TWO ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHIC NEGATIVES OF 

 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



By ALEXANDER WETMORE 



Assisfa>it Secretary, Sniithsoniati Institution 



(With Four Plates) 



Among recent accessions in the Section of Photography of the 

 United States National Mnseuni there are two original photographic 

 negatives of Ahraham Lincoln that are of great interest as they 

 present an outstanding figure in American history at an important 

 point in his career. These negatives have come to the national collec- 

 tions through the Post Ofifice Department. 



According to the records accompanying them, the two negatives 

 in question were made by Alex. Hesler of the Hesler Studios, 

 located in early years at 113 Lake Street, Chicago, 111. Sometime 

 after the presidential election of November i860, and before the 

 inauguration of the following March, friends of Mr. Lincoln ar- 

 ranged to have Hesler go to Springfield, 111., where the President- 

 elect sat for the photographer. The usual wet plate process of the 

 period was used, with results that are reported to have been satis- 

 factory and pleasing both to Lincoln and to his friends. 



When Hesler retired from business, his studio came into the 

 possession of George B. Ay res, who remoived later to Buffalo, 

 N. Y., and then to Philadelphia, Pa., taking these negatives with 

 him — a fortunate circumstance, as otherwise they probably would 

 have been destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871. Mr. Ayres' property 

 in time passed to two daughters. Mrs. Edith L. Bunce and Anne 

 Smith Ayres, the latter coming into sole possession of the Lincoln 

 negatives on the death of Mrs. Bunce. After Miss Ayres' death they 

 were purchased from her estate by William H. Woodward, of Phila- 

 delphia. During shipment by parcel post to St. Louis in 1933 the 

 negatives were accidentally broken, which led to their acquisition by 

 the Post Office Department in settlement of a claim for damage. 



In the course of this settlement the postal authorities made an ex- 

 tended investigation, which through the advice of experts established 

 without question the authenticity of the photographic plates as 

 originals. Realizing their great historical importance, the Post Ofifice 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 95, No. 18 



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