Items in Lincoln's Pocket
When Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865, he
was carrying two pairs of spectacles and a lens polisher, a pocketknife, a watch fob, a linen
handkerchief, and a brown leather wallet containing a five-dollar Confederate note and nine
newspaper clippings, including several favorable to the president and his policies. Given to his
son Robert Todd upon Lincoln's death, these everyday items, which through association with
tragedy had become like relics, were kept in the Lincoln family for more than seventy years. They
came to the Library in 1937 as part of the gift from Lincoln's granddaughter, Mary Lincoln
Isham, whose gift included several books and daguerreotypes, a silver inkstand, and Mary Todd
Lincoln's seed-pearl necklace and matching bracelets.
It is quite unusual for the Library to keep personal artifacts among its holdings, and they were not
put on display until 1976, when then Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin thought their
exposure would humanize a man who had become "mythologically engulfed." But the availability
of these artifacts has only piqued interest in the Lincoln myth--the contents of Lincoln's pockets
are among the items visitors to the Library most often ask to see.
was carrying two pairs of spectacles and a lens polisher, a pocketknife, a watch fob, a linen
handkerchief, and a brown leather wallet containing a five-dollar Confederate note and nine
newspaper clippings, including several favorable to the president and his policies. Given to his
son Robert Todd upon Lincoln's death, these everyday items, which through association with
tragedy had become like relics, were kept in the Lincoln family for more than seventy years. They
came to the Library in 1937 as part of the gift from Lincoln's granddaughter, Mary Lincoln
Isham, whose gift included several books and daguerreotypes, a silver inkstand, and Mary Todd
Lincoln's seed-pearl necklace and matching bracelets.
It is quite unusual for the Library to keep personal artifacts among its holdings, and they were not
put on display until 1976, when then Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin thought their
exposure would humanize a man who had become "mythologically engulfed." But the availability
of these artifacts has only piqued interest in the Lincoln myth--the contents of Lincoln's pockets
are among the items visitors to the Library most often ask to see.