The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln

Foreword

FOREWORD Stored away in my grandfather Robert Todd Lincoln's Manchester, Vermont, home, Hildene, was a bundle ofletters, papers, and documents marked by him "MTL Insanity File." Tied with a ribbon, the file had lain in his file room just off his study, undisturbed since his death on July 26,1926. At my sister Mary Lincoln Beckwith's death in 1975, Hildene's use as a family residence came to an end. Many items and this file therefore came to me. What to do with this file and the information it could contribute on this very controversial subject was not easily decided. I have decided to have the contents published by two competent Lincoln scholars R. Gerald McMurtry and Mark E. Neely, Jr. My reasons are several. First, it is likely that this is the only definitive record of this tragic story. Second, as the last member of my family I must either take this course or destroy the file. Third, it would seem to me that although my grandfather destroyed much of his incoming correspondence and many personal family letters, this file he retained. I believe that he did so knowing that in the future its contents should be made known. Fourth, and most important, I believe that because of this file history will treat my great-grandmother Mary Todd Lincoln more kindly in regard to this very disturbing period ofher life and most of all recognize that my grandfather acted in the best possible way towards his mother. May 1981 ...