Mary Lincoln's Fashions

[RJNorton]

(07-21-2014 05:15 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  As for the second inauguration, the ball was held on March 6, 1865, two days after the actual swearing in. The Smithsonian Magazine wrote that a $10 ticket would admit three people to the ball, which was held at the Patent Office Building (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery). 4,000 people attended, and danced quadrilles, waltzes and Virginia reels. Mrs. Lincoln, with jasmine and violets woven in her hair, wore a white satin off-the-shoulder gown.

As far as I know there are no photos of Mary wearing her second inaugural gown. If the dates in Lloyd Ostendorf's The Photographs of Mary Todd Lincoln are accurate (and I think there may be some question on this) there is a gap from 1865-1869 during which there are no known photos of Mary. According to Ostendorf's research the last photo of Mary as First Lady was taken in 1864: