Square linen handkerchief, silk border, "ML" monogram to one corner, 11 1/8 x 11 1/4 in. 

 

Provenance: Mary Todd Lincoln; by descent to Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith (1904-1985) great grandson of President and Mrs. Lincoln; to Ralph Geoffrey Newman (1911-1998) noted Abraham Lincoln scholar; by descent to present owner. 

 

RARE: Ralph Geoffrey Newman, Lincoln scholar and dealer, hosted a monthly gathering in Chicago called the Civil War Round Table. He first briefly met Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith at the Library of Congress on 26 July 1947 when the Robert Todd Lincoln papers were unsealed. Afterward, Newman and Beckwith were not in contact again until 1964. Ralph Newman chaired the Illinois Commission for the New York World's Fair, working with Walt Disney to create the Land of Lincoln Pavilion, which included an animatronic figure of Lincoln; Newman invited Beckwith to an event celebrating "Illinois Day" at the fair, and a friendship between the two began to develop. Martha Todd Lincoln's handkerchief was stored at Hildene, the Vermont summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln, for many years; on the death of his sister, Beckwith inherited Hildene and all the contents of the house.