Shirt
Date1820-1844
MediumLinen
DimensionsChest: 51 inches
Center front: 34 inches
Center back: 34 inches
Credit LineGift of The Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA
Object number2022-128
DescriptionWhite linen ruffled shirt cut from squares, rectangles, and triangles. The shirt has a tall collar with two buttons and buttonholes at the throat. A very fine cotton ruffle extends down the center front of each side of the bosom slit. The shoulders of the shirt are reinforced over to the tip of the triangular neck gussets. Each sleeve terminates in a wide cuff, trimmed in a narrow ruffle. The lower body right is marked in ink to the owner “J. S. Halstead.”Label TextShirts throughout the 18th and 19th century are primarily cut using geometric shapes that are then gathered to fit around the body. This shirt is interesting that it retains some older styling to it, with the ruffle down the center front and at the cuffs. Perhaps the wearer liked the older fashions and continued to wear them.
InscribedMarked in ink on the lower body right on the shirt, "J. S. Halstead"
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, Sr. (1774-1844) who lived in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
