Threads of a Nation

About This Event

'Threads of a Nation: Preserving Presidential Clothing' is less a costume show than a conservation story, built around how a museum keeps 200-plus-year-old fabric from simply falling apart. Curator Olivia Mahoney built it as part of the Chicago History Museum's programming marking the nation's 250th anniversary.

The pieces are the real draw: George Washington's black velvet suit from his second inauguration, John Adams's diplomatic suits, Abraham Lincoln's overcoat and top hat, and Mary Lincoln's trend-setting plaid dress. The museum received a National Park Service Save America's Treasures grant — $454,607 — specifically to conserve nine presidential costumes in its collection, and that behind-the-scenes conservation work gets as much attention here as the garments themselves.

Worth knowing: it opens Oct 24, 2026 and runs all the way to July 17, 2027, so there's no rush to catch it, but this is a show that rewards reading the didactic text, not just glancing at mannequins.