Anything. Comcast, along with these Television Companies support cspan2 as a public service. Since 1911 preservation have maintained interpreted John Marshall his life and legacy. We are grateful to the many descendents who have over the years returned furnishings and other items. These objects bring the roomsan alight but does not take much to imagine the activities of families and households in the guest. There are no artifacts that better define John Marshalls career than the robe he wore for the 34 year tenure as chief justice of the United StatesSupreme Court. Whose care for by generations of defendants before finding its way. If robes could talk what a story this one could share. John marshall wore this robe as he presided over 34 years in cases during which time the Supreme Court was elevated to an equal branch of the federal government. And today the simple black robe is a recognizable icon in every american judicial system. Added to our collection, its iconic image of the has been carried on by everyone since chief justice john roberts. Starting from construction and tailoring the time from the days hearing arguments before the court cases like marbury versus madison. Had significant precedents judicial review. The power and authority to interpret. As activities on the old chamber inside of the f capitol. Along with the robes of the other justices. To the loving care received over the years when inspiration by family members and preservation. To quote this object is history of the early years of the court and represents the strength of the american democracy. Were able to successfullyct conserve the icon of our mission because of people like you. Many of you are joining us today. Your contribution help to ensure stabilized environmental factors before future deterioration so thank you. Now we are providing. We welcome you. Now it is my honor to introduce you to virginias collections. Do not hold her against her. Lea lane graduate of the university of virginia she earned her masters degree. Leo joins a preservation virginia. And since that time leah had left virginia an unusual time as she learned and managed through the pandemic so with that, i will turn it over to you. Thank you jan and is been amazing to be here. I am so happy you guys have jointly today. This is why the first projects we launch into when i started. It has been brilliant to watch it come to fruition. Im going to shows my things sometimes it takes just a second so bear with me. Here we go. Now preservation virginiaus is good for John Marshalls judicial robe for one heard eight years now. 108 years a core object in our collection. 100 acres of frequent display. 108 years of unintentional damage of caring about this garment so much. Why do we care . An exceptional skill to this rather crunchy survivor. Pass things on to howard of how we accomplish that feat its worth considering the question and look at the history of the robe. This is the story that has been repeated throughout the 20th century. When he assumed his role as chief justice the justices were lightly colored robes. A sense of impartiality. This became image of the american judge that lives on today. Marshalls robe this robe is the iconic route of that tradition. Unlike many good stories its a bit more complicated than that. I until this time on may 19 join in for our next webinar which will feature so hello. The associate of the Supreme Court and has just published a groundbreaking article on a topic of how judicial change in time spent working on this for over 20 years. He it calls into question the assumptions we made about the Supreme Court in those formative republic years. Please do not miss the next webinar on may 19. I dont distill thunders suffice to say black robes probably lots of symbolism more about good old fashion practicality. The first chief justice john j had a very elaborate design for the Supreme Court justices robe. It shows his portrait as well as his surviving robe. This is the oldest. Ours is one of the very few that do survive. To describe that. As partly colored its not party but partly. As justices rotated off including ji was to match these rather unique garments. That was easy to procure and to achieve a sense of uniformity. But probably not and i think it already happened by the time marshall took the home of the court in 1801. Ha they have been in use even in england especially in lowersh courts and by lawyers. The United States late 18th century dudgeon spoke on the beach. Was a student of george who was a portrait there at the top left. The prominent virginia lawyer and statesman. Favors the black robe a look in 1772 he ordered some merchant such the clerk of the house of commons is better than the one that i had for mr. Trout which indeed was scandalous. I cannot figure out what was so scandalous about the first row. A black robe is customarily worn by the clerk help with the left scandalous choice. And how about paying down the last moment when they started getting credit. Prep to 1901, there is a celebration of chief justice. Despite a third of newspaper articles and speeches and dinner parties like this one here that was held in cleveland. Regardless ofik the veracity the icon of the robe has taken on a life of its own. These are just a few from Supreme Court justices. The symbolism and the story, after all as jena mentioned marshall did define the powers of the court he insisted on uniformity in other ways for example justices lived together and boarding houses they are thy issued unanimous rulings. So whether or not he instigated the use of a black robes its totally keeping with his approach should jurisprudence. Lets look at the object itself. May have had more than one robe over the course of a 34 year term on the court. This is the only one that survived. There is nothing that points to a particular date within the 34 years the construction or materials. Ne the only unusual aspect of the design of the sleeves. The folds, the pleats, on their first rather than the front which is something you would expect. Whether this was a mistake by the original make it clear it did not bars brother marshall the robe shown signs of use and to the best we could tell. Perhaps it was a personal preference we just do not know. And as for the science of youth around the him from the resident on the collar they understand the fact this is an object it was present on his moments. Marshall nominated five different president s on nine occasions the press often madent his black robe up there. Had portraits like this one which is my favorite by Chester Harding that shows it in its full glory. And of course this rope was witness critical rulings like a medicine but also justices like marshalls repeated denial of africanamerican freedom seekers. We dont know exactly where the rope went after John Marshall died in 1835. It likely pass to his daughter Mary Marshall harvey who inherited his richmond property. Although she owned the darn Marshall House which is marked in green on the map she lived a few blocks away or use it marked inis red. The robe was probably stored ate that location for a period of time. The next time we had a concern sighting of the road is 1888. Amy fisher harvey one of amys daughters one of johns granddaughters a general aquacultural tobacco exhibition. Relics and actiq to cody section. My 1882 amy and her sister emily were back at the John Marshall house living there. They had rented it out to other families but theyre back in the family residence. And even that nephews doctor was tucked away in a box and the cabin in the parler this the picture of the parler about 1890. Ed their approach of this is a small dining room of the family dining space. You see the corner theres a couple of doors i think thats the cabinet he is referring to. You can see xray vision through those doors that is where the rub is. Karl draped his robe over him and has imprints around the house. Theres a little bit that howard had to deal with. Now that Marshall House was transferred to the stewardship of virginia antiquities now is preservation virginia 19011 and 1913 house open to the public. On that Opening Weekend the Star Attraction was thess robe on lon from harvey sisters. When they died in 1920 the rub became part of our permanent collection. Since that time the robe has been extensively exhibited and preserved. One major Conservation Campaign took place in 1962 which took over 600 hours. I dont the little boys prints on the house in 1892, on the occasion of his 1962 Conservation Campaign he came back to the house and put the robe on again. Reset the original. Generally shown on a mannequin and at travel for exhibition including this one at the smithsonian in 1967. The exploit, exposure to light and stress on the fibers the inherent fragility of this remarkablehi object. O since 2005, that is 16 years it has been off view only been pulled out for special events and for visitors showing the rope tos associate justice. In 2019 chart in partnership with the John Marshall center for constitutional history and civics. To help support the conservation of this object. Thanks to the project and work this broken once again be safely and responsibly shared with visitors. It is my honor to pass it onto on tojen who will not introduce howard. Think i have ever seen. [laughter] thank you so much. Now it is myy pleasure to introduce Howard Sutcliffe how howard is a conservative director of river region. As a private practice in alabama. Howard previously worked as the head conservator at the Detroit Institute of art and to excel excelconservation studios at the Philadelphia Museum of art at american textiles in the u. S. At the National Trust and National Museum later in the uk. Professional associate member of the American Institute for conservation of historic and artistic work. And it is a current board member injured for the forthcoming 2020 2021meeting in nashville, tenne. Designed and constructed textiles with honors from college of Art University in scotland. Postgraduate diploma in textile conservation with credit. For the textile Conservation Center and in affiliation with the institute of art. And to receive a masters of the art and gallery management. Cultural policy is honored to have you join us. Welcome and thank you so much. Now i will turn it over to you. Thank you jen. That all makes me sound really old all that stuff. But let me share my screen. Here wed go. And then we will hit back. Hopefully you can all see that. Thank you jen, thank you lea. Ive seen some of those photos it was really interesting to see the photo of Andrew Jacksons inauguration. I also worked on some modest acts from that. So its kind of interesting and Andrew Jacksons top hat were at the same spot at the same time, very cool. My involvement in this project goes back to january of 2019. Which is a very long time ago now. But i flew up to richmond to spend a morning at the Marshall House examining the robe. Ch im really getting to grips with it. I dont think anyone had seen it for quite a while. I think people were reluctant to take it out. I spent the morning documenting its current condition. And after that i wrote a proposal and document that outlines the tradition and it also goes through when i suggest for the treatment stepbystep. And gives the client that all important cost estimate. Tonto as liat mentioned there is a. And then we have quite a few dates on the calendar to drive up to richmond and two coats come up and i eventually made it up there in mid june. And then bring it back down to my studio. And so this photo technically show the road front and back up. The front is on the left. Im basically to run through a description its a very simple construction that two panels on the front. I receive a front and back on each. The road is made the robe is made from black silk. Thats the warp phased fabric. Most of the works are on the surface. There much finer this case. It is a loom this was on and each panel fabric is about 2 feet wide. So the panels are stitched together along the salvage edges. They are drawn together at the top. This is what you will see a little later on. Mrs. After conservation. It shows you very clearly those panels. We have the two inside this small side panels and then the front panel. It is really interesting to thee construction of the robe is a little bit not exact i think would be a polite term. The center back does not line up. Thats a lot of excess material i think the sources whoever constructs was maybe it working from a description i was not the most talented of seamstresses. They have the issue of that thesleeves being back to front s well. But, all of that fabric because thats a lot of fabric there. Comes back fleeting. It is amazing how theyve drawn all this fabric together to fit around the neck. You can see from these two photos it is very, very finally done. I am not sure if you can see on the righthand image that pleading that is it decorating e sleeve back o there. But we will move onto this and next slide so you did get a good view of it. These are top pleats and held template place device in his twine silk wrap. I think those pieces are about. Then there is the lovely silk wrapped wooden button at the end of each of those. I believe in this photo you can start to see some the splits and condition issues the robe has. T. In this photo you can start to see the splits and the condition issues at the robe has. There were some interesting other little construction things going on particularly around the neckline. There had been a panel added almost like a caller done fairly early on. It was probably contemporary to jo it comes down as a panel all the way on the upper left side there but that sets up and kind of like some tension, and it just kind of like makes the way it license the body a little bit, strange. So i dont know he wasnt happy with the neckline ort it got damaged and put on repair something i mean as a number Different Reasons why that could have been done but it definitely is a contemporary addition or repair to call it the early 1800s. Lets move on and here is a few photos of the road which one will show some of the condition issues that it has. For one of the vices going on here that kind of really contributes over the years so it is an old object is age going against it and 20 years older actually amazing that this so much of it what is left. Butng made from silk which during this time would have been subjected to a process called waiting and so its at this point so then you start off with a little [inaudible conversations] those are boiled down. During that boiling kind of release the gum so they can kind of like collect kind of the thread so during that process, tbum gum is lost and gum is quite heavy and so to counteract that the dealers would then soak those threads in a heavy metal solution kind of chromium or Something Like that to the part. None of those chemicals are great for the silk. So they, you know, contribute to the general degradation you have the structure going against it because you have this one you have kind of six, i think seven actually threads crossing over every. He so it is a little uneven if it was kind of a plain fabric with one cropping one warp it would be much more stable and also those are finer than rest so you have that difference. And you have kind of like all of those on the surface can be easily braided or so theyre quite easily damaged. You also have the fact that it is dyed black. And so at this time, it is possible they used iron dye which would have been incredibly expensive and also would have been i think probably more likely that it was dyed using an iron acid again none of those things are great for the preservation of the silk itself. And then generally would just be silk. Civil of all of the natural fibers, silk is very, very us us septemberable to damage such as uv light and humidity and temperature and it can have fluids in the presence of uv so basically start to break down become moreat brittle, and youll see that kind of like splited and start to former whih you can see that on this photo. What is happening is theres a lotf breaks and you can see the west floats and again you can see that in the photograph the right of your screen as well. Also, as liam mentioned, theres going to be kind of medical damage so it was a lot so theres kind of contact with sweat, theres contacto with, yu know, all things on the body at that tim so none of those really would have helped so also wear and tear three careers. Kind of damage especially among hemline from where it would have dragged along the ground, sleeve and cuffs where he would have been writing and resting on the robe. During, you know, long days at court so, i mean,ml very nice, you kn, indicators of use, and being, you know, once trying to preserve to show that it was an object that was deep heavy used. And then, another contributing factor to the damage that the robe received is the fact that it has been displayed in the past, and quite a lot actually. So you know, hanging it up and kind of like having on vertical display on mannequins probably hasnt helped over the years. Especially just where its hanging it is not particularly well supported on a mannequin. And what and then one of the major things that really i want to deal with is the fact that the robe has a been subject to kindf a lot of restoration and conservation work in the past. And so in these two slides you can see the interior of the proper left front with a Different Campaign as support stitching that have been done there. So you have, you have patches, you have black patches you have areas where it is stched to itself and you have black patches there as well. And here are some more along those