Curator Dr. James Cornelius talks about Mary Lincoln's strawberry dress which was last on display in 1985. The dress was on display May 6th, 7th, and 8th 2011 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.
I'm tired of people refering to Mary Todd Lincoln as being unstable. She suffered the loss of THREE of her four children ...was holding her husband's hand when his head was blown off ...AND was in a carriage accident that left her with TBI/PTSD. the head injury alone changes a personality and memory. who can handle just ONE of these tragedies?
..... nobody saying that she wasn’t mad because of all the things that happened to her BUT she was unstable towards the end most likely due to the reasons you just specified. She WAS unstable. It is written in her memoirs and many of her servants memoirs. It’s written that she used to want to jump out her window because she feared that the house was on fire constantly, she was terrified to walk into the kitchen because she was afraid it was going to burst into flame and she tried to stab Lincoln several times once on the street in front of their Illinois home. If she had been alive today she would most certainly be hospitalized.
you are my sunshine ..... nobody saying that she wasn’t mad because of all the things that happened to her BUT she was unstable towards the end most likely due to the reasons you just specified. She WAS unstable. It is written in her memoirs and many of her servants memoirs. It’s written that she used to want to jump out her window because she feared that the house was on fire constantly, she was terrified to walk into the kitchen because she was afraid it was going to burst into flame and she tried to stab Lincoln several times once on the street in front of their Illinois home. If she had been alive today she would most certainly be hospitalized.
Jayne Mansfield even though as we all know she was spoiled by Lincoln but she loved him deeply and it showed when she remained in mourning for him and of grief resistance.
Jayne Mansfield.....and a very intelligent woman. From what I've read and seen on PBS, she could have lively political debates with the men, which was quite unorthodox for a woman at that time in history.
Back then there were no pensions for the wives of Presidents so when Lincoln was murdered his wife Mary had no income at all. She lost three children and saw her husband killed right beside her. The one remaining son was horrible to her and was a cold, uncaring person. Mary was a southerner who married a union man who became President and that caused all sorts of criticism to flow her way. She had a very difficult life filled with loss and grief. She wasn't insane or unstable - just reacting to what happened to her.
Your incredibly wrong. Robert Todd was very successful. He was president of The Pullman car company at the end of his life. He had his mother hospitalized because she lost touch with realty. She did not die a pauper.
Allison Holly nope, not an excuse! A reason, a cause, a trigger, a precipitating factor, a “final straw,” etc. But you seem to infer that what you define as “erratic behavior” is something a person always chooses to undertake, rather than a manifestation of an illness or difficulty coping with external factors. Perhaps you’ll learn compassion when life deals you a crippling blow someday. That’s usually all it takes for an unforgiving bitch to become a whining victim.
It’s been proven trauma including incredibly intimate losses can change ones brain chemistry resulting in mental illness. When Mary met Abe they shared not only the tragedy of losing their mothers young, but each also had mental illness. The loss of their boys one after the other years later greatly compounded their respective mental states. He was prone to profound depressive episodes and she seemed more likely bipolar. Her expensive shopping sprees for example, of which the politicians were very critical, is very common bipolar behavior. Anyone who comments that she was was not ill is very wrong. She became terribly unstable after his death and as you all know, was eventually committed. We really can’t say that her son didn’t care because he committed her, one would only have grown up with a mentally ill mom especially in her later years, to know what he had been through.
@@maxtest it was a series of losses that included his mother AND his fiance and probably more, possibly combined with genetic factors. I mention the mother because that was a loss both he and Mary knew intimately. I am bipolar and I know even the strongest of us cannot remain unchanged through loss after loss.
Mary Todd Lincoln suffered from migraine headaches The headaches made her seem crazy at times. And she was anemic With both of those illnesses it would have been difficult for anyone to live with.
@@keetahbrough I am not a NAZI. I don't understand why you would say that. I have studied history, the Lincoln family are a beloved historical family. Some would say a "colorful" or "difficult" family, I would say a family with many difficulties to overcome. The death of children, and the angast of her husbands assassination and her health problems. It was her own son that tried to keep her intuitionalized. Migraine headaches cause many different symptoms that mimic other illnesses. I suffer from migraine headaches. Not that it makes me an expert, I can imagine the pain and her actions during such "manic"episodes. I AM NOT A NAZI.
@@dmstevens7133 KB is an idiot. He cannot define nazi. He has never had the vicious pain of migraine. He is glad we are neither King nor God to give him a taste of either. In the meantime he is living a horrid life recognized by everyone as an idiot.
I agree 100% with the choice not to restore. Keep it original. For truly historic items, don't mess with it. And this is a truly historic item. Beside's, the dress doesn't look that bad considering it's age.
without restoration this dress will disentigrate anyway.... so why not restore it and keep it around for 100 more years. without restoration, kept in some cabinet in that box, it will be gone in 20 or 30 years, completely shattered.
Bad thing about silk is it does come to pieces over time. Rather than trying to "restore" and thus destroy the original, it'd be much cheaper to reproduce it for those that would like to see it in its full glory.
good idea I am sure that how the fabric was crafted is known they could literally remake it just like it was so long ago. That would be a truly amazing project for someone.
To all those below arguing about ptsd, Mary didn't just watch most of her children and her husband die, she also had to endure the effects that the stress of war and the responsibilities of office had on Lincoln's mental and physical health. And, there was no treatment for, or even a condition such as ptsd recognised back then. They both need to be approached from a realistic perspective, Mother and Son, I mean, both suffered, as did many others, in those times.
I think she was very depressed she lost all her children at a young age and only one lives that is the one that testified against her because he wanted her Money what she had and her home. This man was greedy and treated his mom really unfair. She gave him money for years but he didn't care how he spent it. He told her he'd see her in a place she couldn't get out of for the rest of her life. He kept his word on that. She was very lonely after losing her husband she was even more depressed then she was. Yes she may have said something things that didn't make since but who did she have to talk to nobody. She was left all alone after Mr Lincoln was shot. Her son was not good to her. Because he was a spoiled brat that always got his way. I fell that she was alone all her life because no one liked her. Because they didn't take time to know her. What a sad lonely live she had. RIP Ms.Mary I think you was a wonderful beautiful first lady of the United States of America.
Love this library, museum. If anyone has a chance it's worth a visit. My ancestor, Rev. Jesse Head married Lincoln's parents in Kentucky. I love learning about Lincoln.
A few years back I bought a small Swatch of a dress worn by Mary Todd Lincoln on eBay. I enjoyed my visit to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield Illinois in 2016 so much!!!!
If anything we should have compassion for Mrs. Lincoln. Lost three children, think about that three children, her husband assasinated right next to her, if my mental wasn't affected by all that something would be wrong with me! My compassion goes out to Mrs. Lincoln, so sorry for all of your loses! I would like to see how other women would have coped! You did the best you could! God bless you Mary, I hope that you have been reunited with your family in heaven! Love to you, wendy
The woman who made most of the dresses for Albraham Lincolm was once a slave who bought her own freedom. She wrote a book "Behind the Scene." Her English so refined, she writes like black Jane Austen. In her book, I was impressed by a shopkeeper's sudden trust in her. On first day, he allowed her credit, as he thought she had a honest face. He judged her at face value.
Thank you for sharing this historical item....you did a super job and it's a great dress. Even better, we have photos of Mrs. Lincoln wearing the dress!!
Interesting dress and nice introduction. From the details shown while illustrating the split silk it is clear that the design was woven with extra wefts, not printed as said earlier in the talk. As for the lace collar more detail would be nessecary to see if it dates from the period of the dress. It would have been lovely for dress and textile historians to have had more close ups.
Really . My Japanese mother in law has silk Kimono in her closet that are over 150 years old and are in such pristine condition that she still wears them .
I really enjoy the presentation here. IMO the dress looks more elegant in the black and white photo than in color. I thought he said the pattern was printed? It looks like it was woven. I think it would be almost impossible to restore the dress but it would be possible to reproduce it and the design could be hand embroidered.
Very boring camera angle for 90 percent of the video. We don’t need to see the curator’s face that much. Seeing more of the garment’s details would have been nice.
just want to remind you, the video is from 2011. youtube was not necessarily interesting at the time. btw they wanted to promote an exhibition so you had to go there to see it closely :))
Mary Todd Lincoln suffered from migraine headaches. It is a proven fact the meds the doctor gave her caused more damage than help. Thank goodness a very smart lady (married to a popular lawyer and understood the law very well herself) was able to rescue Mary Lincoln from the asylum where her son put her. She suffered greatly at the hands of her son and just for the fact she was a southern. The loss of her other 3 sons and brutal death of her husband was enough to put anyone into a tailspin.
Its fantastic that the original dress was kept in such great shape! I am always amazed when i think about how much stress & drama Abe was under at that point in time. The poor guy had to wake up every day and deal with a bi-polar mental wife, the Cival War, a very unsupportive Congress, constant barrage of threats from slave owners, etc. I honestly dont know how this man was able to emotionally & mentally keep it together for so long leading up to his assassination. His levels of posterity, strength and understanding is truly something everyone should always envy.
Geese Louise. So many comments are critical of the sound, photography, narration, curator and lighting. Next time you drop by maybe you’d like to make a monetary donation for better equipment- if that’s how you’d like to spend your money. I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing Springfield’s museum but I would think (duh) budgets are tight. Appears that they also lack a rich clientele to lavish money on them. Give ‘em a break people. This isn’t Hollywood and I for one am thankful for that. BTW, betcha they have volunteer work at the museum too. All talk, no action?
By machine he’s referring to an early type of sowing machine as those had begun to circulate and some companies had several with women employed to make clothing. This process was faster and cheaper, so it began to spread rather quickly.
#ThursdayThoughts 💭#ThursdayFeeling ☕️ #History #MaryLincoln #MyNonFictionAddiction📚 #MyBookedWknd📚 #My3LbOpinion🧠 IF my hospital experience goes well, I sure hope to visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in the Spring!
Did this dress have a label or signature on it. I know Elizabeth Keckley was her personal dressmaker/seamstress I wish she would feature some of the spectacular gowns that she sewed.
Rich Tube ....It’s not a coronation dress and it’s not an inauguration dress. I think it should be displayed in a flat case but I wouldn’t exactly call it a national treasure.
@Craig Colby By the look of the dress , they clearly have no idea what they are doing . You might be american and i forgive you for your idea of what , "So long" means to you , coming from a country that is barely 300 years old, but this piece is a 100 years old , My great grand mother wedding dress is older than it, and is still hanging in a closet protected from sunlight and insect and in pristine condition . The Beijing museum has pieces over a 1000 years old on display , same with the Cairo museum, while the Louvre and the British museum have Renaissance, Edwardian , Georgian , Tudor pieces dating back hundreds of years . Let's be honest here..This dress was mishandled and damaged due to lack of knowledge on how to store and preserve clothing . Then a terrible restoration work was done to it which furthered the damage . IYou either preserve a garment or restore it . But it you are going to restore it , have it done by true professionals , because the work done on that piece is a disaster . I was watching this with my Japanese mother in law and she was horrified . Whoever did that restoration work on the silk needs a few lessons . these guys must ask more skilled people to do the job , for such valuable and important pieces. Have the dress sent to Japanese craftspeople who traditionally restore silk Kimono and other closing, Their skills are unsurpassed and the dress will come back as beautiful as new and preserved for another 200 years . ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-W23oJY-2Xk0.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BeuFg8UJNE8.html They have clients such as the Louvre museum, the British museum and all Haute Couture fashion houses . And they are not expensive .
@@morganolfursson2560 If you are so all knowing on how to restore a garment, then instead of saying what an awful job the restorers did, why not put your money where your mouth is, and pay the tens of thousands of dollars to restore it. If you are unable to do that, then STFU! (that stands for shut the fuck up!)
Laura Y., I could be wrong (and I know this comment was from a year ago, haha), but it sounded as though the family had kept it for some time, so maybe the damage was already done and the museum has just been keeping the dress folded the same way along the lines that are already damaged. He mentioned the family had likely added the purple piece as well in the 1960s. Wouldn't it have been amazing to see this dress when it was new? I'm hoping a dressmaker creates a replica or an artist does a rendering. So curious about the original shades of the print before the colors faded!
Dal V If you mean on a mannequin clothing cannot be on permanent display. It has to be taken down every few months and supported, layed in flat pattern. Otherwise gravity is going to pull the pieces down inch by inch each year until they start falling apart. They also need to come down for dusting and polishing and deterrence put on them. This dress Mary Todd Lincoln dress would also need to come down for dusting and polishing and deterrents put applied to them. Lastly, this dress, unless restored, will never be put on display unless it is laid flat and in a temperature controlled display case otherwise it’s going to start deteriorating rapidly. Fabric does not hold up especially fabric over 90 years old.
Very nice video. This reminds us that Mary Lincoln was a real person who (like most women) love beautiful clothes to wear. Poor husband Abe had a lot on his plate with her since I don't believe she was, as they say, "low maintenance."
+David Lyle Strong Mary Lincoln had neuroses, migraines, very high strung. On the positive, she could be kind-hearted and she helped a former (beaten) slave woman get a good job as her personal couturier. I believe in today's world, a woman like M. Lincoln could be medicated and function better.
I’ve never heard that Mary was unstable. In fact I’ve heard quite the opposite. I’ve heard she was a strong woman, the backbone to her husband and a powerful matriarch of her family. Maybe I missed something here. 🤔
The Lincolns were supposed to be accompanied by Ulysses and Julia Grant that night at Ford's theater. Ms Lincoln had a violent - and very public - outburst earlier towards some of her friends, so that Julia Grant chose to politely decline the invitation. This kind of behavior was not unusual.
These dresses are worn all the time at Civil War re-enactments and in Living History museums. I see no reason you couldn't wear one on a daily basis if you really wanted to. I went through a phase in my life where I hardly ever wore anything that wasn't CW era and I never allowed my picture to be taken unless I was in my CW uniform. I had a friend named George who was a park ranger at Fort Clinch and he was ALWAYS in his CW uniform. He could go through an entire day without ever saying or doing anything that would let you know he wasn't a time traveler from 1863.
Mary Lincoln was very fashion conscious and always enjoyed good taste, despite the constant tragedy that marked her life. She did not deserve to have been comitted to the insane asylum that her son Robert Todd Lincoln sent her to. She was a proud, genteel Southern woman by culture and upbringing and this betrayal by her first-born son humiliated and devastated her.
Edwin Milan .....I have done several Civil War reenactment’s as I grew up right here in middle Tennessee in Franklin but, I don’t know where you’re getting all the opinionated Information on her from because in her memoirs and her servants memoirs she went immediately from a socialite( she was unstable before her husband became president) to a clinically insane woman due to her husband’s assassination,losing several of her children and many more things. She would only sit by the window all day long because she was terrified the house was going to catch on fire and she tried to jump out of that window several times, she tried to stab Lincoln in the street in Illinois when they were newlyweds she would never walk into her kitchen because she was terrified it was gonna burst into flames. She spent money on dresses and clothing like it was nothing, by the time she died in 1882 she had racked up $150,000 in debt(inflated to 2018)on clothing alone. And lastly she used to throw all out fits or rag, temper tantrum‘s and pick fights with restaurants and shop owners here in the south because they would not let Berkeley, her African-American dress maker into said stores with her (rightfully so) however this coincided with everything else, turning her into a person that nobody, not even her servants wanted to deal with.
I'm from Chicago and been to Springfield Illinois many times. Mary Todd Lincoln was very short Abe was over six feet tall. They slept in different beds and different rooms because of his height.
Gerri Petress I’m 5’2, my husband is 6’ + and yet we manage just fine in one room, one bed. Unless he messes up, of course, then he’s on his own someplace... Should anything as trivial as height be a directive for something as important as marital togetherness? Sex isn’t even the main issue (albeit an important part), but that section of a couple’s life is vital. Talking together becomes impossible if the two kids are never alone.
Rob's Relics You would thoroughly enjoy the book 'Mrs Lincoln's Dressmaker' by Jennifer Chiaverini of Madison, WI. Ms Chiaverini did EXTENSIVE research to write the book as she does with all her writings. It was VERY interesting and a great history lesson as well. Quite fascinating to say the least!!
Wow, that is such an old piece of clothing I'd almost be afraid to touch it lol. Seems like the silk is in wonderful condition for it being so damn old.
The garment is made out of silk and is easily prone to shredding as it ages. Exposure to light has a tendency to fade the fabric even in indirect light. If you will notice the garment was more than likely stored in a acid free box with acid free tissue. The conservator also wore gloves so that the fabric would not receive any further damage from grime and naturally occurring oils in the skin and not to mention air pollution.. Many museums limit the time frequencies that a garment can be placed on display.
Very interesting, thats the thing about restoration, when the item becomes too restored, the replacement parts end up being the majority and then the history you are looking at is basically a new item that just looks the same with almost nothing left of the original connection. Its ashame things deteriorate but would rather see something worn away and original than a replica.
Dr Cornelius . This box is way too small . Can't you have a box made large enough to keep the dress perfectly flat and unfolded . You can't have creases on old silk. Silk is made from animal protein (literally worm saliva ) and it breaks when creased for too long . You need to have the folds only following the seam lines , nowhere else, and place layers and layers of silk paper between the layers of fabrics to avoid direct contact and friction . Also make sure the box is made of unvarnished and untreated paulownia wood, with a perfectly fitted lid. Paulownia is breathy and naturally insect repellent . If you store the piece in it after display, you can keep it without extra care . Also never display silk when the weather is humid and never store it away unless it has been made to dry thoroughly first , whether naturally or artificially . And it would still need to be aired once or twice a year . Silk is organic and biodegrades very easily if not properly taken care of . This is not like cotton or wool which is as dead a fabric as cut hair or clipped nails . Silk is a protein fiber such as Fibroin so basically an enzyme . You can't store it like cotton , wool, or even leather .
This historical reference is nice, however, I've come to know when a historian talks about a piece in Fashion, they tend to dismiss allot. First thing, she most likely didn't travel for this dress, given the transportation and the time it will take to complete it especially for the time period. Also, she diffently spent allot of money on the dress, even in today's standard, a silk brocade dress will cost you, especially given the length and fullness of the gown.
What pretty clothes they had back then! However, women did not go through their closets for what to wear. They wore their closets. Corsets, hoop skirt, etc.
Teri Wells You're assuming the author is factual - if she wrote in reverse - your would embrace his memories? People never know that which they don't observe...
My Great Grand Mother born in 1861 in Key West taught my Grand mother to preserve gowns , Wedding Dresses . Were to be covered in deep black Velvet so no lite would distort color or texture of the gown. So surprise to see her dress in a cardboard box with white tissues believe or not light still will inflate. That box.
Ocilia Canton US TOO!! I think this has to be a southern or coastal thing to do. My grandmother told me when we would move the winter clothing upstairs and take the summer clothing out. To wrap everything in tissue paper or rice paper then wrap the garment or garments in green velvet, burgundy velvet or black velvet then tie that off with twine or string and place it folded in the cedar chest.
Yes all that .and remember all this was passed down from the 1800 or maybe further back, the clothes were supposed to be passed on down, clothes were very expensive and some handmade.
