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Lincoln (Abraham) photographs from the collection of Frederick H. Meserve, New York
LSC.94/72  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Conditions Governing Access
  • Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
  • Preferred Citation
  • Provenance/Source of Acquisition
  • UCLA Catalog Record ID
  • Biography/History
  • Scope and Content
  • Related Material
  • Processing Information

  • Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
    Title: The photographs of Abraham Lincoln from the collection of Frederick H. Meserve, New York
    Creator: Meserve, Frederick Hill, 1865-1962, collector.
    Identifier/Call Number: LSC.94/72
    Physical Description: 1 albums (130 photographic prints) : silver gelatin, platinum ; 30 x 25 cm (album)

    Date from t.p. handwritten in pencil, presentation inscription of June 20, 1942 on t.p. verso, and first letter, dated Jan. 19, 1942, to Ralph A. Gregory in St. Louis from F.H. Meserve in New York City.

    Added title-page, in typescript, dated 1941: "Photographs of Abraham Lincoln from the Frederick Hill Meserve Collection presented to Ralph Gregory by Frederick Meserve 1941."

    Photographs are mounted on rectos and versos of 18 double leaves of white paper, with corners of each photograph slipped into slits cut into paper; each photograph numbered in pencil.

    Bound in looseleaf notebook of faux grain black paper boards with black leather spine.

    Spec. Coll. copy: in beige cloth clamshell box, with box title "Meserve Abraham Llincoln."
    Date (inclusive): 1942
    Abstract: Looseleaf notebook from 1941-1942 containing a set of 18 double leaves of 129 small photographs of Abraham Lincoln, collected by Frederick Meserve, and presented to his friend, Ralph A. Gregory, who was also a collector of Lincolniana.
    Physical Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
    Language of Material: Materials are in English.

    Conditions Governing Access

    COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

    Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

    Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], The photographs of Abraham Lincoln from the collection of Frederick H. Meserve, New York prepared for Ralph A. Gregory, a student of American history of Saint Louis, Missouri (Collection 94/72). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

    Provenance/Source of Acquisition

    Gift of Albert Boni.

    Biography/History

    New York City businessman, and one of America's premier Lincoln collectors. Frederick Hill Meserve began collecting in 1880, when he set out to find photographs to illustrate the Civil War diary his father was writing. When he bought a packet of photographs at auction for $1.10 that included 100 Mathew Brady salted paper prints, he was hooked. By 1911, he had tracked down and catalogued 100 Lincoln photographs. The photographs document the changes in Lincoln's face over the years, as he struggled with the tragedy of the Civil War and the death of his son. Meserve's Lincolniana is now part of the Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation at SUNY Purchase, directed by Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., Meserve's great-great grandson.

    Scope and Content

    According to Meserve's letter of Jan. 19, 1942 to Gregory, these photographs of Lincoln originally appeared in Meserve's book, The photographs of Abraham Lincoln (New York: Privately printed, 1911), and represent photographic prints of all known photographs of Lincoln, printed from the original negatives, and from copies of daguerreotypes and photographs. The single 8x10 platinum print of Meserve is by Lawrence B. Lockwood of Cleveland, Ohio. Also included in the notebook are 11 letters written by Meserve to Gregory, documenting the course of their friendship from July 24, 1940 to March 14, 1959; 5 p. of notes on photographs #117-130, and A-B; and 1 printed "contact sheet" of 108 small photographs, with title "Meserve's enumeration of Abraham Lincoln's original photographs," and notes below of name of photographer and place of sitting of each photo.

    Related Material

    Part of the Photograph Album Collection (Collection 94)   in UCLA Library Special Collections.

    Processing Information

    We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.  

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Photographs of Abraham Lincoln from the Frederick Hill Meserve Collection presented to Ralph Gregory by Frederick Meserve 1941
    Photograph albums
    Photographic prints.
    Platinum prints.
    Silver gelatin prints.
    Portrait photographs.
    Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 --Photographs.
    Lockwood, Lawrence B., photographer.
    Meserve, Frederick Hill, 1865-1962 --Correspondence.
    Meserve, Frederick Hill, 1865-1962 --Photographs.
    Boni, Albert, 1892-1981, former owner.
    Gregory, Ralph A., former owner.
    Gregory, Ralph A.