News---Now Lincoln's Theatre Coat Belongs To The Ages

Ford's Theatre to Curtail Display of Lincoln Coat, Michael E. Ruane, Washington Post,January 8, 2009

Officials at Ford's Theatre have decided not to put on permanent display the embroidered overcoat Abraham Lincoln wore the night he was assassinated in 1865. The theater, on 10th Street NW, had wanted to exhibit the bloodstained coat in a special protective glass case in the lobby, where it would have been visible through the windows 24 hours a day. The coat, its lining embroidered with the phrase "One Country, One Destiny," was to be a signature element of the theater's renovation and the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth next month.

But some textile conservators expressed concern, saying the coat was too old, too fragile and too famous for long-term display. Officials at the theater, which is in the final stages of a $50 million renovation project, now agree. Paul R. Tetreault, the theater's producing director, said the decision was made to display the coat only from the Feb. 11 reopening until April 15. The original will then go back into storage, and a replica will replace it.

"What we realized is: To have [the coat] on display constantly, 365 days a year, would be problematic," he said. "We were unaware of the various surveys over the years that the coat had actually been deteriorating. So what we decided is, we really don't want to continue to contribute to the deterioration." But "the public has a right" to see such artifacts, he said.

"They own these relics," he said. "The question is, how do you bring them out with the proper conservation and the proper care? And what we determined is . . . we'll display the original coat for the opening of the theater, for the Lincoln bicentennial, up to the anniversary of Lincoln's death, on the 15th of April." It can then be brought from storage for special occasions, he said. Lincoln was shot at the theater by actor John Wilkes Booth the night of April 14 and died the next morning in a boardinghouse across the street.

The theater has been closed since August 2007 for the renovation. Among other things, it is getting new heating and air conditioning systems, seats, stage rigging, dressing rooms and elevators, as well as a new control room, gift shop and conference room. Its grand reopening ceremony is set for Feb. 11. "It's going to be terrific," Tetreault said. "It's really going to be great."

Text and Image Source: Washington Post, January 8, 2009
Caption: Before President Abraham Lincoln's clothes were stored in September 2007 for Ford's Theatre's renovation, museum curator Gloria Swift provided another glimpse of his blood-stained coat. (Photo by Michael Williamson -- The Washington Post)

News: Moving Day For Lincoln's Bloodied Suit, With Shaky Voices, Sweaty Palms

Museum Packs Up Clothes In Which Lincoln Was Slain, By Michael E. Ruane, Washington Post, September 9, 2007

WASHINGTON - The square-toed, goatskin boots that Abraham Lincoln had on that night at Ford's Theatre were worn down at the heels. His long, black frock coat was unadorned. Its buttons were of plain gray metal. And most of what he wore as he sat in the private box on Good Friday of 1865 comes down to us still stained with his blood.

Thursday, under police escort, the National Park Service transported the assassinated president's clothing and other items from the Ford's Theatre museum to a Park Service storage center in Maryland, where they will remain while the theater undergoes an 18-month renovation. But before the items went onto the shelves - and out of public view for a year and a half - curators provided an up-close glimpse of garments linked to one of the most tragic moments in American history.

One by one, Gloria Swift, a Civil War expert and the curator of the museum, opened the acid-free boxes in which she and others had packed the clothes Lincoln was wearing when he was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865. Wearing white cotton gloves, she carefully removed the layers of white tissue in which the articles were placed. The president's black silk tie emerged, with the trim bow in front. "Isn't that incredible?" Swift said.

Then came his black cotton vest, with six buttons and four pockets. And his shin-high boots. "Aren't these beautiful?" Swift said. "Lincoln has a modern-day size-14 shoe." The president stood about 6 feet 4 inches tall. Swift had meticulously removed the clothes from the life-size mannequin on which they are displayed in the museum. "It was really neat to get the clothing off and really look at it," she said. Of Lincoln's black broadcloth pants, she said: "I didn't notice, we've got some bloodstains here on the knees, and I never noticed that, as it was in the (display) case." The thinking is that the president slumped forward after being mortally wounded in the back of the head, she said.



There are bloodstains, too, on the black, double-breasted frockcoat he wore that evening as he sought to relax, with the four anguished years of the Civil War coming to a close. "There's no adornment," Swift said. "There's nothing presidential. This is your typical well-dressed man's suit of 1865." And blood is on the overcoat that curators think was over the president's shoulders or the back of his chair. The coat was made for Lincoln's second inauguration, Swift said. Embroidered in the black lining are an eagle, shields, and the words, "One Country, One Destiny."

"It's almost undescribable," Swift said of touching Lincoln's clothing. "It is very chilling in some cases, knowing what you're handling." "And it's also very exciting," she said. "Because to me the objects are a true connection to the past. . . . They're not just things. These are real items (linked) to a real story."

Pamela Beth West, director of the Park Service's 52,000-square-foot National Capital Region Museum Resource Center, where the artifacts will be kept, said, "We deal with this stuff day in and day out. And every once in a while you take that moment to pause, and you do something like this, and sometimes it's almost overwhelming." Marius Horgos, a member of the moving crew from Interstate Worldwide Relocation, said his palms were sweaty as he watched the clothing unboxed. "I've traveled a lot in Europe and the United States, too," said Horgos, a native of Romania, "But Lincoln is a very special figure. He freed the African-American people. Even my voice is shaking." Thomas Blichard, another member of the moving crew, said, "I've got two grandsons, and I'll be able to tell them both I've seen it with my own two eyes. This is a historical day for me."


Above: Contents of Lincoln's pockets at the time of the assassination.

For Further Reading: Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, James L. Swanson, and Lincoln's Assassins: Their Trial and Execution, James L. Swanson and Daniel Weinberg