Most photographed

[Warren]

You are all winners! It appears it is 1. Grant, 2. Douglass, 3. Lincoln. A dark horse is Custer.

The problem is different people think one of the of the top three "is the most photographed American of the 19th century". Many people who have written articles about the most photographed may be counting multiple croppings or formats of the same sitting as an individual photograph. For instance, if the photo of Mary Todd Lincoln was in the running, would the one with the ghost of Ol' Abe holding her shoulders count as a different photograph from the original? (that picture never fails to crack me up, poor Mary!).

I've seen one website that say only 126 photos of Lincoln known. I think it is more than that. Another says over 130. Grant alleged at over 300 but only the book will tell. Frederick Douglass at 160, but again, I wonder if any are essentially repeats due to cropping, etc.

Custer I count from my Custer book of photographs at 147 separate poses. A couple were added after the book was published. Custer adored a camera, and theoretically, he could surpass Lincoln. As usual, confusion abounds.