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…

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…

This anonymous painting depicts two children of the Payne family, of New Market plantation in Goochland County, Virginia, and their black nursemaid. This kind of arrangement was common among Virginia gentry families who could afford multiple house…

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…

This portrait is believed to depict John Parke and Martha Parke Custis, the surviving children of Martha Washington and her first husband, Daniel Parke Custis. Although George and Martha Washington were never able to have children of their own,…

Originally published in London in 1727, Eliza Smith’s The Compleat Housewife was published in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1742. It is considered to be the first cookbook published in America. In addition to recipes, the work also contains…