First published in 1911, The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln was privately printed by Frederick Hill Meserve, the preeminent historian of the photographs of Abraham Lincoln. It was a groundbreaking look at the then-known photographs of the sixteenth president of the United States, who was the first president to be photographed while in office. In the decades that followed, Meserve made new discoveries and updated the information that was known about each image. He published an expanded edition in 1944, collaborating with the Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg. This new work, published on the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's death, is an update to Meserve's original biographical documentation, and includes 114 portraits. Here we see Lincoln's striking face, photographed over a span of 20 years (1846-65). Published with the Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation, this new iteration of The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln reflects not only Meserve's pioneering research, but the work of the many Lincoln scholars who followed in his footsteps and the work of five generations of Meserve's family who advanced his scholarship.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.