Abraham Lincoln's Top Hat
date: label: date made
content: mid 19th century
name: label: user
content: Lincoln, Abraham
label: maker
content: Davis, J. Y.
notes: label: Description
content: At six feet four inches tall, Lincoln towered over most of his contemporaries. He chose to stand out even more by wearing high top hats. He acquired this hat from J. Y. Davis, a Washington hat maker. Lincoln had the black silk mourning band added in remembrance of his son Willie. No one knows when he obtained the hat, or how often he wore it. The last time he put it on was to go to Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865.
label: Description
content: After Lincoln’s assassination, the War Department preserved his hat and other material left at Ford’s Theatre. With permission from Mary Lincoln, the department gave the hat to the Patent Office, which, in 1867, transferred it to the Smithsonian Institution. Joseph Henry, the Secretary of the Smithsonian, ordered his staff not to exhibit the hat “under any circumstance, and not to mention the matter to any one, on account of there being so much excitement at the time.” It was immediately placed in a basement storage room.
label: Description
content: The American public did not see the hat again until 1893, when the Smithsonian lent it to an exhibition hosted by the Lincoln Memorial Association. Today it is one of the Institution’s most treasured objects.
label: Description
content: Transfer from the War Department with permission from Mary Lincoln, 1867
place: label: place made
content: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
label: worn at
content: United States: District of Columbia, Ford's Theater
topic: label: referenced
content: Assassination
label: used
content: Presidents
label: related event
content: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, Presidential History Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: Clothing & Accessories
label: See more items in
content: National Treasures exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: American Presidency
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Kendrick, Kathleen M. and Peter C. Liebhold. Smithsonian Treasures of American History
label: Related Publication
content: Rubenstein, Harry R.. Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: War Department
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PL.9321
label: accession number
content: 38912
label: catalog number
content: 9321
objectType: label: Object Name
content: top hat
label: Object Type
content: Hats
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: silk (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 in x 10 3/8 in x 12 in; 17.78 cm x 26.35504 cm x 30.48 cm