Stanton dealing with Lincoln's death

[L Verge]

For over ten years, the Surratt House Museum would stage an "In Mourning" exhibit every July. We did not want it to be specific to Mary Surratt's execution in July of 1865, but rather to show what Victorian customs consisted of. A mourning drape was placed on the front door; mirrors and her portrait (modern) were draped in crepe, a coffin (Betty, double-check that because I think you have it reversed) was in the parlor; the shades were drawn; a pan of make-believe ice was placed beneath the coffin; a mannequin in full mourning stood nearby.

In the family dining room, the table was set for a funeral tea, which included ham and raisin pie. And upstairs, the master bedroom was turned into a sick room - complete with a mortician's straw basket which would have been used to transport the dead body. The best part of the entire exhibit, however, was in our adjacent exhibit area in the old house where showcase material showed everything from death photos to mourning jewelry to mourning stationery, several period obituaries from the 1800s, even down to an antique bottle of formaldehyde and black straight pins. It was a very popular exhibit and was soon copied by other house museums. We hope to revive it on a small scale in 2014, when the museum will focus its programs on themes related to the Civil War on the Home Front.

Personally, my grandfather went to our family cemetery about two years after the death of his first-born child. Leonard died in 1902 at the age of 22 months. Grandpa dug up the body to view his son, who was perfectly preserved, but had turned to dark stone. On another occasion in the 1970s, I attended the funeral of my husband's Russian grandfather. There were many photographs taken of him in his casket to send back to his family who had remained in Russia. They were to prove that Jeda was given an impressive farewell.