Is This Abraham Lincoln?

[Susan Higginbotham]

Alas, the story that the Victorians routinely posed the dead standing up with the help of stands is well entrenched on the Internet, thanks to various clickbait articles. The story seems to have originated with crooked photo dealers trying to sell otherwise boring or technically flawed family photographs by claiming that someone in the photograph is dead. The story soon found appeal among those who hold the notion that the Victorians were prudish ghouls, and an Internet legend was born.

The majority of genuine Victorian postmortem photos show people in their coffins, although babies and very young children are occasionally shown in their parent's arms or occasionally propped up in a chair.

The posing stands you see in so many Victorian photographs (including some of the Lincoln boys) were used to help people strike a graceful pose and to stay still. People who own antique ones can tell you that they are simply not sturdy enough to support the weight of a dead person.