Lincoln Home

[L Verge]

I minored in French in college, but have forgotten most of what I used to know. However, I think the term "etagere" originally referred to "stages" or maybe "shelves." They are still manufactured today, but in some really wild, modern designs - or even plain old things that look like storage shelves (which they basically are). The more familiar ones today are probably the etageres that are designed to fit over and around the bathroom toilet!

The plate stand that you showed is also properly termed an etagere, but most people just call it a tiered plate stand. It gives height to a buffet table and is mainly used for finger sandwiches, petit fours, today's mini-cupcakes, or candies. When I got married, silver ones were popular wedding gifts. I have even seen instructions for making your own with pretty plates that would otherwise be put in a yard sale.

Y'a gotta love the Victorians and their eternal quest for things and more things. Butter pats (tiny dishes), bone plates, knife rests, salt cellars and salt spoons (in the early years), celery vases, waste bowls, cup plates, biscuit jars, pickle jars, brides' baskets (the latter two in beautiful glass with silver holders and tongs), match safes and glass and china match holders, and the list goes on. Many of these things were present in even middle-class homes; as a family's wealth increased, so did their doodads.

[Donna McCreary]

Doodads! Another interesting word for what-nots!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Gene – of course Mary knew how to cook! As a girl in Lexington, she received a “proper English education in all of its branches.” This included instructions for cooking. One of my favorite courting stories about Abraham and Mary is the tale of her offering Lincoln a piece of cake and saying: “I am sorry this cake is not as light as usual. I baked it on a Friday, and I suppose that is why it is so sad.” (Not an exact quote, but close enough). They then fell into a charming, poetic conversation about the fates, the furies, and the fairies.

Meanwhile I also found in J. Baker's biography that Mary's second teacher, Mrs. Ward "in the late afternoon...took the girls into the kitchen. There...they used 'her books with many receipts in it for making puddings and custards'".
Donna, do you know if Mary LIKED cooking meals? (Despite baking cakes?)

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Y'a gotta love the Victorians and their eternal quest for things and more things. Butter pats (tiny dishes), bone plates, knife rests, salt cellars and salt spoons (in the early years), celery vases, waste bowls, cup plates, biscuit jars, pickle jars, brides' baskets (the latter two in beautiful glass with silver holders and tongs), match safes and glass and china match holders, and the list goes on. Many of these things were present in even middle-class homes; as a family's wealth increased, so did their doodads.

At the Gamble Plantation, there was a 19th century dinner table. The set included two items I has not seen before: an individual salt cellar at top of each place setting, and a lunate plate for bones next to each plate. You can see both in this formal place setting for a 12 course dinner:
   
I didn't find any further info on that lunate "bone plate". Does it have a special name? (The tour guide didn't say any, and I didn't ask as the question arose later.) Although I assume both as a (two) single item(s) on the table to be commonly used by all guests had already existed before, was making them individual for each guest a Victorian fashion and invention?

[Donna McCreary]

I do not know if Mary enjoyed cooking. However, I did find an 1894 interview with Ruth Stanton who had worked in the Lincoln Home in 1849 - 1850. Ruth said that Mary cooked all of the meals.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Were what D. Donald calls "strawberry parties" and Jean Baker describes here:
http://books.google.de/books?id=X84c9lc1...CAoQ6AEwAA
something common in those days or were they solely a "Mary invention"?

[L Verge]

I can't speak for the whole U.S., but they were very popular in Southern Maryland - and still are in some areas. A lot of the churches held/hold strawberry festivals in late May and early June when the strawberry fields are at their peak. Strawberries are served in all sorts of varieties from "straight in your mouth," shortcakes, ice cream, strawberry cakes with strawberry icing (my mother made one to die for), jams and preserves, etc.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks Laurie (your mother's cake sounds tempting as I love strawberries...)

[Donna McCreary]

There is a section about strawberry parties in LINCOLN'S TABLE including some wonderful recipes. Strawberry partys first became popular in Europe and spread across the US during the 1840's. By the 1850's and 60's most ladies either held or attended at least one strawberry party per year. Mary Lincoln wrote to a friend about attending several in one week. The celebrations lasted through the berry season -- beginning with strawberries and ending with blackberries.

[Gene C]

Other than eating, what other type of entertainment went on at a Strawberry party? Parlor games, bobbing for strawberries, pass the strawberry grapefruit, music?

[Eva Elisabeth]

They played and sang this all the time:
http://touch.dailymotion.com/video/xr0l7...lity_music

PS: Strawberry Field was a Salvation Army children's home in Woolton, a suburb of Liverpool, and this was the first music video in history (AFAIK).

[Gene C]

Here is an interesting article title "The Lincoln Home After the Lincolns" from SangamonLink, the web site for the Sangamon County Historical Society, from July 31, 2018

It will tell you everything you want to know (well, almost everything) about the residents and custodians of the Lincoln Home from 1851 up to 1953, when state custodians ceased to lived in the home.

http://sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/?p=10759

[AussieMick]

There's a huge amount of interesting material on that site. Someone's done a lot of work.

[Eva Elisabeth]

There's a huge amount of interesting material on that site. Someone's done a lot of work.

Agreed!