Sale 2471 - Printed & Manuscript African Americana, March 29, 2018

380 c   (WOMEN.) Pair of slippers said to be made by Elizabeth Keckley for the use of cabinet member Gideon Welles at Lincoln’s second inauguration. Pair of crocheted men’s silk yarn boudoir slippers in a red, white and blue patriotic pattern sewn to leather soles, the soles being 10 1 / 4 inches long and 3 inches wide; light fading and soiling, half-inch areas of wear at the back of each slipper, but generally well-preserved. [Washington, March 1865] [10,000/15,000] Elizabeth Keckley (1818-1907) was perhaps the leading seamstress in mid-19th century Washington. She was born into slavery in Virginia, and was able to buy her own freedom in 1855. She arrived in Washington in 1860 and very quickly developed a brilliant reputation; she was best known as dressmaker and confidante to the president’s wife Mary Todd Lincoln. Her other prominent customers included Mary Jane Hale Welles, the wife of Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles. The slippers offered here were consigned by a great-great-grandson of Gideon Welles. According to family lore, they were created by Elizabeth Keckley for Gideon’s use at Lincoln’s 4 March 1865 second inaugu- ration. While they are not signed and cannot be definitively attributed to Keckley, several pieces of historical evidence support the family’s assertion. Keckley did some work for Mary Jane Welles in the summer of 1861. Keckley’s best customer Mary Todd Lincoln regarded Mrs. Welles as her only close friend among the wives of Washington politicians. Keckley was actively involved in the 1865 inauguration, sewing a white silk dress for Mrs. Lincoln and helping her wear it; she attended the special “colored” reception and congrat- ulated President Lincoln personally. After Lincoln’s April 1865 assassination, Keckley and Welles were the grieving widow’s primary support network. In short, Keckley had a long relationship with the Welles family by the time of the second inauguration. See Jennifer Fleischner’s book “Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley,” pages 222, 259, 271, 279-280, 286, and 288.