92 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 



old flags at the Annapolis Academy a short time ago ; that is to say, 

 by means of a peculiar net stitch which covers the entire surface of 

 the fabric and thus reduces to a minimum the strain on any one part 

 of the flag. The silk thread that is being used for this purpose is 

 dyed to match exactly the color it is worked over, and at a short 

 distance the net covering is scarcely apparent. 



It is also interesting to note the public installation in the north- 

 west court of the older building of the coin and medal collections, 

 aggregating over 6,000 examples which had previously been in stor- 

 age. The installation of the stamp collection, wdiich has been rap- 

 idly advanced, is also being made in the same court. 



The paper on the Washington relics preserved in the Museum, by 

 the assistant curator of the division, Mr. T. T. Belote, was completed, 

 but its publication is delayed by the necessity of incorporating refer- 

 ences to material lately acquired. Mr. Stanley Arthurs, who has 

 been commissioned by the General Assembly of Delaware to execute 

 for the senate chamber in Wilmington a mural painting showing the 

 Delaware troops leaving Dover during the War of the Revolution, 

 made a special study of the uniforms and costumes of that period in 

 order that his pictorial work might be based on authentic data. 



Period costumes. — Mrs. Julian James and Mrs. E. E. Hoes con- 

 tinued, with their customary zeal, their self-appointed task of secur- 

 ing materials for the period costume collection, and during most of 

 the year they were closely occupied in arranging the interesting fab- 

 rics and other articles which had been received. The results of their 

 labors, successful and most brilliant in effect, have already been de- 

 scribed, and there only remains to be accounted for in this connection 

 the many and valuable contributions of the year. 



Of costumes of ladies of the White House, forming the central and 

 most prominent feature of the exhibition and including some acces- 

 sories, six were received. One was a gift, the others being loans. In 

 the order of presidential administrations these contributions were as 

 follows : A dress, kid slippers, a fan and pearl beads, worn by Mrs. 

 John Adams, received from Miss Susan E. Osgood, of Salem, Mass. 

 A Watteau dress, in two pieces, of pale blue silk embroidered with 

 straw, worn by Mrs. Maria Hester Monroe Gouverneur, youngest 

 daughter of President Monroe, received from Miss Maud C. Gouver- 

 neur. An old gold satin bodice, with blonde lace overdress and 

 flounce, worn by Mrs. Andrew Jackson Donelson, niece of Mrs. Jack- 

 son, and mistress of the White House during President Jackson's ad- 

 ministration, together with a tortoise-shell comb and silver filigree 

 carclcase of Mrs. Jackson, and an invitation to the Jackson ball, 

 Nashville, 1828, addressed to Mrs. Donelson, received from Miss 

 Mary E. Wilcox, of Chevy Chase, Md., granddaughter of Mrs. 

 Donelson. A blue velvet dress, lace fichu, lace and embroidered 



