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Another Lincoln Related Photo Discovery |
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Three stereoscopic negatives at the Library of Congress, heretofore misidentified as showing either the Grand Review of the Armies or the inauguration of President Grant, have been determined to actually show the crowd in front of the Capitol for the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1865.
The discovery was made by Carol Johnson, curator of photography at the Library of Congress, after a patron alerted her to the fact that two stereo images that obviously showed the same scene had radically different identifications in the library’s online Civil War photographic negative collection. (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/cwpquery.html)
Before this discovery, there were two known images of the crowd gathered for the second inauguration taken from the same vicinity, one of those being a print at the library (LC-USZ62-7812). But the patron’s recent query to Johnson prompted her to re-examine the library’s identifications on three successive images near the end the group of stereoscopic negatives attributed to Alexander Gardner. These images are LC B811-1284, LC B815-1285 and LC B815-1286.
The library had 1284 identified as the Grand Review of the armies in May 1865, while 1285 and 1286 were said to show the inauguration of President U.S. Grant on March 4, 1869. However, there is a curious notation "Lincoln?" next to the entries for 1285 and 1286 in the library’s printed index log for the Civil War negatives.
That prompted Johnson to take a closer look at the three images, and she was able to link them to the second inauguration of Lincoln, on March 4, 1865, though the print in the library’s collection (LC USZ62-7812) that is identified as having been taken at Lincoln’s second inaugural.
The trees are leafless in all three images, so 1284 could not have been taken in May 1865, which was the time of the Grand Review. Images 1285 and 1286 do not show Grant's inauguration because other photos of that event show that a platform was constructed that extended out from the steps of the Capitol, and no such platform is in these images.
These three ‘new’ images of the crowd gathering for Lincoln's second inauguration mimic three frames from a movie, with 1284 and 1285 showing the troops as they march in and prepare to assemble, and 1286 showing everyone in place for the ceremony. The images do not show any part of the podium where the ceremony occurred.
As with the discovery of Lincoln himself in the two images from the Gettysburg Address ceremony, this discovery came about because someone took the trouble to take a careful, detailed look at the various images in question.
One of two stereo half negatives of LC B811-1284, showing the crowd assembling.
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| One of two stereo half negatives of LC B811-1284, showing the crowd assembling. |
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The full, uncut stereo negative of LC B815-1285, showing the crowd assembling.
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| The full, uncut stereo negative of LC B815-1285, showing the crowd assembling. |
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The full, uncut stereo negative of LC B815-1286, showing the crowd in place.
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| The full, uncut stereo negative of LC B815-1286, showing the crowd in place. |
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| Detail from 1286 showing raucous civilians, one apparently shouting something, while another gleefully raises his arm. |
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Reproduction of print (LC-USZ62-7812) at Library of Congress that has long been identified as having been taken at the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln.
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| Reproduction of print (LC-USZ62-7812) at Library of Congress that has long been identified as having been taken at the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. |
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