EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM^ 1914. 27 



presenting the earliest of the wives of Presidents, also the one most 

 readily identified, probably because of our long acquaintance with 

 the portraiture of this first lady of the Republic, which has been 

 successfully reproduced. 



Mrs. John Adams, the wife of the second President, is shown in a 

 dress of puritanical simplicity, made of plum-colored Chinese crepe 

 embroidered with silk, and having a straight full skirt and long 

 puffed sleeves. A lace shawl, a fan, a pearl necklace, and yellow 

 kid slippers complete the costume. The wife of James Madison, 

 best known as Mrs. Dolly Madison, is very effectively presented in 

 the dress used by Mr. E. F. Andrews for the portrait well known to 

 Washingtonians. The costume belongs to the early Empire period. 

 The short-waisted basque and the overskirt, which ends in a flowing 

 train, are of light yellow satin brocaded with many bunches of silver 

 wheat. The overskirt, edged with Valenciennes lace, is draped over 

 a white satin underskirt embroidered in pink roses, blue morning- 

 glories, and white cherry blossoms. The sleeves, of gauze, are short, 

 and a large lace fichu is thrown over the shoulders. In the right 

 hand is the traditional book, wdiich in this instance consists of a copy 

 of Paradise Lost, published in 1812. 



Search for a dress of Mrs. James Monroe having proved fruitless, 

 a gown of the period imported from France in 1824 for the first 

 bride of the "VVliite House, Maria Hester Monroe, the youngest 

 daughter of the President, has been substituted. This dress, fash- 

 ioned in Empire stjde, is of pale blue silk, is made with the Watteau 

 pleated back, and the basque, which laces in front, has a decidedly 

 long-waisted effect. The sleeves, which are short, are of blue tulle 

 and blue and yellow ribbon knots. The skirt is in two wide flounces 

 and, together with the waist, is embroidered and scalloped with 

 straw in a conventionalized bearded-grain pattern. But 16 years 

 of age when married to Samuel Laurence Gouverneur, the bride 

 holds in one hand a lace handkerchief and silver vinaigrette. She is 

 standing by the side of a chair and table, brought from France in 

 1796 by James Monroe, on the latter of which is an old-fashioned 

 mirror made from a fragment of larger glass, a relic of the burning 

 of the White House in 1814, a superb ivory and silver fan, a silver 

 pitcher and creamer, and a small cup decorated with an eagle 

 surrounded by 13 stars, which is supposed to be the only piece of 

 Monroe china now in existence. 



Lacking material for the administration of John Quincy Adams, 

 the three which succeeded his are represented as follows: Andrew 

 Jackson by Mrs. Jackson's niece, Mrs. Andrew Jackson Donelson, 

 who presided over the Wliite House during his term of office, and 

 whose costume consists of a bodice of old gold flowered brocade and 



