Abraham Lincoln Custom Display Featuring Ford's Theatre Linen Swatch

A swatch of fabric excised from a linen tablecloth recycled from the painted curtain that hung in Ford's Theatre the night that 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was assassinated. The fragment of cream-colored linen is oblong and measures approximately .75" x .625." Expected wear including loose strands and a small hole near the center, otherwise very good. The swatch is affixed to a University Archives certification display sheet measuring 8.5" x 11."

On Friday, April 14, 1865 sometime between 10:15 and 10:30 p.m., actor John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865) shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., during a performance of "Our American Cousin," a popular English farce. Soldiers carried the unconscious President across 10th Street to the Petersen Boarding House, because doctors feared he would not survive the carriage ride back to the Executive Mansion, about a mile away. In the boarding house, he was placed diagonally on a bed in a back room rented by an army clerk. Despite the attendance of the best doctors in Washington, Lincoln’s wound proved mortal. He died at 7:22 a.m. on Saturday, April 15th.

Provenance:

The swatch is accompanied by PHOTOCOPIES of the following provenance information:

1. A copy of a handwritten note explaining the origins of the table cloth, reading:

"The table cover was made from the immense hand-painted curtain, of the stage, in the Ford theater, and was hanging there at the time Lincoln was shot. My great-grandfather worked in the theater at the time and bro't home the curtain when it was discarded, and his wife, (my great-grandmother) soaked it in gallons of turpentine to remove the painted scenery. There were many, many, yards in the piece and after she had thoroughly cleaned it, she supplied the household with tablecloths, sheets, slips and numerous other necessities. It was all of pure linen and very nice at the time she made the articles from it. This cover has had years of hard use, as can be seen. Mrs. L. M. Kellogg."

2. A typed box label once accompanied the above note and read: "ANTIQUE TABLE CLOTH – CIRCA 1865. This table cloth, part of a linen curtain panel removed from the Ford Theater shortly after President Lincoln was shot by Booth. A relative, employed at the theater, gave the panel to my Grandmother Crafts [sic] mother who cut it into many sizes and uses in the house. (please read her description of this.) - Martin Kellogg." A copy of this is not included here but originally accompanied the lot.

A Martin Kellogg who was a metalworker in Jamestown, New York in 1928 may be the person who owned the tablecloth. Martin Kellogg's "Grandmother Crafts" may have been Juliette Montague Cook Crafts (1847-1900) of Hadley and Whately, Massachusetts. She married Bela Kellogg Crafts (1841-1921) in 1865. Her mother was Angeline Kellogg Cook (1811-1881), and her father was James Cook Jr. (1807-1892), both of Hadley. The transformation of the Ford's Theatre curtain into this tablecloth and other items was thus probably the work of Angeline Kellogg Cook, who received the material from "a relative" described as her husband in the handwritten note.

3. Copies of a photograph of the tablecloth from which this swatch was clipped, as well as interior views of Ford's Theatre showing the stage curtains.

The table cloth was found in the attic of a Washington home wrapped up in a 1944 newspaper, alongside a section of Roosevelt-era fabric from a White House loveseat. All of the notes, emails, photos, and newspaper documentation relating to these items are kept in perpetuity in the University Archives provenance file. Sourced from and certified authentic by University Archives, one of the foremost authorities of historical relics and artifacts.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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