Trousers worn as part of blackface minstrel costume: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Trousers worn as part of a costume for blackface minstrel performances in the early 20th century. The black and white-striped satin trousers feature a red satin stripe down each leg. The trousers were likely manufactured by Hooker-Howe Costume Company of Haverhill, Massachusetts, were probably used by a member of the Fogg, Finning, and Alger troupe, who performed "eccentric musical comedy" in traveling minstrel shows in Southern Ohio and the Pacific Northwest in the first two decades of the 20th century.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: ca 1905
• Object Name: trousers
• Physical Description: cotton (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 46 1/2 in x 20 in; 118.11 cm x 50.8 cm
• Measurements: overall, mounted: 63 1/2 in x 18 1/2 in x 12 in; 161.29 cm x 46.99 cm x 30.48 cm
• place made: United States: Massachusetts, Haverhill
• Subject: Entertainment
• Subject: Entertainment, general
• Subject: Theater
• Subject: Theater, Minstrel Shows
• ID Number: 2017.0295.03
• accession number: 2017.0295
• catalog number: 2017.0295.03
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.