Date: ca. 1865-1882 Creator: J. Ward & Son Medium: Photograph
This image shows Mary Lincoln in mourning, her veil lifted back to show her face, as was customary etiquette for widows when not outdoors or in public spaces. She does not appear to be in what was called “deep” or “first” mourning, the earliest phase of mourning that lasted one year and one day. Although rules dictating appropriate mourning attire were complex and confusing by the mid-nineteenth century, with different sources offering conflicting rules, this period generally required black accessories, plain, heavy veils, and dresses made with lusterless fabrics like crape or bombazine—a dense fabric made of silk and wool. Mrs. Lincoln’s white cuffs and collar, embellished bonnet, and the absence of swaths of crinkled crape on her black gown suggest she is in “second” or “third” mourning, both of which required significantly less quantities of the fabrics specifically used for mourning.
Library of Congress
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Mary Todd Lincoln's Mourning Fan
Date: ca. 1865 Creator: Unknown Medium: Wood, sequins, silk
This mourning fan with moiré—a type of shimmering silk—trimmed with sequins in dot, star, flower, and leaf designs, and set on black carved wood sticks belonged to First Lady Mary Lincoln. The sparkle of the sequins and the lustrous silk leaves in light shades of gray or purple suggest this accessory was purchased after Mrs. Lincoln concluded her year-long period of first mourning.
Chicago Historical Society
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"Spirit Photograph" of Abraham and Mary Lincoln
Date: 1872 Creator: William H. Mumler Medium: Photograph
The photographer W.H. Mumler, who claimed to be able to take photographs of deceased people’s ghosts, wrote of Mrs. Lincoln visiting his Boston studio in 1872. The former first lady gave a pseudonym and wore a crape veil “so thick it was impossible to distinguish a single feature of her face.” She refused to remove her veil until a moment before the photograph was taken. Mumler then imposed an image of Abraham Lincoln over the photograph of Mrs. Lincoln. Additionally, Mumler’s wife told the grieving former first lady that she had convened with the spirit of Mrs. Lincoln’s most recently deceased son, Tad. Mumler recounted that Mrs. Lincoln cried “tears of joy that she had again found her loved ones, and apparently anxious to learn, if possible, how long before she could join them in their spirit home.” The photo shows Mrs. Lincoln’s dress and bonnet decorated with tucks or ruffles of dark fabric, possibly mourning crape.
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Transfer from Special Collections, Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library/Bequest of Evert Jansen Wendell
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Cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana - Widow and Daughters, in Full Mourning, Carrying Flowers and Wreaths to Adorn the Graves of Their Relatives Killed in the War
Date: April 1863 Creator: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper Medium: Engraving
This image shows how women and girls in first mourning would look in public; their veils would usually be lowered over their faces. In 1857, the fashion magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine hinted at the burden this placed on women with this wry advice for widows: “[Her] veil, then, is of double crape; and no matter what the state of the atmosphere may be, woe to her if [a stickler for etiquette] should see her raise it before the proscribed twelve months have passed. She may breathe comfortably after that, if she chooses, or go on blinding and stifling herself three or five years, if she chooses.” The artist may have drawn two of the women with their veils thrown back, against custom, to depict their facial expressions clearly.
Mouseion Archives/Alamy Stock Photo
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Lincoln's Funeral in the East Room, April 19, 1865
Date: May 6, 1868 Creator: Unknown Medium: Engraving
President Abraham Lincoln's funeral in the East Room was depicted three years after the president’s death, and shows the catafalque and windows draped in black cloth. First Lady Mary Lincoln was added to the scene by the artist, although she did not attend the East Room funeral. The artist represented her in first mourning—she wears entirely black clothes and a long veil over her hair and face.
Harper's Weekly
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The Grand Review at Washington May 23, 1865: The Glorious Army of the Republic Passing the Head Stand
Date: May 23, 1865 Creator: Casimir Bohn Medium: Lithograph
In the background of this lithograph, the columns of the North Portico are depicted, still wrapped in mourning crape over a month after President Lincoln’s death.
Library of Congress
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The White House Draped in Mourning
Date: April 15 - May 22, 1865 Creator: Unknown Medium: Stereograph
In the corner of this image, the mourning fabric wrapped around the North Portico columns can be seen, as well as streamers of black cloth decorating the North Door entrance and flanking windows.
White House Historical Association/White House Collection
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