Body of the Late President Harding leaving the White House
Date: August 8, 1923 Creator: Keystone View Company Medium: Stereograph
This animation is derived from a stereographic photography card. The card contains two versions of the same scene from slightly different angles. When viewed through a stereoscope, the images come together to create the illusion of depth. It depicts President Harding's casket leaving the White House on August 8, 1923. Male mourning dress etiquette had almost completely disappeared by the early twentieth century, and a simple black armband such as those worn by the military officers in white was deemed sufficient. However, men’s mourning codes were always more relaxed than women's. For example, the amount of time a husband had to observe mourning for a wife was three months, rather than the twelve to eighteen months of mourning expected of a widow.
White House Historical Association
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President Harding's Body Lying in State, East Room, Side A
Date: August 8, 1923 Creator: Keystone View Company Medium: Stereograph
The simplification of the State Funeral continued with President Harding. This stereograph reveals that the East Room chandeliers and windows were not draped with black fabric. Floral gifts were kept to a minimum, with only arrangements from President Calvin Coolidge and First Lady Grace Coolidge, the Supreme Court, Congress, and from the heads of foreign and state governments allowed.
White House Historical Association
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Crowd Observing Warren G. Harding’s Funeral Train
Date: August 1923 Creator: Unknown Medium: Photograph
This photograph shows President Harding’s funeral train with understated mourning drapery—only a few black and white lengths of fabric adorned the engine.
General Photograph Collection of the Akron-Summit County Public Library
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Florence Harding Wearing a Mourning Dress and Veil
Date: August 7-8, 1923 Creator: Unknown Medium: Photograph
Florence Harding wore a long veil of mourning crape over her face during President Harding’s funeral. Her dress also featured wide bands of the same material.
Everett Collection Historical/Alamy Stock Photo
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“Fashion: Correct and Becoming Mourning”
Date: March 15, 1921 Creator: Adolph de Meyer
A 1921 photograph in Vogue shows a widow wearing an ensemble similar to that worn by Florence Harding at her husband’s funeral. The caption reads: “During the first few months of deep mourning, the young widow may wear a small round hat of black crape swathed in the folds of a long crape veil. The distinctive severity of the black crape frock with a pleated apron of Georgette crêpe is unrelieved by trimming.”
Black veil and black purse of former First Lady Florence Harding during the mourning period of her husband, President Warren G. Harding. They were gifted to longtime White House housemaid and seamstress Maggie Rogers during the Harding-Coolidge transition period. The purse is made of a black brocade-style fabric and brass-tone clasps. The delicate black lace veil features a scalloped edge with a floral design and is decorated with black sequins indicating that rules forbidding any shining material on mourning garments were loosening by the 1920s. This lightweight veil can be contrasted with the more traditional one Mrs. Harding wore for the State Funeral.
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