Rediscovered photos from Lincoln's second inauguration

February 18, 2008 7:39 AM

"New" photos emerge of Lincoln's second inaugurationThe Library of Congress has discovered new photographs taken in 1865 at Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration. For years they were filed under President Grant's archive, mislabeled into obscurity. Incidentally, this week will be the grand opening of Lincoln's summer "cottage" in northwest DC.
posted by wowbobwow (11 comments total)

Ahem, my "apologies" for overuse of quotations. Have a grand Presidents' Day.
posted by wowbobwow at 7:43 AM on February 18, 2008

More or less a double post.
posted by Mo Nickels at 8:20 AM on February 18, 2008

More or less a double post.

Is that a joke? The previous post was about Gettysburg; this is about the second inauguration.

Nice post, thanks!
posted by languagehat at 8:43 AM on February 18, 2008

what interests me in photos newly found of Abe is that the man was 6'4" and he added a top hat to make himnself even taller looking. Why not wear a baseball hat, say with NY Yankees cap?
posted by Postroad at 10:06 AM on February 18, 2008

Better yet, Postroad, how about a Brooklyn Atlantics cap?
posted by Floydd at 10:15 AM on February 18, 2008

Oops. A mistake. Damn.
posted by Mo Nickels at 12:11 PM on February 18, 2008

Uh, Abe was from Springfield. And his sport was swordsmanship.
posted by dhartung at 12:44 PM on February 18, 2008

Hurm. I figured that I would just look for the guy in the stove pipe hat.

Unfortunately, that won't work too well.

Nifty to see these coming to light after all these years.
posted by quin at 1:44 PM on February 18, 2008

Damn. I thought that it would be a photo from an angle that showed a hooker kneeling in the inaugural podium.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:28 PM on February 18, 2008

This is a nifty story and apropos for President's Day here in the US. Thanks.
posted by jessamyn at 5:45 PM on February 18, 2008

Once again, my friends: Bow down and worship at the feet of your Librarian or Archivist. WE HAVE THE POWER TO ELEVATE THE LOWLY AND TO BRING LOW THE MIGHTY!

Muahahahahahahahahahahah!

But seriously ...reading the NPR story underlines the difficulty those of us who do this sort of thing face when dealing with cultural heritage artifacts and how easily things can get put in The Wrong Place. How many Mefites can read a Copperplate or Palmer hand anymore ... much less one a Carolingian one?
posted by aldus_manutius at 7:19 AM on February 19, 2008