Laura Keene's Bloodstained Cuff
name: label: associated person
content: Keene, Laura
label: associated person
content: Lincoln, Abraham
notes: label: Description
content: On the evening of Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln decided to spend a relaxing evening at the theater. The Lincolns and their two guests, Clara Harris and Maj. Henry Rathbone, arrived late to Ford’s Theatre for a production of Our American Cousin. As the president entered the theater, the crowd wildly cheered and the orchestra played “Hail to the Chief.” Lincoln set his silk hat on the floor, and the actors resumed where they had left off.
label: Description
content: At about 10:15 p.m., John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box, pointed a derringer pistol at the back of the president’s head and fired. Booth then pulled out a knife, slashed Rathbone, and jumped onto the stage, declaring “Sic semper tyrannis”—“Thus always to tyrants,” the Virginia state motto. Despite breaking his leg as he hit the stage, Booth escaped backstage and onto a waiting horse.
label: Description
content: The play’s leading actress, Laura Keene, rushed with water to the president’s box. As she cradled the president’s head, drops of his blood stained her cuff. She gave the cuff to her nephew, M. J. Adler, who preserved it throughout his life.
label: Description
content: Bequest of Virginia Adler Thompson, daughter of M. J. Adler, 1962
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Associated Place
content: United States: District of Columbia, Ford's Theater
topic: label: general subject association
content: National Symbols
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, General History Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: Selections from the Abraham Lincoln Collection
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Rubenstein, Harry R.. Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Virginia Adler Thompson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PL.242707.01
label: catalog number
content: 242707.01
label: accession number
content: 242707
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sleeve cuff
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: white (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 in x 9 in; 7.62 cm x 22.86 cm