Elizabeth Keckley - The White House Years

The White House Years

Elizabeth Keckley met Mary Todd Lincoln on March 4, 1861, the day of Abraham Lincoln's first inauguration. As she was preparing for the day's events, Mrs. Lincoln asked Keckley to return the next day for an interview. When she arrived, Keckley found other women there to be interviewed as well, but Mrs. Lincoln chose her as her personal modiste.

In addition to dressmaking, Keckley assisted Mrs. Lincoln each day as her personal dresser. She also helped Mrs. Lincoln prepare for official receptions and other social events. For the next six years, Keckley became an intimate witness to the private life of the First Family. Known for her love of fashion, the First Lady kept Keckley busy maintaining and creating new pieces for her extensive wardrobe. Within four months, Keckley made approximately sixteen dresses. Mrs. Lincoln was known to be difficult. Rosetta Wells said that Keckley was "the only person in Washington who could get along with Mrs. Lincoln, when she became mad with anybody for talking about her and criticizing her husband." Their friendship fostered Keckley's lifelong loyalty to the First Lady.

During the Lincoln administration (and many years afterward), Keckley was the sole designer and creator of Mary Todd Lincoln's event wardrobe. In January 1862, Mrs. Lincoln went for photos to Brady's Washington Photography Studio, where she had images taken while wearing two of Keckley's gowns. For several years to come, she wore Keckley's dresses to many official events and had more portraits taken while wearing her work.

In her sweeping historical novel, Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker published by Dutton on January 15, 2013, New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini illuminates the extraordinary relationship between First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, beginning in the hallowed halls of the White House during the trials of the Civil War and enduring almost, but not quite, to the end of Mrs. Lincoln’s days. Chiaverini is the author of the New York Times bestselling Elm Creek Quilts series.