Assasination relics: Clothing, chairs, death-scene stuff, and other macabre items

[Tim1965]

I've grown curious about the location of Lincoln assassination artifacts. A great many of these are moving about, due to anniversary exhibits, and I wasn't sure what, exactly, had survived. I tried to work up a list of major artifacts (Lincoln's clothings, Ford's box furnishings, etc.), noting those which were bloodstained (the more gruesome, the more people want to see them, I suppose).

The major items that seem missing? Lincoln's dress shirt, most of Lincoln's undershirt, Lincoln's undergarment and socks, and one conspirator's hood. Given the proprieties of the age, it may be that Lincoln's undergarment and sock were never removed and buried with him.

But most sources say the dress shirt and undershirt were cut (in whole or in part, it's unclear) from the president's body by physicians as they tried to find Lincoln's wounds. These most likely were taken to the Peterson house along with the rest of the President's clothing.

I'm assuming that nothing of the original box survived the 1865 gutting of the theatre. I've run across claims of wallpaper clippings, but provenance is really sketchy. It's unclear if the box was carpeted; I would doubt it.

Am I missing anything important?

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Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Mich. - Blood-stained rocking chair from the Ford's Theatre box.

Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Ill. – Frame of the Lincoln deathbed; full blood-stained undersheet on which Lincoln lay; blood-stained mattress from the deathbed; bloody bolster pillow on which Lincoln's head lay; bloody frock coat worn by Lincoln; blood-stained towel used at the Peterson house; Peterson house rocking chair, bureau, candlestick, two engravings, and gas jet walll sconce; Mary Todd Lincoln's blood-stained cape; padded hood used by conspirator Lewis Powell; sleeve of Lincoln's undershirt.

Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C. – Derringer Booth used to kill Lincoln; Booth's knife used on Major Rathbone; two blood-stained pillows from the deathbed (one too fragile for display); Treasury Guard flag used as bunting in the Ford's box; original lithograph of George Washington from the Ford's box; sofa on which Rathbone sat in the Ford's box; carved-back, cane-seat parlor chair from the Ford's box; Lincoln's blood-stained overcoat; Lincoln's stovepipe hat; contents of Lincoln's pockets (linen handkerchief, two pairs of glasses, pocketknife, $5 Confederate note); Lincoln's waistcoat, blood-stained trousers, tie, and boots; one padded hood worn by conspirators; Door No. 7 (with peephole) to Ford's box; wooden stick used by Booth to wedge the door leading to Ford's box.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, Ill. – Lincoln's blood-stained gloves.

Lincoln Federal Savings and Loan, Berwyn, Ill. - Fragment of blood-stained shirt. (According to a Chicago Tribune article in 1960, this was cut from Lincoln's dress shirt by the undertaker)

Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisc. – Bedspread from the Lincoln deathbed. (Provenance is murky; testing was occuring in 2015, but the outcome is not clear.)

Abraham Lincoln Foundation of The Union League of Philadelphia – Fragment of Lincoln's undershirt.

National Museum of Health and Medicine, Silver Spring, Md. – Bullet taken from Lincoln's skull; Lincoln skull fragments; attending physician's bloody shirt cuffs.

The Columns Museum in Milford, Pa. - Blood-stained American flag from Ford's box used to cushion Lincoln's head. (The other two American flags are apparently missing.)

Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, Conn. – Treasury guard flag (to the left side of the Ford's box; one of two).

Kansas Museum of History, Topeka, Kan. - Portion of gallows crossbeam from conspirators' Arsenal hanging. (Not on public display.)

Historical Society of Quincy and Adams Counties, Ill. - One padded hood worn by conspirators; one set of manacles worn by conspirators; one set of keys to the Arsenal jail cells; one key to the Old Capital Prison jail cell.

Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. – Lewis Powell's knife used in the Seward attack.

Studebaker National Museum, South Bend, Ind. – Lincoln's carriage, used the night of the assassination.

Private collections - Fragments of Laura Keene's bloody dress (if one assumes she got into the box); fragments of the deathbed oversheet (cut into thumb-sized fragments and given away to hundreds [?] of people).