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قراءة كتاب White House China of the Lincoln Administration in the Museum of History and Technology
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White House China of the Lincoln Administration in the Museum of History and Technology
United States National Museum Bulletin 250
Contributions from
The Museum of History and Technology
Paper 62, pages 109-120
WHITE HOUSE CHINA OF THE LINCOLN ADMINISTRATION
in the Museum Of History And Technology
Margaret Brown Klapthor
Smithsonian Press
Washington, D.C.
1967
WHITE HOUSE COLLECTION
Figure 1: A table setting showing the Lincoln china being used for a luncheon
during the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Margaret Brown Klapthor
WHITE HOUSE CHINA
OF THE
LINCOLN ADMINISTRATION
In the Museum of History and Technology
This article on the china of the administration of President Abraham Lincoln is intended to be the first of a series of articles on Presidential china based on the collection in the Smithsonian Institution. From contemporary records in National Archives, newspaper articles and family records it is our hope to assemble material which will ultimately present the story of White House and Presidential china of every administration. Myths and facts surrounding this interesting topic will be examined and presented to assist the many collectors of this porcelain as well as others who admire and appreciate its historical interest.
In this first article, the author describes the efforts of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln to acquire porcelain suitable for official entertaining in the White House.
The Author: Margaret Brown Klapthor is associate curator of political history in the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of History and Technology.
When Mrs. Lincoln arrived at the White House in 1861 she found the pantry sadly deficient in elegant tableware to set a State dinner. The last official State service had been purchased by the White House during the administration of President Franklin Pierce (it is the china known popularly as the “red edge” set), and not enough of that was left to serve a large dinner party.
Theodore R. Davis, who designed the State china purchased during the administration of President Rutherford B. Hayes, wrote an article, published in the May 1899 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal, on the “Presidential Porcelain of a Century.” He records that in 1860 he saw the State Dining Room of the White House set up for the formal dinner given for the visiting Prince of Wales, and that “the dishes were more or less odd, but generally comprised what was known as the ‘red edge set’.”
Chinaware was not the only thing needed in the Executive Mansion in the opinion of Mary Todd Lincoln. Fortunately for her, Congress was accustomed to appropriating $20,000 to refurnish the President’s House to the taste of each new First Lady. This money became available to her when the special session was convened in April