• Sunday, September 29, 2013
G5
HISTORY
Exhibit brings rare cap to light
By ELIZABETH M. COVART
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL
The Treaty of Paris 1763
ended a war in North
America, contributed to the
start of the American
Revolution and most
recently saved a piece of
Rhode Island history.
That piece of history is a
British grenadier cap, owned
by the Rhode Island
Historical Society. The hat
designated an elite soldier
who specialized in leading
assaults. It is a rare
historical artifact, but until
now it was too fragile to
display.
Enter the Treaty of Paris
1763..
For the first time, Great
Britain's copy of the Treaty
of Paris 1763 — which
ended the French and
Indian War in North
America and the Seven
Years' War in Europe — is
on display in North
America. A partnership
between the Bostonian
Society and the 1763 Peace
of Paris Commemoration —
a coalition of partners and
funders including chapters
of the Society of Colonial
Wars — secured the loan of
the victor's treaty from the
National Archives of the
United Kingdom. The treaty
anchors the exhibit "1763: A
Revolutionary Peace" at the
Old State House in Boston.
The exhibit runs through
Oct. 7.
The exhibit's curators
borrowed additional artifacts
from England, Canada and
the United States to
highlight the historical
impact of the treaty. To
secure these pieces, the
partnership raised money to
help conserve some of the
objects, including the British
grenadier cap. The historical
society had tried to raise
money to conserve the cap,
including applying for a
This British grenadier cap was assembled in England during
the 1740s. It's owned by the Rhode Island Historical Society.
"Save America's Treasures"
grant in 2000, but was
unsuccessful.
Why all the fuss over a
cap? Besides being one of
only a handful of
mid-18th-century grenadier
caps in existence, the cap
contains both history and
mystery.
According to Kirsten
Hammerstrom, director of
collections at the Rhode
Island Historical Society,
Horatio Gates Bowen
presented the cap to the
historical society in 1833. No
one knows how the cap
came into the possession of
Bowen, the first named
librarian of Brown
University. Without knowing
where the cap came from
the historical society did not
know how to interpret it. In
1916, a museum guidebook
described the cap as being
"of the Revolutionary
period." By 1953, a story
surfaced that the cap had
been picked up at the Battle
of Bunker Hill in 1775.
To unravel the mystery
about the cap,
Hammerstrom invited
Henry M. Cooke IV of
Historical Costume Services,
of Randolph, Mass., to the
historical society to evaluate
the cap in March. Cooke
determined that the cap was
assembled in England
during the 1740s. It is made
of silk velvet, raised metallic
embroidery, fragmented
linen lining and cane
support. In 1775, grenadiers
wore bearskin caps.
Although the cap would
not have been worn during
the War of Independence,
the English origins and early
date make it an extremely
unique and rare artifact.
According to Cooke, "[The
cap] would appear to be one
of less than a dozen such
caps that are known to exist
in public or private
collections that date prior to
1750, which makes it a rare
survivor and a handsome
martial example of the
embroider's art."
After Cooke's assessment,
the historical society
delivered its cap for
conservation to textile
conservator Deirdre
Windsor of Windsor
Conservation of Dover,
Mass., in April. Windsor
received the cap in
"compromised condition." It
no longer held its
three-dimensional shape,
had weak seams,
deteriorated silk velvet,
loose metal threads and a
fragmentary lining.
The biggest challenge
facing Windsor was how to
stabilize the fragile existing
components, reshape the
overall distortion and
achieve a correct
appearance without
replacing missing parts.
Windsor had to partially
dissemble and stabilize
shattered seams, support the
reed structure that gave the
cap its conical shape and
protect the powdering silk
velvet on the front flap with
a sheer polyester facing. It
took Windsor about 45
hours to conserve the cap
for exhibition.
The grenadier cap will be
on display at the Old State
House in Boston, along with
the treaty that inspired the
funds to save it, until Oct. 7.
The Rhode Island Historical
Society will display the cap
at the John Brown House in
Providence as part of
Gallery Night on Sunday,
Oct. 17. After Gallery Night,
the cap will be placed in
dark storage for at least six
months to rest it from the
deteriorating effects of light
and air.
Elizabeth M. Covart
([email protected]) is a
historian of early America, writer
and consultant.