Mary Lincoln's Fashions

[L Verge]

Few people know that the Library of Congress has a number of Lincoln treasures in their Rare Books and Collections. Luckily, we were friends with the keeper of the keys. On several occasions, the Surratt House has sponsored D.C. history tours that have included private showings of these items that are usually in storage. Unfortunately, the intense security around the Capitol, the Library, the Supreme Court, and other buildings on Capitol Hill since 9/11 have made trips to those buildings very difficult.

That said, one of the prizes of the collection is the set of necklace and two matching bracelets that Mrs. Lincoln wore to the First Inaugural. They are the famous seed pearls that are often referred to and were designed by Tiffany in New York. These links should show them up close: http://www.loc.gov/resource/lprbscsm.scsm1298/#seq-8. I wanted to reach out and grab them the first time I saw them. Back then, my knees might have let me get at least to the end of the hall...!

Not far from the famous Willard's Hotel used to be an equally famous jeweler by the name of Galt - the second Mrs. Woodrow Wilson was of that family. Years ago, Joan Chaconas and I went into the store just to look (because there was very little that our combined incomes could afford). The clerk was quite elderly and had been with the company for about fifty years. Somehow the subject of Lincoln came up, and he was delighted to know that we were interested in the President. He trundled to a back room and came back in a few minutes with old ledgers to show us the entries made to President Lincoln's account during his term.

The store closed within the past ten years, and I have often wondered where that ledger was sent...