Events

Charleston Museum to Debut “Eliza Lucas Pinckney: A Legacy in Silk Exhibit” as Part of 250th Anniversary Celebration

Published

2 years ago

April 25, 2023

Press Release

The Charleston Museum, located at 360 Meeting Street, will debut the Eliza Lucas Pinckney: A Legacy in Silk exhibit from May 13th to July 9th in the Loeblein Silver Gallery as part of the Museum’s ongoing 250th anniversary celebration. Alongside the gown will be several of Pinckney’s personal items, including an impressive pair of Pinckney’s shoes, a magnificent brooch, and a pin cushion she made when she was just 14 years old. The exhibit is free with admission to The Charleston Museum. Visitors can purchase tickets here.

Eliza Lucas Pinckney was an influential figure among the landed gentry in 18th century Charleston. She is celebrated for her successful production of indigo, which became one of South Carolina’s largest exports before the Revolutionary War. She was also a botanist, a planter, and a landowner, in addition to being a wife, mother, and grandmother.

Though Pinckney was invested in her knowledge of agricultural work, she would not have been so successful without the labor and expertise of enslaved people, whose oppression built her wealth many times over. She managed two plantations, Wappoo and Belmont, and oversaw several rental properties. A strong advocate of independence, she loaned a substantial sum to the South Carolina government to support the war effort. Her two sons, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Thomas Pinckney, served in the Revolutionary War.

Pinckney’s dress – robe à la française, or “dress in the French style” – is characterized by full box pleats hanging from the shoulders, three-quarter sleeves with full layered cuffs, a narrow, conical bodice, and a full skirt with prominent hips. This style of dress was predominant in Western European fashion for middle class and wealthy women from approximately the 1720s through the 1780s. Thanks to fundraising efforts by the Eliza Lucas Pinckney chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, extensive conservation work was performed on the dress in 2017 by Loreen Finkelstein. Learn more about Pinckney and her items here.

“It is a rare experience to see this dress up close in person,” said Virginia Theerman, Curator of Historic Textiles. “It is so fragile that it can only be on display for a very limited time to protect it for posterity. You do not want to miss this opportunity!”