Date: 1841 Creator: Henry R. Robinson Medium: Lithograph
This 1841 hand-colored lithograph shows President Harrison on his deathbed, surrounded by physicians, political allies, and family members. His wife, Anna Harrison, who had not arrived in Washington, is not pictured.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
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Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison
Date: ca. 1820 Creator: Unknown Medium: Painting
In this portrait, Anna Harrison wears a black mourning dress and shawl. The painting was created before the death of William Henry Harrison, but Anna Harrison spent a good portion of her life wearing mourning clothing—she outlived all but one of her ten children, and also laid to rest ten grandchildren. She would have again worn black mourning dress after the passing of her husband.
White House Collection/White House Historical Association
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Mourning Dress, American
Date: ca. 1840 Creator: Unknown Medium: Silk
Anna Harrison was a devout Presbyterian who “took no pleasure in contemplating the pomp and circumstance of a life at the Executive Mansion.” She may have selected a simple mourning gown such as this one, with little trimming or extra embellishment, to wear as a widow. One biography noted that “at no period of her life had she any taste for the gayeties [sic] of fashion…”
Gift of Beatrice de Mauriac, etc., 1976/The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Marine Band in Procession During William Henry Harrison’s Funeral
Date: 1841 Creator: Unknown Medium: Engraving
This engraving of the United States Marine Band performing during the presidential funeral of William Henry Harrison captures the White House and funeral car in the background. The artist neglected to depict the black drapery that festooned the façade of the Executive Mansion during the funeral.
Kiplinger Research Library, DC History Center
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Funeral Expenses of William Henry Harrison, Late President of the United States.
Date: August 16, 1841 Creator: Unknown
This bill from draper Darius Clagett referred to the United States Congressional Committee of Ways and Means itemized the fabric and sundries used to decorate the White House for the presidential funeral of William Henry Harrison. He used black and white crape (also spelled crepe or crêpe) to drape the north side of the White House. Crape is a transparent, crimped silk gauze and was an ideal mourning fabric—in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, cloth that reflected light was avoided for mourning; dull, solemn fabrics were ideal. Mirrors and chandeliers in the East Room and parlors were covered with crape to dull their shine. Gloves in appropriate mourning colors were distributed to White House staff and principal guests. The total cost to the government for funeral decorations was $928.25 - about $33,454 today.
Library of Congress
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To the Memory of William H. Harrison
Date: Unknown Creator: Unknown Medium: Print
In this print, a mourner stands at the graveside of William Henry Harrison, his hat decorated with a band of black mourning crape. Sepulchral art—art depicting themes of death and mourning—was popularized in the mid-nineteenth century, when the sentimentality of bereavement became a major theme of the Romantic movement. Mourning was thought to demonstrate a person’s Christian piety, gentility, and sensitivity. The weeping willow was a popular motif, its branches mimicking the drooping posture of a mourner, and the vast amount of water needed to keep it alive signified the tears of the bereaved. The urn and the mourning doves nesting in the bush at the base of the tree were also common symbols of loss.
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