国会图书馆入藏两位前第一夫人书信：Martha Washington亲笔信为馆藏首件
美国国会图书馆10月21日宣布，该馆近日入藏两位前第一夫人 Martha Washington 与 Mary Todd Lincoln 的书信各一封，为研究者和公众了解这两位分别站在美国首任总统与内战时期总统身边的女性，提供了窥见其私人生活的珍贵材料。手稿部代理主任 Kevin Butterfield 表示，这座收藏美国历史材料最丰富、最广博的宝库仍在不断增长，有时就是一封信一封信地增长；这两件文献帮助讲述此前无法讲述的动人故事。
新入藏的 Martha Washington 书信写于1760年9月29日，收信人是 Margaret Bolan Green。信中，Martha 记述了她四岁的女儿 Patsy（Martha Parke Custis）刚从一场带着抽搐与发热的疾病中康复。出身 Dandridge 家族、守寡后保留 Custis 姓氏的 Martha 于1759年与 George Washington 成婚，两人共同抚养她第一次婚姻留下的两个孩子 Patsy 与 John "Jacky" Parke Custis；Patsy 后于17岁时因病势延续去世，Martha 的四个孩子全部先她而逝。
国会图书馆表示，这封信写于 George Washington 在法国与印第安人战争中任弗吉尼亚军团指挥官之后、成为新生的美国首任总统之前，为 Martha 的日常生活与个人历史留下罕见记录，因为留存于世的她的书信极少。该馆所藏乔治·华盛顿文件中有11封 Martha Washington 的书信，但无一出自她本人亲笔；新入藏的这封是手稿部收藏中首件她的亲笔书信。这封信是经 James Madison Council 的 Edwin L. Cox Legacy Trust 购入的，该信托是支持国会图书馆收购各类 Americana 材料的永久捐赠基金。
另一封新入藏书信由 Mary Todd Lincoln 写于1865年2月15日，收信人是印第安纳州前州长夫人 Caroline R. Wright，距林肯总统遇刺只有两个月。信中提到一只精美的发编花环，历史学家认为那是著名的「发鹰」（Hairy Eagle）：一件用头发编成的雄鹰栖于地球仪的框饰作品，所用头发来自多位知名政界人士及各自夫人，包括林肯总统与第一夫人；Wright 夫人委托制作这件作品，为救助生病和受伤的内战士兵筹款，并打算将其赠给林肯夫妇。她所用信笺的第一页边缘有一道细黑丧边，据信是纪念三年前去世的林肯夫妇之子 William。她还在信中附了一份关于「我们最后一场晚宴」的报道，并提到因行政官邸正在油漆，3月1日将无法接待访客、建议对方下榻 Willard 酒店一带，可能与3月4日林肯第二次就职典礼有关。这封信已并入 Mary Todd Lincoln 通信收藏，并可在国会图书馆网站在线查阅。
国会图书馆手稿部还藏有第一夫人相关的丰富收藏，包括 Dolley Madison 文件、Lucretia Garfield 文件与 Edith Wilson 文件，以及散见于该部23个总统文件收藏中的第一夫人材料。
（来源：国会图书馆）
Library of Congress Acquires Letters by Two Former First Ladies: Martha Washington Letter Is First in Her Own Hand in the Collection
The Library of Congress announced on October 21 that it has recently acquired two letters written by former first ladies Martha Washington and Mary Todd Lincoln. The letters provide researchers and the public with a rare glimpse into the private lives of two remarkable women who stood beside formidable men: America's first president and its Civil War commander-in-chief. Kevin Butterfield, acting chief of the Manuscript Division, said the world's richest and most expansive collection of materials related to American history is constantly growing, sometimes one letter at a time, and that the two documents help tell fascinating stories that could not be told before.
In the Martha Washington letter, written on September 29, 1760, to Margaret Bolan Green, Washington describes the recovery of her four-year-old daughter "Patsy" (Martha Parke Custis) from a recent illness that included "fitts & fevours." The widowed Martha Dandridge Custis married George Washington in 1759, and together they parented two surviving children from Martha's first marriage, Patsy and John "Jacky" Parke Custis. Patsy would later die at age 17 from her continued illness, and Martha Washington outlived all four of her children.
The Library noted that the letter was written after George Washington was commander of the Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War but before he became the first president of the newly formed United States, and provides rare documentation of Martha's daily life and personal history, as few of her letters survive. The Library's George Washington Papers contain 11 letters written by Mrs. Washington, but none in her own hand; the new acquisition is the first item in her own handwriting in the Manuscript Division's collections. The letter was purchased through the James Madison Council's Edwin L. Cox Legacy Trust, a permanent endowment supporting acquisitions of Americana materials for the Library.
The Mary Todd Lincoln letter was written on February 15, 1865, a mere two months before the assassination of her husband, to Mrs. Caroline R. Wright, wife of the former governor of Indiana. In it, Lincoln mentions a "beautiful wreath of hair," which historians believe to be the "Hairy Eagle," a framed woven figure of an eagle sitting on a globe, made entirely of hair contributed by notable politicians and several of their wives, including President Lincoln and the first lady. Mrs. Wright commissioned the piece to raise money to help sick and wounded Civil War soldiers and intended it as a gift to the Lincolns. Mrs. Lincoln's stationery carries a thin black mourning band around the edge of the first page, likely acknowledging the death of the Lincolns' son William three years earlier. She also enclosed a notice of "our last dinner" and mentioned that painting in the Executive Mansion would deprive them of visitors on March 1, suggesting a stay at Willard's, possibly in reference to President Lincoln's second inauguration on March 4. The letter joins the Mary Todd Lincoln Correspondence collection, now available online at the Library's website.
The Library's Manuscript Division also holds a rich body of collections related to former first ladies, including the Dolley Madison Papers, the Lucretia Garfield Papers and the Edith Wilson Papers, as well as materials embedded within the division's 23 collections of presidential papers.
(Source: Library of Congress)
来源：国会图书馆
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：Martha Washington 肖像（Gilbert Stuart 绘，未完成肖像，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons）
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
