Shirt
Date1830-1844
MediumCotton
DimensionsChest: 49 inches
Length: 33 ¼ inches
Credit LineGift of The Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA
Object number2022-121
DescriptionFine pleated front man’s cotton shirt. The shirt is primarily cut from squares, rectangles and triangles and gathered to fit the body. The center front of the shirt has an inserted pleated front made with two very deep pleats to either side of the center front opening. A tape runs along the bottom of the pleated front section which allows the lower section of the shirt to be gathered into it. The interior of the shoulder is reinforced with the same fine cotton across the should to the point of the neck gusset. A narrow binder extends down from the larger reinforcement to cover the edges of the gusset. The sleeves are full and terminate in shaped ovoid cuffs, which close with sleeve buttons or cufflinks. The neck closes with two buttons.Label TextShirts throughout the 18th and 19th century are primarily cut using geometric shapes that are then gathered to fit around the body. Starting in the early 19th century, shirts begin to have pleated fronts, much like a modern tuxedo shirt. These pleats generally started very wide and deep and got finer and narrower as the century progressed. This shirt, worn by Job Stockton Halstead Jr. of Charleston, South Carolina, also shows fashionable rounded cuffs.
ProvenanceThis shirt was originally donated to the Valentine Museum before being transferred to Colonial Williamsburg by Mary Carmichael Turnbull (1894-1976). The shirt belonged to her grandmother’s brother, Job Stockton Halstead Jr. (1810-1844) who died in Charleston, South Carolina.
It is also possible that this shirt was worn by his father Job Stockton Halstead (1774-1844) who lived in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
