Textile Experts Say Lincoln's Coat Shouldn't See Light of Day
The exhibit would be haunting: the famous bloodstained overcoat President Abraham Lincoln was wearing at Ford's Theatre the night he was assassinated, placed on display under protective glass in the lobby of the renovated theater for the world to see.
Visitors could view it up close. Passersby could glimpse it from the street 24 hours a day. And the coat, its lining embroidered with the phrase "One Country, One Destiny," would be a moving symbol of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth next year.
But now some textile conservators are worried that the hallowed garment might be too fragile to return to full-time display when the theater reopens in February, and instead ought to be sheltered for the good of posterity.
Light and gravity can doom historic clothing, they say. And the Brooks Brothers coat, like other Lincoln garments, had been on almost continuous display from the time they were acquired in 1968 until Ford's was closed for renovation last year, officials said.
"It might be that it's time to put these things away and not to exhibit them to the public if there's any hope of saving them for future generations," said Cathy Heffner, president of Textile Preservation Associates, who said she examined the clothes for the National Park Service last month.
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Visitors could view it up close. Passersby could glimpse it from the street 24 hours a day. And the coat, its lining embroidered with the phrase "One Country, One Destiny," would be a moving symbol of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth next year.
But now some textile conservators are worried that the hallowed garment might be too fragile to return to full-time display when the theater reopens in February, and instead ought to be sheltered for the good of posterity.
Light and gravity can doom historic clothing, they say. And the Brooks Brothers coat, like other Lincoln garments, had been on almost continuous display from the time they were acquired in 1968 until Ford's was closed for renovation last year, officials said.
"It might be that it's time to put these things away and not to exhibit them to the public if there's any hope of saving them for future generations," said Cathy Heffner, president of Textile Preservation Associates, who said she examined the clothes for the National Park Service last month.