Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, Taken by Alexander Gardner, Washington, D.C., November 8, 1863

This unusual full-length portrait of President Abraham Lincoln was taken by Alexander Gardner in his Washington D.C. studio on Sunday, November 8, 1863. Lincoln is shown seated on one of the chairs that was used by the House of Representatives in the 1850s and then replaced and sold as surplus at auction in 1859. Alexander Gardner bought some of these chairs to use in his photographic studio. Another chair like this one is part of The Henry Ford's furniture collections (ID 68.127.1).

The original glass plate negative was among a large group of American Civil War era negatives found and preserved by Frederick Hill Meserve in 1902. For many years, Meserve made meticulous photographic prints from original negatives, helping to preserve Abraham Lincoln's legacy. Meserve made this photographic print in the early 20th century from the original 1863 glass plate negative. The negative measured about 20 x 16 inches, a format called mammoth plate. This very large size captured an incredible amount of detail--even the wrinkles in Lincoln's boots are clearly visible.