Invitation to Carusi’s May Ball 1839

An engraved figure of a dancer en pointe illustrates an invitation to a ball being celebrated on May 1, 1839, at Carusi's Saloon in Washington, D.C. This invitation was addressed to Dolley Madison, then a widow splitting time between Washington D.C. and her Virginia home, Montpelier. Carusi's was a fashionable site for balls, concerts, and theatrical events in nineteenth-century Washington.

Citation: Papers Concerning Dolley Madison, 1810–49, Accession #8607. Special Collections, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.