tweets you can question historians about their nominations and propose your own candidates. live coverage begins at 9:30 a.m. eastern to 4:30 p.m. eastern on "american history tv" on c-span3. when president lincoln was shot on april 14th, 1865, he was wearing a black gray coat made especially for his second inaugural by brooks brothers. the coat is cared for by the national park service, and periodically displayed in the ford's theater museum lobby. "american history tv" documented the process of removing a replica coat and placing the original coat on display for the public and learned how the artifact is preserved for future generations.

>> so, as you can see this is the box that holds the great coat. and we are just about ready to put it in this special display case. yeah, we have a special storage area that we keep the great coat for half the year. and we have it on display in february through the summer. so, we put it up right around the time of lincoln's birthday, which is this saturday, the 12th, and then we have it up

during our busiest season, the spring season. that's also the time of april when the assassination anniversary comes around. the cherry blossom festival, so it's the busiest season of the year, then it stays through the summer. it stays just about six months and then we put it back into protective storage. >> when the great coat of abraham lincoln is not on exhibit at the ford's theater, it's housed here. the coat is fragile, so it only goes on exhibit for a stretch of time. it goes six month on, exhibit, six month off exhibit, so it essentially can rest and the place for the coat when it's relaxing is here at the national park museum resource center. we've got a specially made box for the coat it can be in rest here. so the fabrics can relax and we can -- the coat can be preserved longer. much of the ford's theater collection comes from a private

collector by the name of olerude. and there's a variety of collectors associated with him and the collection of the ass s assassination of lincoln. this is a the violin purportedly played at ford's theater during the play "my american cousin." in a sealed case and it actually has a humidifier control in the case itself, so it's an environment within an environment even though the facility itself has constant environmental controls, this is an environment within the environment. >> so, i see one that says presidential box flag, the funeral train. you don't necessarily have to open, but i just wonder -- these are all from that one person's collection? >> right. we store all of our material are what are called acid-free boxes,

these are ph balanced paper. you take off the box lid and inside you'll see an inventory of the objects that are in this box and you'll see that the artifacts have been individually wrapped. in very stable material. this is the -- the white is a tissue paper, an inert paper, and you have a plastic bubble-type wrap to preserve and protect the object. this is the acronym for ford's theater, foth, and this is the catalog number. a researcher if they were looking for a particular type of objection, we can search through the catalog number or for the object name in the database. these are all -- this -- these sets of tiers are associated with ford's theater. the vast majority of material is on exhibit at the ford's theater in the basement. we have a large exhibit hall there. we also have a number of loans that are out right now. we have a loan in st. petersburg

at the hermitage in russia with material from the fords theater associated with a czar who -- the linkage is that this czar is the czar that freed the serfs roughly the same time as lincoln freed the slaves, so the russians wanted to create an exhibit that linked lincoln to their czar. >> so, the great coat itself is in this larger box. however, the condition of the coat is in right now, the left sleeve is detached from it, and so the smaller box holds that sleeve. soon after the assassination you had relic hunters and souvenir hunters who immediately wanted pieces of it. people immediately were trying to cut off tiny pieces of it.

its owner alfonzo dun was cn cu off pieces himself and giving it to people so when the park service received it in 1968 it was already in unfortunately very, very delicate condition. so, we've found this approach helped so we can preserve it. that's our priority, preserve it for the present and future generations. at the same time we do want to make sure that people actually get to see it and enjoy it by having it up during the spring we've made sure that the maximum amount of people can do that. >> what we're doing now is checking for any particulates and we're removing the particulates before we install it. >> what do you mean by particulates? >> dust. >> oh. >> so, what we see there is our h-vac system. this is what helps maintain proper humidity, temperature levels and so this is self-contained in the display

unit itself. our first step is to remove the replica item. so, you can see thatorinal grea the case, we do have a replica coat, replica boot, replica top hat. and we do not have the original boots or the original hat. what we are putting in there today is the great coat itself. that is the most important item. here you can see we are preparing the case. >> kimberly? >> yes, ma'am. >> take one of these and go along the edges. >> we're making sure that the case has no particulates.

>> i think we've already done it that way. wheres could that guy go? >> that goes in first and then this mount attaches to it. >> okay. all right. >> now you can see we are placing the mount inside of the display case. it is a specially built mount. and considering its condition with the detached shoulder.

now, see, we are removing the lid to the specially made box. there is protective tissue paper lining. and we're removing that tissue paper. and revealing the famous great coat. as you can see, the left arm is detached from the coat. it is in a separate box. and if you look closely, there are some small but visible bloodstains from the night that lincoln was assassinated in this very theater on april 14th, 1865. this is a wool great coat. custom made by the brooks brothers for lincoln's second

inaugural in march, 1865. silk lining. very special coat. lincoln loved this coat very much. wore it on very special occasions, including his night out to the theater. as you can see, we are treating this coat very, very delicately. it is in very delicate condition. >> get behind it on the right side. >> yep. >> thank you. okay. just try to flip around.

>> now you can see we are placing the great coat on the special mount. >> how does this guy work in the back here? oh, i see, yep. >> does this go around the cushion? >> yeah, i'm pretty sure. >> now, it's draping over -- >> i think it -- yeah.

>> kind of folded. >> can you get the whole shoulder in there? >> yeah. yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah. is that all right? >> okay. we sure about this guy right here? i think if we can pad the shoulder and then adjust the collar. >> that shoulder, it's weak but it's still heavier than the other side, so it's -- >> there we go. >> is that better? does that feel better? >> it feels better. >> is there some way that we can -- >> does it need to go over a little bit? and maybe goes down. this here.

is that first pin, is that -- >> yeah. how does it feel? i'm just concerned that if we leave that down, you're really going to pull it back. you want to just try it just quickly? >> i think it looks good. >> you think it looks good? not to worry about it. >> it looks all right. >> i think it's laying how it's supposed. >> yeah. no, it is. >> can you flatten that little middle piece right there? the mount there. the tissue paper. >> there we go. >> how are you? what tissue?

can you see the tissue from any angle? >> no. >> we're all right. >> i think it looks good. >> it looks all right? >> yeah. >> now you can see we are uncovering the second box. this is the one that has the detached left sleeve. detached as a result of the many relic hunters from the late 1800s. the sleeve is on its own mount. it's being placed separately in the display next e great

coat that it was once attached to. this is the way the service received the sleeve and the coat. in 1968. there's a silk stitching. this was custom made for lincoln, and it's the stitching of an eagle. inside the eagle's mouth there's a banner that says "one country one destiny" which is the infamous motto that guided our country through four years of war, and lincoln had that motto with him on his last night at

ford's theater. lincoln's legacy has grown as we've come to appreciate who this man was, this coat took on a very special symbolism. part of that being the one country one destiny logo. this is the logo lincoln lived with for four years. guided our country through war, and had it with him on the night that he was shot here. and for that, many, many reasons, it is a very, very special coat, and that is why we've taken every single precaution to make sure we preserve it both for present and future generations. >> do you see any fingerprints or are we good?

>> going to have to lock it first and then -- >> okay. >> we can do a shot here. a little happy shot. okay. come on. turn, turn. cooperate a little bit here. thank you. >> did you get rene in? >> everybody say lincoln. >> lincoln. >> very good. >> yay!

okay. >> it was a nice idea. when visitors first enter our site, they walk in through those doors, and the display case that we just put the original great coat in is the first thing that they see. there's a wall panel describing it. and they do have to go around. it is protected against the light so -- and once they get their ticket, they go down this ramp and they go into either the museum or the theater itself. and so we are heading downstairs to the museum which is where most visitors start their visit and their journey through lincoln's presidency. and one of the first things they see before they get into the museum is this replica life mask which we do encourage them to touch. this is a very interesting life

mask. it was made in 1860, so just months before he started his first term as the 16th president of the united states. and so we see a much younger, fresher-looking lincoln. now we are entering the museum. it is in the basement of the theater itself. ourjust focus on lincoln's last day and last . we do seek to make sure that visitors know who lincoln was as a man, as a human. and so our museum goes through the four years of his presidency, of his time in the white house. and ends with the theater itself. we are one of the most important last artifact

cases in our museum. this is the case that has the rest of the clothing that lincoln was wearing the night that he was here. we can see there's a suit jacket which would have gone underneath the great coat. the vest, pants, trousers and boots and a tie and these are on display year round in the museum. they are not in as delicate condition as the great coat which can only be on display a few months out of the year. fortunately relic hunters did not seem to want small pieces of the rest of the suit as much as they did his great coat, and so that's why the suit is in much better condition and because of that, we can have it on display more than we can the great coat. we can also see there is one

little spot of blood on the knees of the trousers. because when -- after lincoln was shot, his body did slump forward, and so that is why there would be some blood there. that pillow is one of several pillows in the peterson house where lincoln died nine hours after being shot here. he was brought to the house and he died there at 7:22 a.m. the next morning, and there were a few pillows underneath his head. this is one of them. we do have others. not all of them are in such good condition, and so we have it here. people can see some of those bloodstains. lincoln came to the theater that night in a very celebratory mood. as we know general lee had surrendered to general grant that week. one of the most important military victories in the war.

the entire city was celebrating and lincoln also was celebrating a very important victory. and so he came here to ford's theater to see the performance of "hour american cousin." loved the theater very much. had been here about 12 times in the previous year. so, we are standing in the theater itself where lincoln was shot the night that he was here on april 14th, 1865, across from me, behind me is the box itself, the presidential box decorated specifically for lincoln's visit that night with the flags, the original portrait of george washington. and lincoln got here around 8:30 for the play. the play had already begun about 30 minutes before, and we know that lincoln was a very humble, modest man, and so he really

just wanted to kind of sneak in here. he wanted to go completely unnoticed and just go in, sit down and watch the play. unfortunately for him, the moment that he arrived, there was a famous actress on stage, miss laura keen, and she noticed him sneaking by, and she stopped the play. she instructed the orchestra to play "hail to the chief." everybody in this theater between 1,700 and 2,500 people all stood up and gave the president a standing ovation. people were cheering. they were very, very excited and happy to see their president who had just helped them win this big victory in the civil war. and then he would finally go in, sit down, and enjoy the rest of

the play until, of course, the tragic moment that he was shot about two hours after he came in. all the clothing items went with lincoln to the peterson house where he was brought to live out his final hours. and after lincoln was taken from the house, his body was removed back to the white house. those items stayed there, but then they were returned to mrs. lincoln. mrs. lincoln is then the one who gave that great coat to alfonso dunn who was a favorite door keeper, a kind of usher. he's the one who kept it for many years. he kept it in his family for over two generations. he had many offers to have that coat bought from him, including a very generous offer from the famous p.t. barnum. and he refused all those offers.

and that coat was in his family's hands until it came to the national park service in 1968. since 1968 ford's theater national historic site has been run through a very special public/private partnership. the public part is the national park service. the private is ford's theater society. and that's been since 1968 that we've run this site together. we've run it both as a national historic site, where we have thousands of visitors come in, t happened here. at the same time, this is still an active working theater. and so in that way we get to preserve lincoln's memory and it is a living memorial thatys tribute to his love of the performing arts. so, that's the way the theater still is today, and we're very proud of that partnership.

so, we are about to open boxes of two items that are going to be in our education and learning that is going to be opened up in february, 2012, across the street from the theater. these are two items in our collection that are not in the museum. we are going to open a tassel that was part of the catapult that surrounded lincoln's casket when he was on public viewing in the days after the assassination. we keep these in protective storage in our museum and resources center. and then also we have the tools used to seal the casket. 13 days after lincoln's body left washington, d.c., and arrived in springfield,

illinois, where he would finally be buried on may 4th, 1865. and these are the items used to seal the casket on may 4th, 1865. original from 19th century, elder, the person who helped seal the casket. here we see a state officer's pass that he needed to get access to the casket itself. and then the tools are use d to solder the casket shut. you can see the tools, iron solder tools with wooden handles. so, we can see the tool are in a tin-framed case that s.f. elder created so that he could display it. likely he was very proud of his work. this would have been a very important task for him to seal

that famous casket shut. the peterson house is a part of our site. it is currently under renovation. will not be open until late spring, because next door to it we are currently constructing a center for education and leadership that will be opened in february of 2012 that will continue some of the exhibits from the museum and help the public learn more about president lincoln, not just his assassination and his death here, but also his life which is also very important for us to understand who abraham lincoln was as a person. >> you can learn more about ford's theater and take a virtual tour of their facilities at fordstheater.org. you can view additional american

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