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Black Cloth: Works Cited

This exhibit explores the power of black cloth as part of public and private displays of bereavement at the White House. Between 1841 and 1963, eight American presidents died while in office. By examining the fabrics used to decorate the White House for their funerals, as well as the mourning fashions of their spouses, one can track displays of grief through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and observe the mourning traditions that were either preserved or discarded to meet the needs of a growing, modernizing nation.

Works Cited

  • Adams, John Quincy. “John Quincy Adams Diary 4,” April 4-7,1841. Massachusetts Historical Society.
  • Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. Ida McKinley: The Turn-of-the-Century First Lady through War, Assassination, and Secret Disability. Kent: The Kent State University Press, 2013.
  • Beasley, Maurine H. “Early First Ladies and the Public Sphere.” In First Ladies and the Press: The Unfinished Partnership of the Media Age, 27-60. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2005.
  • Bierley, Paul E. The Works of John Philip Sousa. Westerville: Integrity Press, 1984.
  • British Pathé. “Scenes at Warren G. Harding’s Burial (1923).”
  • Brooks, Noah. Washington, D.C., in Lincoln’s Time. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971.
  • Butler, Betsy. “Trimmed and Ornamented: First Lady Ida McKinley’s Dresses and Gowns.” Piecework, August 2013.
  • Calderone, Leslie. “Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison.” White House Historical Association Digital Library, December 12, 2016.
  • Cassini, Oleg. A Thousand Days of Magic: Dressing Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House. New York: Rizzoli International, 1995.
  • Chadakoff, Rochelle, ed. Eleanor Roosevelt’s My Day : Her Acclaimed Columns, 1936-1945. New York: Pharos Books, 1989.
  • "Chapter 211, 52 Congress, Session 2, An Act: Making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, and for other purposes." U.S. Statutes at Large 27, no. Main Section (1893).
  • Costello, Matthew. “'First in War, First in Peace,' and First in Death: A History of Presidential Mourning.” White House History Quarterly 47 (July 22, 2021).
  • The Delineator. “Mourning Styles and Customs.” January 1901.
  • Faulkner, Claire A. “A Presidential Funeral.” White House History Quarterly 19 (2006).
  • Fling, Sarah. “George DeBaptiste: Abolitionist and White House Valet.” White House Historical Association, February 3, 2022.
  • George Washington University. “My Day Index.” Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, April 18, 1945.
  • Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine. “Chitchat Upon New York and Philadelphia Fashions For February.” February 1857.
  • Good, Cassandra. “Comb Through This Framed Collection of Presidential Hair.” Smithsonian Magazine, February 19, 2016.
  • Grimmett, Richard F. “Medical Mystery: President William Henry Harrison Succumbs to a Fatal Illness in the White House.” White House History Quarterly 47 (July 22, 2021).
  • Halttunen, Karen. Confidence Men and Painted Women. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
  • Harper’s Bazaar. “Mourning Fashions.” October 1905.
  • Harper’s Weekly. “The Funeral of President McKinley.” September 28, 1901.
  • Holloway, Laura C. The Ladies of the White House. Philadelphia: Bradley & Company, 1881.
  • Jalland, Pat."Death, Grief, and Mourning in the Upper-Class Family, 1860-1914." In Death, Ritual, and Bereavement, edited by Ralph A. Houlbrooke, 171-187. London: Routledge, 1989.
  • James A. Garfield National Historic Site. “DID YOU KNOW?” Facebook. October 7, 2020.
  • John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. “November 22, 1963: Death of the President.”
  • Kapsch, Joan. “‘The Most Impressive Funeral Ever Witnessed’: The Funeral of President Garfield.” James A. Garfield National Historic Site, September 2012.
  • Keckley, Elizabeth. Behind the Scenes or Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. New York: G. W. Carlton & Co., Publishers, 1868.
  • Klara, Robert. “'Run Slow, Run Silent': The Nation Mourns as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Funeral Train Passes.” White House History Quarterly 47 (July 22, 2021).
  • Krainik, Clifford. "Society Calls on Widow Mary Todd Lincoln: A Collection Recalls a Tradition." White House History Quarterly 47 (July 22, 2021).
  • Kratz, Jessie. “The Death of a President.” National Archives. Pieces of History (blog), April 10, 2020.
  • Lane, Alexandra. “Marine Band in Procession During William Henry Harrison's Funeral.” White House Historical Association Digital Library.
  • Lindsey, Rachel McBride. A Communion of Shadows: Religion and Photography in Nineteenth-Century America. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2017.
  • McLaurin, Stewart. Interview with Matthew Costello, Amity Shlaes, and Kevin Eckstrom. “Death in the White House,” The White House 1600 Sessions. Podcast audio. January 25, 2018.
  • Miller, Candace. The Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President. New York: Doubleday, 2011.
  • Murphy, Sarah. “How First Families Have Memorialized and Mourned.” National Museum of American History, October 13, 2017.
  • National First Ladies’ Library. “First Lady Biography: Anna Harrison.”
  • National First Ladies’ Library. “First Lady Biography: Lucretia Garfield.“
  • National First Ladies’ Library. “First Lady Biography: Margaret Taylor.”
  • The New York Times. “Crowds to the End See Funeral Train.” August 10, 1923.
  • Pitch, Anthony S. “The White House and Lincoln’s Assassination.” White House Historical Association, 2009.
  • RR Auction. “Florence Harding Personally-Owned and -Used Mourning Veil and Purse.” February 17, 2022.
  • Sibley, Katherine A. S. “Florence Kling Harding: Celebrity and Activist.” In A Companion to First Ladies, edited by Sibley, Katherine A. S. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2016.
  • Spoto, Donald. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: A Life. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.
  • Taylor, Lou. Mourning Dress: A Costume and Social History. London: G. Allen and Unwin, 1983.
  • The Washington Post. “All City To Pause To Do Reverence To Man It Loved.” August 7, 1923.
  • Webster, Ian. “Value of $928.25 from 1841 to 2024.” CPI Inflation Calculator.
  • The Weekly Union. “The Scene Before Us.” July 13, 1850.
  • Weinkamer, Debbie. “Lucretia R. Garfield: A Remarkable Life Part 2.” James A. Garfield National Historic Site, February 2021.
  • The White House. “Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor."
  • White House Historical Association. “Franklin D. Roosevelt.”
  • White House Historical Association. “Warren G. Harding.”
  • White House Historical Association. “William Henry Harrison Funeral.”
  • White House Historical Association. “Zachary Taylor Funeral.”
  • White House Historical Association Digital Library. “Margaret Taylor.”
  • Woolman Chase, Edna. “Fashion: Correct and Becoming Mourning.” Vogue, March 15, 1921.
  • Woolman Chase, Edna. “Fashion: Modes in Mourning.” Vogue, October 1, 1923.
  • Zachary, Cassidy and April Calahan. Interview with Courtney Lane. “Jewelry of Sentiment pt. 1: The Art of Hair Work,” Dressed: The History of Fashion. Podcast audio. May 29, 2018.
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