Fortuitously, Lincoln and American image-making technology matured together. His political rise coincided with the introduction of the wet-plate photographic process, which allowed images to be reproduced in editions numbering in the tens of thousands. And the 1850s and 1860s also saw the widespread proliferation of affordable lithographic prints and the appearance and growing popularity of pictorial newspapers, their pages bulging with woodcuts depicting current events and celebrities. Lincoln came to dominate all these media. In time, his face became familiar to every American-admirers as well as opponents-and in many images, came to supplant the longstanding image of Uncle Sam (who previously resembled George Washington!) as the emblem of his country.

Few collections can claim the diversity or quality of the Lincoln Museum archive-which includes not only the last life portrait executed of the Great Emancipator, but also a vast array of prints, broadsides, textiles, tokens, and original photographs, notable among them the original Lincoln family album, the precious images that the Lincolns themselves collected and treasured during their lifetimes.

What is more, as Lincoln himself might have said, the Lincoln Museum's unparalleled collection seems "altogether fitting and proper." For when its original parent company-Lincoln National Insurance-sought an appropriate picture for a logo to launch the firm, it turned to none other than Robert T. Lincoln, the late President's sole surviving son, for permission. Robert not only agreed-but sent along a copy of one of the Mathew Brady photographs of February 9, 1864, which promptly became the company emblem. The images on this web page reflect some of what the Museum, in turn, has collected ever since.

Back to top^