United States National Museum Bulletin 250
Contributions from
The Museum of History and Technology
Paper 62, pages 109-120
WHITE HOUSE CHINA OF THE LINCOLN ADMINISTRATION
in the Museum Of History And Technology
Margaret Brown Klapthor
Smithsonian Press
Washington, D.C.
1967
WHITE HOUSE COLLECTION
Figure 1: A table setting showing the Lincolnchina being used for a luncheon
during the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Margaret Brown Klapthor
WHITE HOUSE CHINA
OF THE
LINCOLN ADMINISTRATION
In the Museum of History and Technology
This article on the china of the administration of President AbrahamLincoln is intended to be the first of a series of articles onPresidential china based on the collection in the SmithsonianInstitution. From contemporary records in National Archives, newspaperarticles and family records it is our hope to assemble material whichwill ultimately present the story of White House and Presidentialchina of every administration. Myths and facts surrounding thisinteresting topic will be examined and presented to assist the manycollectors of this porcelain as well as others who admire andappreciate its historical interest.
In this first article, the author describes the efforts of Mrs.Abraham Lincoln to acquire porcelain suitable for officialentertaining in the White House.
The Author: Margaret Brown Klapthor is associate curator of politicalhistory in the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of History andTechnology.
When Mrs. Lincoln arrived at the White House in 1861 she found the pantrysadly deficient in elegant tableware to set a State dinner. The lastofficial State service had been purchased by the White House during theadministration of President Franklin Pierce (it is the china knownpopularly as the “red edge” set), and not enough of that was left to servea large dinner party.
Theodore R. Davis, who designed the State china purchased during theadministration of President Rutherford B. Hayes, wrote an article,published in the May 1899 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal, on the“Presidential Porcelain of a Century.” He records that in 1860 he saw theState Dining Room of the White House set up for the formal dinner given[Pg 112]for the visiting Prince of Wales, and that “the dishes were more or lessodd, but generally comprised what was known as the ‘red edge set’.”
Chinaware was not the only thing needed in the Executive Mansion in theopinion of Mary Todd Lincoln.