Lost 1915 Lincoln Movie Found

Above, the Gutzon Borglum bust of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Tomb. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Many films produced during the silent era have either deteriorated awayt due to their nitrate content or just lost. One notable movie considered lost is London After Midnight (1927) starring Lon Chaney. 

A 1915 silent film on Abraham Lincoln, starring Francis Ford, the brother of director John Ford, was also considered lost. But, fortunately, has recently been found.

MSN reported:

NEW YORK — A 1915 movie about the life of Abraham Lincoln, previously thought lost forever, was found on Long Island.

“The Heart of Lincoln,” released by Universal, is a silent film about American life during the Civil War. It was directed by and stars Francis Ford — the brother of legendary director John Ford — as the 16th president.

The film was discovered by intern Dan Martin at Lauro’s Historic Films Archive in Greenport while he was going through boxes of material donated to the archive.

The 65-minute movie had previously been listed by the Library of Congress as one of 7,000 silent films thought to be lost forever. Many silent films were lost because they were printed on highly volatile nitrate film stock, according to Newsday.

Film archivist Eliot Kissileff told NBC New York that he was able to digitize the 16-millimeter print.

“I guess it was just lucky the cans were sealed and had not decayed,” Kissilef told the station.

To read more, go here. 

Abe's Day

Above, a sculpture of President Lincoln in front of his tomb in
Springfield, Illinois by Gutzon Borglum. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Since congress changed our national holidays back in the 1970s, many people forget when exactly are the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington as they were combined into President's Day.

Well, today is President Lincoln's 210th birthday.

Some states, it should be noted, still observe Lincoln's Birthday.

According to Wikipedia:

Lincoln's Birthday is a legal, public holiday in some U.S. states, observed on the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth on February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville (Hodgensville, Hodgen's Mill), Kentucky. Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio,, California, Missouri, and New York observe the holiday.

So, happy birthday, Mr. President!

Rubbing "Lincoln's Nose"

Above, the sculpture of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

In front of the tomb of Abraham Lincoln at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois stands a bronze sculpture of Lincoln's head.

The first thing people will notice upon approaching the sculpture is that the nose on the sculpture is shiny and clean-looking.

Why is that?

According to Roadside America:

200,000 people a year visit Lincoln's Tomb in Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery. Judging from the appearance of Abe's big bronze head, lots of those visitors make it a point to stop and give a rub to Lincoln's nose. 

Why? Some folks believe that rubbing the nose of any statue brings good luck -- so the nose of a person as successful as the President must be especially powerful. And how many Presidential noses are within reach of a furtive touch, let alone a vigorous buffing? Not many. Perhaps that's the reason that the tomb designers of man-of-the-people Lincoln put his sizable honker within reach of all.

For those who wish to know more:

The bronze sculpture was sculpted by none other than Gutzon Borglum, who sculpted the presidents (including Lincoln) on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

Above, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

To read more, go here.

Lincoln Assassination Photography

Above, Abraham Lincoln by Gutzon Borglum. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

In June 1982, I was invited to a reception at the White House as part of the California Reagan Delegation to the 1980 Republican National Convention.

Above, Ford's Theater in 1982.
Photo by Armand Vaquer.

While in Washington, D.C. I crammed about a week's worth of touring in three days. Among the places I visited were the U.S. Capitol, Mount Vernon, Arlington National Cemetery, the Air & Space Museum and Ford's Theater.

Ford's Theater was the site of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Southern sympathizer.

Booth snuck into the Presidential Box at Ford's Theater during a presentation of the play, "Our American Cousin" and shot the President in the back of the head.

Last November, I visited the Abraham Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois. In the museum, there were numerous life-sized dioramas of different events in Lincoln's life. One of these was the assassination at Ford's.









The first photo below was from Ford's Theater in 1982. The portrait of George Washington is the actual one that hung there the night Lincoln was shot in April 1865.

Above, the Presidential Box at Ford's Theater. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Next, the diorama of President and Mrs. Lincoln at Ford's Theater at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

Above, the Lincolns watching the play, "Our American Cousin". Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Next, John Wilks Booth sneaks into the Presidential Box during the play. Earlier, he carved a peephole in an inner door to the Presidential Box so he can see Lincoln before he went inside. He also used wooden bar to fasten or hold the outer entrance door shut.

Above, Booth sneaks into the Presidential Box. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Following the shooting, the mortally-wounded Lincoln was carried across the street to the Petersen rooming house, where he died the next morning. It was felt that Lincoln would not survive being taken back to the White House.

Above, the blood-stained pillow is on display at the rooming house where Lincoln died. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

There is a small museum in the Ford's Theater basement. Among the items on display, is the suit Lincoln wore when he was shot.

Above, the suit Lincoln wore when shot. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, the Petersen rooming house. Lincoln was carried up these stairs. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Lincoln lies in state diorama at the Lincoln Museum. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Lincoln's Tomb in Springfield, Illinois. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Lincoln In Death Photograph Discovered

The only known photograph of President Lincoln in his coffin was discovered by a teen in 1952.

From AbrahamLincolnonline.org:

More than 50 years ago a 14-year-old boy found a photograph of President Abraham Lincoln in his coffin taken on April 24, 1865, in New York City. The discovery startled historians, because Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln's Secretary of War, had ordered this photograph to be destroyed. Stranger yet, the one surviving print remained with Stanton, whose son preserved it.

Above, the only known photograph of Lincoln in death.

Thanksgiving Day Trivia

Above, Abraham Lincoln by Gutzon Borglum. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Originally, Thanksgiving Day wasn't a formal national holiday. States held Thanksgiving observances on different days.

However, to make it a national observance, a letter was written to President Abraham Lincoln and here's what transpired from it:

This is the proclamation which set the precedent for America's national day of Thanksgiving. During his administration, President Lincoln issued many orders similar to this. For example, on November 28, 1861, he ordered government departments closed for a local day of thanksgiving. 

Sarah Josepha Hale, a 74-year-old magazine editor, wrote a letter to Lincoln on September 28, 1863, urging him to have the "day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival." She explained, "You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritive fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution." 

Prior to this, each state scheduled its own Thanksgiving holiday at different times, mainly in New England and other Northern states. President Lincoln responded to Mrs. Hale's request immediately, unlike several of his predecessors, who ignored her petitions altogether. In her letter to Lincoln she mentioned that she had been advocating a national thanksgiving date for 15 years as the editor of Godey's Lady's Book. George Washington was the first president to proclaim a day of thanksgiving, issuing his request on October 3, 1789, exactly 74 years before Lincoln's. 

The document below sets apart the last Thursday of November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise." According to an April 1, 1864, letter from John Nicolay, one of President Lincoln's secretaries, this document was written by Secretary of State William Seward, and the original was in his handwriting. On October 3, 1863, fellow Cabinet member Gideon Welles recorded in his diary how he complimented Seward on his work. A year later the manuscript was sold to benefit Union troops.

To read the proclamation, go here.