We recently went to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

As I love embroidery, I was very much interested in the dresses of Mrs. Lincoln. I would never want to wear one but the workmanship on them is incredible!

Mrs. Lincoln, looks a bit stout in her photos but she was surprisingly tiny.

The bodice though of course they would have used real flowers.

A close up of the embroidery.

The following are dresses that belonged to Mrs. Lincoln’s contemporaries. 

This one is my favorite, how heavy it must have been!

In contrast to such finery and displays of wealth is this display showing the separation of a family at a slave auction, a scene Lincoln witnessed and was haunted by.

On a lighter note, this display showed Lincoln seemingly amused by his sons’ shenanigans.  They said, the other people in the law offices did not like the boys coming to the office as they reigned terror over all while their father ignored the chaos they created.

The outside of the museum.

This mural was a block or so over from the museum.

And yes he is staring at you.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2018