In 1899, Albert Nelson Marquis (1855-1943) published the first edition of Who’s Who in America with biographical information on 8,602 “leaders and achievers” from “every significant field of endeavor.” For the twelfth volume, to be published in 1922 or 1923, French received a printed version of his prior entry with a request for updates. French added his latest and greatest accomplishment, the completion in 1920 of his sculpture for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

While Douglass’s letters are scarce, documents signed during his tenure as recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia can be had very reasonably.

Schuyler Colfax, U.S. representative from Indiana and vice president under Ulysses S. Grant, pens a famous quote from Lincoln’s Cooper Institute speech.

Lincoln’s first vice president, discusses local Maine politics regarding the replacement of a longstanding U.S. District Court Judge.

Considered the “finest line-engraving” of Lincoln, Marshall created this in 1866 from his painting of the martyred President. In November 1866, Ticknor and Fields of Boston announced that they would publish Marshall’s engraving on a subscription basis.

Possibly unique handbill advertising “Town Hall Lecture By the Great Colored Orator, Fred. Douglass, This Evening. Subject: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.” On the first day of the county fair, September 27, 1865, Douglass spoke to a packed Rutland, Vermont, Town Hall.

“Doors open at 7 o’clock, Lecture to commence at 8 o’clock. Admission 25 cents. Tickets for sale at the Herald Book Store or at the Door.”

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of [personal]rights and rights of property, between former masters and slaves and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and free laborer.”

According to historian Henry Louis Gates, Juneteenth, first celebrated in 1866, initially was an “occasion for gathering lost family members” and “measuring progress against freedom.”[1] In 1980, Juneteenth became aholiday in Texas, the first emancipation celebration granted official state recognition, through the efforts of legislator Al Edwards. Juneteenth is now aholiday in the District of Columbia and forty-seven states—all but Hawaii, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Gideon Welles and Samuel P. Lee revoke an appointment at the end of the war.

A crucial tool used to follow and plan troop movements and Civil War strategies.

Lincoln’s family was besieged with requests for souvenirs after his death. Here Robert Todd Lincoln sends a very meaningful relic to one of his father’s closest wartime associates.

Exhibit History

“The Tsar and the President,” Moscow and St. Petersburg, Feb. – July, 2011; “Lincoln, Life-Size,” Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Ct., Feb. – June, 2010.

Engravings include: Lincoln and son Tad at home. Scene at the death bed of President Lincoln. Funeral service at the White House. Ford’s Theatre. Attempted assassination of Secretary Seward. Citizens viewing the body at City Hall, New York.

“EXTRA / PRESIDENT LINCOLN ASSASSINATED / HE IS DEAD / SEWARD ASSASSINATED.”  This vivid early account of the assassination of President Lincoln includes Booth’s name as the suspected assassin and an account of the attack on Secretary of State William H. Seward, incorrectly reporting his death.

“the picture...ought to be placed somewhere for public exhibition.”

New York artist James Burns depicts the “Death of Abraham Lincoln” on April 15, 1865, in the Petersen House, across 10^th Street from Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Mary Lincoln is prostrate with grief, leaning over Lincoln. Twenty-seven other figures are shown surrounding the bed, including the Lincolns’ oldest son Robert, members of the cabinet, Vice President Andrew Johnson, several doctors, Members of Congress, and others in various stages of shock and grief, along with military surgeons. The room was only 9½ by 17 feet. Lincoln had to be laid diagonally across the bed with his head propped up to allow him to breathe more easily. Only a few people could fit at any time, but everyone shown had visited at some point during the night.

“At 2:50 A.M. the President was still alive, but insensible and completely helpless.
President died at 7:22 this Saturday morning.”

This vivid early account of the assassination of President Lincoln notes that Secretary of State William H. Seward and his son Frederick (misidentified as Frank) had also been attacked. The newspaper obtained its information from a telegraph operator at the local railroad depot.

The first carte-de-visite shows the young actor as he appeared a few years before he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln to avenge the South for the failure of the Confederacy. The original photograph was taken by Silsbee & Case of Boston in 1862. The photograph was widely reproduced in the aftermath of the assassination and given to search parties looking for Booth.

The second is a profile photograph of John H. Surratt after his return to the United States and trial, with the notice that it was “Entered according to Act of Congress by John H. Surratt, in the year 1868, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Columbia.” With “Brady & Co’s” mark on the verso.

Frank Leslie published this print as a premium for his new family magazine, Frank Leslie’s Chimney Corner, and copyrighted it on April 8, 1865, just a week before Lincoln’s death. The image, created by engraver Henry B. Major and lithographer Joseph Knapp, portrays Lincoln, flanked by the First Lady and Vice President Andrew Johnson, greeting Julia Dent Grant, wife of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant who stands nearby.

According to a notice printed at the bottom right corner, “Every Person who pays Ten Cents each for numbers 1 and 2 of Frank Leslie’s Chimney Corner, The New Family Paper, is entitled to a copy of this PLATE without extra charge,” or individuals could purchase the print for $3.

“until every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid with another drawn with the sword.”