Every so often, the Digital Resources Division comes across a unique subject of debate. Most recently, the question of “the uniform or costume of persons in the diplomatic or consular service” caught our attention. (S. Exec. Doc. No. 31, 36th Cong., 1st Sess., at 1 (1860) reprinted in Serial Set Vol. 1031.) In an 1860 Senate Executive Report, transmitted to then-Secretary of State Lewis Cass and further to then-President James Buchanan, various communications detailing dress regulations of diplomats and consulates are reprinted.

In the “Memorandum of the dress of an American Minister as f