Inkwell given to Elizabeth Keckly
name: label: associated person
content: Lincoln, Abraham
label: associated person
content: Keckley, Elizabeth
label: associated institution
content: White House, The
notes: label: Description
content: Elizabeth Keckly asked Mary Lincoln for keepsakes from the president and received several items, including this inkwell. In 1874 she presented it to Rev. George Van Deurs, her minister at the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington.
label: Description
content: Elizabeth Keckly (often spelled Keckley) was born into slavery in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. An accomplished dressmaker, she earned enough money to buy her freedom and her son’s. In 1861 Keckly was living in Washington, D.C., when she was introduced to Mary Lincoln.
label: Description
content: Keckly became Mary’s principal dressmaker, a trusted confidant, and an intimate friend. It was a close, complicated, unequal relationship—the women were drawn together by genuine affection and divided by class and race.
label: Description
content: Gift of Capt. George Van Deurs, USN, grandson of Rev. George Van Deurs, 1949
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
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: Capt. George van Deurs, USN
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PL.046663
label: catalog number
content: 46663
label: accession number
content: 181810
objectType: label: Object Name
content: inkwell
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: painted (overall production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: brown, black (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 3/4 in x 3 1/2 in; 4.445 cm x 8.89 cm