A piece of the White House china service purchased by Mary Todd Lincoln.	Inkwell used by Abraham Lincoln in the White House.	Bronze paperweight in the shape of a bird, used by Abraham Lincoln on his desk at the White House.

As the couple, like so many others, prepared for their evening out together, their home was filled with the sounds of their son Tad playing with his toy sword, portraits on the mantel, with gloves, shawl and fan at hand. Both Tad’s parents were thrilled that following the surrender at Appomattox, so many families could greet their sons coming home from war, as they had Robert earlier that day. Yet even on that celebratory evening, like so many others, Mary might have had to pry her husband from his office—to put his documents under the paperweight, for another day.  If she could not divert him, he would sit long into the night, scribbling at his desk, the same desk where hundreds of letters had been penned to grieving widows or heads of state, as the cares of the nation had weighed so heavily on President Lincoln. But now he and his wife might look forward to not just a carefree evening out, but to a bright future agenda; on a carriage ride earlier in the day they had discussed plans for travel and happier days ahead. But first, they would take in a comedy at the theater, on April 14th, 1865…

By Catherine Clinton, author of the biography Mrs. Lincoln: A Life.