A spatial interface to twenty essays on the objects and themes of the exhibit as well as the objects and landmarks
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The important landmarks that stood at this important Broadway intersection over time and by site
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A look at the technical processes along with the men and women who made all these cultural commodities in New York
More informationMathew Brady
Abraham Lincoln
February 27, 1860
Salted-paper print (carte-de-visite)
2 ½ x 4 in. (6.4 x 10.2)
The Gilder-Lehrman Collection, GLC05136.01
By 1860 Mathew Brady had been photographing New Yorkers and visitors for sixteen years and had gained considerable fame for his gallery of celebrity portraits that included many prominent politicians. On the day Abraham Lincoln posed for this portrait, journalist Richard C. McCormick reported that the politician wore a wrinkled suit and seemed “unprepossessing” and “awkward.” In spite of these shortcomings, Lincoln’s address at the Cooper Union that evening was very well received and won him the Republican presidential nomination. The frequent reproduction of this portrait throughout Lincoln’s campaign led Brady to boast that his photograph played an essential role in Lincoln’s electoral victory.
– Claire McRee
