Abraham Lincoln's Top Hat
J. Y. Davis, Washington hat maker · About 1865
A tall black silk hat, worn and slightly crushed, stands alone in a case in the presidency gallery, and it is instantly recognisable even without a label. Abraham Lincoln bought it from J. Y. Davis, a Washington hat maker, and wore it to Ford's Theatre on the night of the fourteenth of April 1865, when John Wilkes Booth shot him during the play. He was already six feet four inches tall, and the hat added another twenty centimetres. Around the crown is a thin band of black silk that Lincoln had added in mourning for his son Willie, who had died three years earlier at the age of eleven.
Look closely at the brim and crown, and you will see how the silk has been rubbed thin from handling. Lincoln famously used the hat as a filing cabinet, tucking letters and notes inside it, and he raised it to greet people so often that the edge of the brim is worn down where his fingers gripped it. The hat maker's label is still inside. It is a fashionable stovepipe shape, but of a modest quality; Lincoln was not a vain dresser, and this was an everyday hat.
After the assassination the War Department took charge of the hat and passed it to the Patent Office, which transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1867, with instructions that it not be shown, for fear of upsetting the public. It stayed in a box for years, and was later displayed only occasionally. Today it is the single most important object in the presidency exhibition, and the museum takes it off view from time to time to rest the silk. When it is here, it draws a quiet crowd. Few objects bring a person so close.
Did You Know? Lincoln kept letters and notes inside this hat and used it as a portable filing cabinet.
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