About the Presenter
John Stuart Gordon is the Benjamin Attmore Hewitt Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Yale University Art Gallery. At Mount Vernon he will be conducting research for his forthcoming publication, Gold in America: Artistry, Memory, Power. Objects wrought from gold convey prosperity as well as express deep interpersonal connections such as love, mourning, or civic pride, suggesting that their sentimental value often rivaled their monetary value. The role of the Custis and Washington families in shaping the Nation’s sense of self—and the remarkable surviving documentation of their lives—makes them important figures within the larger discussion of who owned gold and what the material signified within the Atlantic world.