Stays
Original OwnerOriginally owned by
Abigail Arthur
(American, 1759 - 1820)
Clothing MakerMade by
Unknown
Dateabout 1805
MediumHand-stitched cotton, with baleen boning
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (center back length x width): 15 x 50 1/2in. (38.1 x 128.3cm)
ClassificationsCostume
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Katherine H. Annin
Object number1963.42.4
DescriptionBuff yellow cotton (possibly "nankeen") stays for a very large woman. The stays are short-waisted (seven inches at the side, under the arm), and finished around the bottom edge with tabs like eighteenth-century stays. The center back ends in a broad point. The stays close at center front with a spiral lacing. The stays are lightly boned across the back and sides; they are unboned in front, except on either side of the eyelets of the opening edges. Large, semicircular cups are set into the front for breast support. The cups have drawstrings along the top and bottom edges. The stays have 1 1/4-inch-wide shoulder straps, which are stitched beside the breast cups in front, and laced in the back. The stays are patched with matching fabric in areas along the bottom, especially at the notches of the tabs.
NotesHistorical Note: Abigail Arthur of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, married, on 11 September 1783, Ebenezer Hazard (1744-1817). Hazard was the son of a Philadelphia merchant and served as United States Postmaster-general from 1782-1789; the family resided in Philadelphia from 1782-1785, in New York City from 1786-1789; and in Philadelphia from 1789 until his death in 1817. This information suggests that the stays were likely worn in Philadelphia, and possibly in New Haven at the end of Abigail's life. Abigail died in New Haven on 6 July 1820, and may have been living there with her daughter, Elizabeth Breese Hazard Rockwood. (Schoelwer 3/10/05)Provenance Note: These stays were given to the CHS together with two dresses: one said to have been worn by Abigail Arthur Hazard (1963.42.1), and the other by her daughter, Elizabeth Breese Hazard Rockwood Vermilye (1963.42.2). According to the accession card for the latter, Elizabeth Breese Hazard Rockwood lived in New Haven, "where she ran some kind of boarding house after her first husband died [in 1814]."
Status
Not on view
