Lincoln’s Legacy: Historic Americana from the Life of Abraham Lincoln

1 p.; 8 x 4 3/4 in. (203 x 120 mm), on "Executive Mansion" stationery; Mary's note: 3 3/4 x 4 3/4 in. (95 x 121 mm); scattered spotting; light chipping at edges; some creasing.

Lincoln's note reads in full: "Mother, Please put something now in Tad's room." Mounted beneath his request is Mary Lincoln's autograph note to an unidentified recipient, presumably John Palmer Usher (1816-89), Secretary of the Interior: "Please give Tad a board & some plank Mrs Lincoln". An endorsement signed by Usher ("J.P. Usher") appears at top of verso, stating: "Will Mr. French please fix up the room of Master Tad Lincoln as he desires if it can properly be done". A second endorsement appears below Usher's, dated 20 May 1864, and is signed by Benjamin Brown French (1800-70), Commissioner of Public Buildings ("B.B.F."): "Wrote Mr. Haliday [White House carpenter] to do the work Tad wanted and I would see it paid for". Accompanying these notes is an envelope on which French has written: "President Mrs. Lincoln & Secy. Usher want Tad's room fixed. May 20. 1864 Ordered Mr. Haliday to fix it B.B.F."

Thomas "Tad" Lincoln (1853-71) was the fourth and youngest son of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. By many accounts, Lincoln doted on Tad with great affection, particularly after the death of Tad's older brother "Willie", from typhoid fever two years prior to these notes. Lincoln's close friend, journalist Noah Brooks (1830-1903), had described Tad as possessing an "irrepressible spirit of fun and mischief," and wrote this of Lincoln in his 1895 memoir: "[He] took great interest in everything that concerned Tad, and when the long day's work was done, and the little chap had related to the President all that had moved him or had take up his attention during the daylight hours, and had finally fallen asleep...the weary father would turn once more to his desk, and work on into the night, for his cares never ended. Then, shouldering the sleeping child, the man for whom millions of good men and women nightly prayed took his way through the silent corridors and passage to his boy's bedchamber." The note offered here affirms Lincoln's eagerness to meet the needs of his young child even amid the ongoing Civil War, and acts as a compelling reminder that while shouldering the burdens of his nation, Lincoln carried the burdens of home and family as well. 

Provenance:

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California

Exhibition:

The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America, at the Huntington Library, October 1993-August 1994