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kerry · 12-29-2016, 06:56 PM

(12-22-2016 08:11 PM)L Verge Wrote:
(12-22-2016 07:40 PM)L Verge Wrote: I have to think that Mary would write to her son, despite his reading difficulties, since it was the chief (only?) source of communication while they were apart. I also think that someone instilled a bit of discipline in him once the Lincolns were no longer in the spotlight. Discipline and the simple fact of maturing can do a lot to promote progress in education.

Would Robert have kept - or destroyed - any letters between Mary and Tad? Where's Jason Emerson when I need him?

Kerry,

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/262986...w=fulltext

I'm sure that you are familiar with the works of Justin and Linda Levitt Turner, but it has been over forty years since their book was published. Things have turned up since like the previous link indicates. I remember not too long ago that a number of letters that Mary wrote to a doctor were handed over to Illinois by the doctor's descendants.

The former head of the Illinois State Historical Library, Dr. Thomas Schwartz, is now with the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, but I bet he's still on top of news in the Lincoln field. Also, Kim Bauer, the current Lincoln curator at the Historical Library spoke to the Surratt conference attendees in 2015, on Mrs. Lincoln. Why not try contacting either or both of these men - in case you have not already done so?

Good luck in your endeavors...

Thank you for the tips and link! I have been thinking of doing some sort of "update" to the Turners' excellent book - I've been rereading it to catch new things I've missed, and several times Mary mentions that she or the correspondent has received a letter from Tad (when they were in Europe). I think Crook's memoir has a letter from Tad dictated to Mary, so it's possible someone was assisting him in all the letters, but it seems like after a few years he was writing on his own. I think it is extremely likely that Mary and Robert destroyed them, but I do find it odd that none have surfaced that he wrote to other people. I think Mary mentions him writing to Sally Orne at one point - where is the rest of her correspondence? I wonder if Tad wrote in German to people while he was over there in they are in some archive or attic in Germany.