Mary Lincoln Jewelry, etc. at Lincoln Heritage Museum

[RJNorton]

(04-22-2015 06:30 PM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Did Mary don permanent mourning in 1862 after the death of Willie...or was it after the assassination in 1865?

Toia, I have a book entitled Mary Lincoln's Dressmaker: Elizabeth Keckley's Remarkable Rise from Slave to White House Confidante. The author, Becky Rutberg, writes as follows:

"For more than a year after Willie's death, Mary Lincoln wore black mourning clothes, even though the custom called for wearing black for only six months. Her headgear was so rigidly constructed, she was unable to turn her head. She wore jet-black jewelry. She used writing paper bordered with thick black margins.

Eventually, Mrs. Lincoln dressed in half-mourning colors of lavender, gray, and somber purples with a bit of white, colors denoting the next stage of grief."

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Jennifer Bach writes:

"After Lincoln's assassination, his widow buried herself in mourning garb for the rest of her life. Although many Victorians observed long, ritualized mourning periods, Mrs. Lincoln's more than seventeen years in black far exceeded the two-and-a-half-year custom for widows."

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860...w=fulltext