Kansas State Historical Society

The Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, KS will use grant funds to conserve a rare silk gown worn to President Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural ball. The dress was owned by Mrs. John Usher, the wife of President Lincoln’s Secretary of the Interior, who returned to Kansas after Lincoln’s assassination. The gown is a three-piece dress, consisting of a day bodice, jacket-style evening bodice, and skirt. The delicate fabric of the skirt has begun to split, and textile conservators will clean, repair, and stabilize each section of the dress allowing it to be exhibited to the community and in traveling exhibits as a whole garment, a tangible link to a great leader and to the troubled times of the Civil War.