a trip to Baltimore and…

July 1797: “[July 1797]…Upon my return to the house [Mount Vernon], I found Mrs. Washington and her granddaughter, Miss Custis, in the hall. I introduced myself to Mrs. Washington as a friend of her nephew, and she immediately entered into…

From Olney Winsor to Mrs. Olney Winsor: “…we…arrived at Mount Vernon about one—where we were received by the General & his family with great freedom and politeness, at the same time without any ceremonious parade….Mrs. Washington is an…