The “rubber box” or did Laura Keene indeed held Lincoln’s head?

[L Verge]

The Chicago Historical Society has this on the web, and it's the first time I remember reading Dr. Henneke's comment that Laura sent the dress to its creator, Jamie Bullock, who held it in a closed box at his home until Laura willed it to her daughter in 1873. I wonder if Bullock ever wrote a description of it?

Also note the description of something called Ikat fabric at the bottom of this piece. It refers to a style of weaving patterns into fabric that can resemble "bleeding" similar to what is thought to be blood on the fragment of Laura's gown that the Chicago Historical Society claims to have.

Unfortunately, I am not talented enough to cut and paste the photos in this article. http://www.chicagohistory.org/wetwithblo...ments6.htm

Descriptions of Keene's dress are contradictory.

Ford's Theatre actor A.E. Emerson noted her "yellow satin dress." In Mark Twain's Autobiography Samuel Clemens describes a fragment of Keene's dress sold at auction as a "piece of white silk." Henneke describes a pale gray moire silk with a design of bunches of roses. (HENNEKE 212)

Laura Keene as Peg Woffington in "Masks and Faces," The Life of Laura Keene, John Creahan, 1897. Courtesy of Northwestern University Library.

Keene biographer Ben Graf Henneke wrote:

When it was realized that [Keene] had the dress on which the president had bled his life away, she received offers to sell it, to exhibit it, to capitalize on each browning spot. Her refusal made no difference to some. They simply exhibited dresses they had and claimed they were hers. Pieces of cloth with stains on them were sold to the public and letters attesting their authenticity were forged in Laura's name... At some unspecified time the dress was placed in a closed box and left in Chicago with its creator, Jamie Bullock. Not until he received a letter from Laura written on August 11, 1873, did he know that he had the "Lincoln dress." He assured Laura, "My wife says that she will not lone your Dress because it would get Destroyed but will take good Care of it until you send." Emma took charge of the dress after her mother's death, and on her death she willed it to her daughter. It was a part of what Emma called her personal estate and was listed as the "Lincoln" dress in her will... Emma's daughter, Clara Rawson, is supposed to have distributed panels of the dress to friends sometime around 1890. HENNEKE 218-219)

Laura Keene's daughter Emma Eliza Taylor Rawson. Illustration from John Creahan's The Life of Laura Keene, 1897. Courtesy of Northwestern University Library.

Ikat fabrics are traditionally woven from warp yarns that are pre-dyed with intricate patterns. Ikat designs were popular during the Civil War following the refinement of commercial warp printing techniques in the 1820s. Ikat patterns characteristically have "bleeding" edges, as the warps are never perfectly aligned. The "blood" stain on the alleged Keene fragment is difficult to distinguish from the ikat pattern.

Ikat patterned dress (CHS 1978.207.3) and detail of ikat pattern and stain on fragment attributed to Laura Keene's dress (CHS 1935.107).