Mary's Move from the White House

[Donna McCreary]

I also thinking of hoarding as not being able to throw anything away. Hoarders are often surrounded by trash as well as treasurers. Mary kept her belongings, not her garbage.
Rob, yes, you are correct. The papers of the Lincoln Administration were placed in safe keeping. I was not thinking of those when I wrote my comment. I was thinking of Lincoln's papers -- letters, personal documents -- the ones that Mary would have cherished. These were the ones that she read over and over. After her death, Robert decided to burn most of them because they were too personal.

As to the gloves -- there are no other glove purchases from other first ladies for comparison. How could there be? While other president's entertained the masses, many of the wives did not. We also have to consider when the gloves in question were purchased -- during the last few months of the Civil War. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were coming to the White House to meet the President and Mary. Citizens were traveling for miles to met the man who 'saved the Union." Anyone who could get inside the White House to shake the hands of AL & ML did so. To accommodate more people, more receptions were sceduled. There is no other time in history to use as a comparison. Also, if you read "The Mary Lincoln Enigma," you will read that the type of gloves used for such events were considered disposable. They were made so thin that the fingernail bed was visible. Since the gloves could not be washed, once soiled, they were thrown away. This is why Lincoln would use up to five pair per night.

Laurie, no matter how much jewelry you have -- a lady can never be accused of hoarding fine bobbles. But, oh, I shrudder to think what Rob and some of the other gents would think of my fabric collection! There is enough to open a store, but since it is neatly folded, labeled, and sorted by fiber content, I could never be accused of hoarding it. I am merely storing it for future use.