Mary and Tad in Germany

[Donna McCreary]

Right, Donna. In Lincoln's Photographs A Complete Album Ostendorf's caption for that particular photo is "Mrs. Lincoln in mourning attire after Willie Lincoln's death in 1862." The same caption is in Hamilton and Ostendorf's Lincoln in Photographs: An Album of Every Known Pose. I wonder how Jean Baker arrived at 1867? I wonder if most of those earlier authors were going by Ostendorf's guess in The Photographs of Mary Todd Lincoln.

Roger, you know how it goes . . . someone sees a photo of a woman wearing a dark dress, bonnet, and veil . . . and suddenly it is a photo of a widow. No one considered trying to date Mary's photos by the fashions she wore until a female historian stirred the pot and asked the right questions Hmm. . . wonder who that was??