Mary Lincoln's Fashions

[L Verge]

I believe the comments about Mary being plump may come more from people using modern standards. Mary was the proper figure for her time when the hour-glass figure was more appreciated. My grandmother was born in 1874, and by the time she began dating in the early-1890s, she was considered out-of-fashion. She was 5'10" and weighed 120 lbs and did not have to wear a corset. He older sister (born in 1872) was 5"3" and pleasing plump and had all the boyfriends.

One more mention about the Lincoln jewelry at Springfield. James Cornelius should have noted that the coral pair of earrings with screw-backs were retrofitted at some point after 1909. That's when the screw-back was invented. I have no idea what the provenance is on the set, but I would suspicion that they were passed down to Mary Harlan Lincoln and then grandchildren who skipped the piercing stage and wanted the "new" type of earring.

I have spent forty years convincing my female volunteers at Surratt House that they can only wear pierced earrings with their period outfits. No problem with ones younger than 65, but the old-timers just ain't giving up those screw-backs and clip-ons!

I inherited my great-grandmother's, which had been converted in the 1900s and promptly took them to a trusted jeweler to have them changed back to pierced backings.