breeches
date: label: Date made
content: 1750-1799
label: date made
content: 1750-1770
notes: label: Description
content: Narrow-wale brown striped cotton corduroy breeches with moderate-width fall front; cut with moderate fork; fall was widened by adding flared, pointed vertical strips to the left and right edges; two-button center-front closing, with the lowest button doubling as the center button of a three-button fall; flat brass(?) shanked buttons at the center-front , fall, and knee openings; inset square, coarse linen pocket at right front is set into the waistband seam, behind the fall; two pairs of unworked eyelets laced with plied brown cord flank a large V-shaped notch at center back of the waistband; breeches were altered by extending the waistband with additions of brown mid-wale corduroy beyond the original unworked eyelet holes, with the seat let out to accommodate the new girth; waistband, fall, and knee openings are lined with striped linen (undyed weft; warp of narrow green and brown stripes); four buttons at each knee; each knee is finished with a self-faced knee band, plus a pair of tabs, the shorter of which has a buttonhole; the upper and front waistband, fall extensions, knee openings, and knee bands are edge-stitched.
label: Description
content: Narrow-wale brown striped cotton corduroy breeches with moderate-width fall front; cut with moderate fork; fall was widened by adding flared, pointed vertical strips to the left and right edges; two-button center-front closing, with the lowest button doubling as the center button of a three-button fall; flat brass(?) shanked buttons at the center-front , fall, and knee openings; inset square, coarse linen pocket at right front is set into the waistband seam, behind the fall; two pairs of unworked eyelets laced with plied brown cord flank a large V-shaped notch at center back of the waistband; breeches were altered by extending the waistband with additions of brown mid-wale corduroy beyond the original unworked eyelet holes, with the seat let out to accommodate the new girth; waistband, fall, and knee openings are lined with striped linen (undyed weft; warp of narrow green and brown stripes); four buttons at each knee; each knee is finished with a self-faced knee band, plus a pair of tabs, the shorter of which has a buttonhole; the upper and front waistband, fall extensions, knee openings, and knee bands are edge-stitched.
label: Description
content: These breeches were owned by Thomas Brookes, who lived during the years 1748-1831. According to a biography written by his daughter, Thomas entered the family as the youngest of ten brothers. His parents would both pass away when he was a boy, leaving him in the care of a man he considered cruel. He ran away to stay with his sister in South Carolina, and eventually married his wife, Susannah Teague, there in 1775.
label: Description
content: During the course of the Revolution, the Brookes' house was robbed by a band of men pretending to be soldiers. Events like this continued until eventually, Thomas moved the family closer to his brother Jesse, near Red River in Kentucky. The family took with them their eight children, and had two more while living in Kentucky. One daughter, Mary, did not make it into adulthood. Thomas would eventually buy 400 acres of land in Kentucky, and build a two-room log cabin on his property that he would live in until his death.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Costume
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mrs. P. L. Bealy Smith
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CS.291144.001
label: catalog number
content: 291144.001
label: accession number
content: 291144
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Breeches
label: Other Terms
content: Breeches; Lower Body; Main Dress; Male
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: waist--without cb notch: 89 cm; x 35 1/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall length, at side: 71 cm; 27 15/16 in
label: Measurements
content: fall width--straight, top edge: 32 cm; x 12 5/8 in
label: Measurements
content: fall height, center seam: 10.5 cm; 4 1/8 in
label: Measurements
content: waistband width, cb: 5 cm; 1 15/16 in
label: Measurements
content: waistband width, side: 7.5 cm; 2 15/16 in
label: Measurements
content: wiastband width, cf: 8.6 cm; 3 3/8 in