Belle Montgomery
2nd Lieutenant
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2017
- Location
- 44022
You're welcome! I only wish more authentic dresses were saved and had videos made about them from that era. Not everyone can make it to the different museums they display them in.@Belle Montgomery, I love these kind of threads! Thanks for sharing this!!!
I suspect it was asked of her in order to make it seem like the President and others had more control over the conflict than they did. You know, “Act normal, this will all blow over in a few months, mustnt be seen to panic”. Rather than cruelty on Mr. Lincolns part.Great video! It must be pure fun to work in a library and museum like that (although not necessarily a Lincoln-centered one for me personally ).
How interesting that Mr. Cornelius pointed out that after the outbreak of the Civil War Lincoln wanted Mary to live as if the rebellion was not happening! Why would that have been? Was he really underestimating what was happening, or was it a kind of whistling in the dark, a forced boost of morale? He must have known that as a Southern born woman, Mary's heart would be torn between both sides - I find it pretty cruel to ask of her to pretend that everything was normal... So maybe she was not quite as happy wearing that dress as Mr. Cornelius stated when he said it was made for her in one of the happiest times of her life...
That's basically what everyone thought at first..."it'll be over in a few months" So sad.I suspect it was asked of her in order to make it seem like the President and others had more control over the conflict than they did. You know, “Act normal, this will all blow over in a few months, mustnt be seen to panic”. Rather than cruelty on Mr. Lincolns part.
I couldn't agree with you more! Plus all the tragedy she suffered losing her son...people were clueless how strong she was then and now. "But there before the grace of God go I"ps, So sorry I missed this @Belle Montgomery . Yes, I'm extremely interested in Mary Todd, poor thing. I'm not sure we have another example in our history of anyone so continuously vilified we're still at it today. There's been a shift but the old myths stubbornly persist. Her dresses for instance and how she had to be bailed out when the bills were staggering. Yes, she did but had been courted as a famous customer and was given to believe her wearing of them was part of an era, common practice. Designers ( Keckley aside ) would ask society women in the public eye to wear their work, who doesn't look at the President's wife- she'd been told the dresses and apparel received were part of this practice, no charge, cost made up in advertising.
She's always seemed to me a tragic example where the whole war was reflected in her life. Born Southern, raised in a high profile, aristocratic family she married the enemiest enemy of them all. Rejected by Southerners for marrying him, considered a Southerner hence suspect by Northern society, she had no one. And as newspapers pointed out at the time, easier to attack and shove around a female than get to her husband.
Thanks. The strawberry dress video was interesting. I, too, think Mary Todd was and continues to be "vilified". She went through so much and instead of support received condemnation. Even from her son Robert.
I've seen that awful episode explained portraying Robert as some frazzled man doing the best he could and getting care for his poor crazy mother. Not at all convinced- seems to me he took terrific care of himself in distancing himself from her. She couldn't do a thing right or anything at all without it ending up in newspapers. The single gripe I've had with Lincoln is he never made an effort to stand up for her- Robert seems to have inherited that tendency.
Why is it that the dress in the museum appears to be black, while in the photograph of Mary Todd Lincoln wearing it, it appears to be white? Did the fabric age and became darker?
Oh I don't know… she sure had a complicated personality. It's hard for us to judge, but the fact that her husband and her own son had their troubles with Mary makes me think they sure knew better than we ever will...
That was his mother.