Presidents Day with Abe and Mary

When I was in grade school, President Lincoln and President Washington each had a day in February that was a holiday. Now we celebrate President's Day. I am a total Lincoln fan and I am always looking for interesting Lincoln items. This is a photo of my latest Lincoln "gatherings". Some were found at sales and some were purchased at the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois last fall when we were there for my mother in law's funeral.

This framed print came from an estate sale last summer and cost me $5. I really like it even if it is not in perfect condition. The frame is perfect....red, white and blue!

I was able to pick up a few new goodies at the museum shop. This is a greeting card and on the back is the recipe for one of Lincoln's favorite cakes.

I love silhouettes! I wonder if this was set with George Washington? Another little estate sale find.

This next item is a little wooden souvenir book from Gettysburg. I picked this up at a flea market for $1. It has great postcards inside.

When I was choosing my treasures from the museum, I got in a delightful conversation with one of the volunteers. She asked me if I liked to read when I was looking at some of the books. Of course I told her yes. She showed me these two books. The first one is a novel and I am almost finsihed reading the book. It's an historical novel told by Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker, who had been a former slave. It is an easy read and delightful.

The second book is about Mary and Mrs Keckly and is not fictional The volunteer told me to read the novel first. She said they match up pretty well. Fun.

  I wanted to include my cup and saucer, on which I did a blog post a few years ago. It is a reproduction of the Lincoln's presidential china pattern. The museum used to offer them for sale but I had to track one down online. It's such a pretty pattern.

 I was so excited to find these little civil war miniature love letters and photos! LaVonne sent me the two miniature Lincoln books. Even Annabelle likes Lincoln.

If you are ever in Springfield, save time to go to the Lincoln Presidential Museum. It is fantastic.
When we were visiting, they told us they had just changed the policy and I was allowed to take pictures in certain area, without flash.

These next two photos show displays of where Lincoln's body was after his death in Washington DC before it traveled by train back to Springfield. It is so dark and quiet and you just get such a sense of how it must have been walking into that room in 1865.

One of the reasons I love anything "Lincoln" is because Jimmy grew up in Springfield, Illinois~Land of Lincoln. Most of his family is lives there. Isn't this a beautiful picture of the State Capital? That's actually Jim's brother's car. It was such a pretty early fall day.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my post. Sorry George, I just know more about Abe!

How do you picture Lincoln? This is how I think of him in my mind.

Tea Time Thursday # 5~The Lincoln China

I just finished a great book that I found at the library by Stephen Berry~THE HOUSE OF ABRAHAM. It really gives the reader a great deal of information on the Lincoln family and the Todd family and how the two families interacted during the civil war years. I've read many Lincoln books, but I learned so much about the families from this one.

I couldn't wait to see the Lincoln movie when it was released in November. We saw it on Thanksgiving and I wasn't disappointed. It really explained what Lincoln went through to get the 13th amendment
passed.

I am fascinated with Mary Todd Lincoln and I think Sally Field did a fantastic job in the movie. What a wonderful role to play at this point in her career. I saw several interviews on how she  really went all out to get the part.

On our last visit to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois, I bought this little ornament. It's a copy of the Lincoln's presidential china.  I really wanted to buy a cup and saucer but it was a bit out of my budget.

When the Lincolns went to the White House in 1861, Mary was upset with the china that was available for entertaining. We all know how she loved to entertain, so she worked with the EV Haughwout & CO of New York, to design a presidential china. She chose Haviland of France to help her. She wanted a white center with a scalloped border. The handpainted purple border was  known as ROYAL PURPLE and she chose a rope border to go with the purple border. The center was to have the American Eagle in the clouds. Of course, he was to have the arrows and the olive branch in his talons.
The motto "E Pluribus Unum" was to be added.

After Christmas, I decided to order that cup and saucer after a great Etsy season! As I was looking online for one, I discovered that the Wooodmere Company of Pennsylvania has discontinued their production of their version of the Royal Purple Lincoln china! Some museums had already sold out. I found that Replacements carried the cup and saucer so I ordered it from them. It arrived in a nice blue box.

Isn't it just beautiful! It also goes with the burgundy cup and saucers that I've been collecting~perfect for Tea Time Thursday.

It came with an official "Certificate of Authenticity"! Classy!

I've been using some music pages as a background for my photos. I found a great book at an Estate sale about Civil War songs. I found it interesting and love the graphics.

This is some wonderful Civil War music that I purchased at the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. It's a two disc set with lots of great music....very enjoyable.

I recently picked up this little interesting book at a flea market. I'm always on the hunt!

LaVonne in MT sent my Annabelle these treats for Valentine's Day. Can you believe she found two little miniature books on Lincoln? Amazing!

Last March when we were in Montana, I found these two oversized postcards...wonderful!

I saved all these Lincoln things for Tea Time Thursday as close to President's Day as I could get! I felt sorry for old George, so I did buy this sweet little dish with his image in the center. Happy President's Day week!