Photographing documents/official records Lincoln White House

[Anita]

According to "The Rail Splitter", before donating his original final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to the Chicago Sanitary Commission to help them raise funds, he made photographic copies of it.

"Lincoln wrote to the ladies in charge of the fair on October 26: “According to the request made in your behalf, the original draft of the Emancipation proclamation is herewith enclosed. The formal words at the top, and the conclusion, except the signature, you perceive are not in my handwriting. They were written at the State Department by whom I know not. The printed part was cut from a copy of the preliminary proclamation, and pasted on merely to save writing. I had some desire to retain the paper; but if it shall contribute to the relief or comfort of the soldiers that will be better.” This document, principally in Lincoln’s handwriting, was the final draft of the final version. Lincoln had photographic copies made prior to relinquishing his Proclamation of Freedom.

"Thomas B. Bryan, Chicago lawyer, businessman and Lincoln supporter paid $3,000 for the document (destroyed in the October 1871 Chicago fire), and donated it to the Chicago Soldiers’ Home."
http://railsplitter.com/?page_id=242 (interesting article about Lincoln's gifts to and from the Sanitary Fairs.)

I was not aware that photography was used to make copies of documents/records during the Civil War.
Has anyone seen such a photograph? Any information much appreciated. Anita

[BettyO]

I would have to say that this is somewhat of an error? I have never heard of "documents" being photographed in the 19th Century. Not that it couldn't be done; it's just highly unlikely. I've never seen, much less heard of any such thing before. Anyone else? Very interesting, though....

[L Verge]

I was very skeptical about the photocopying mentioned also, but here's what I found online:

In 1780 James Watt obtained a patent for letter copying presses, which James Watt & Co. produced beginning in that year. Letter copying presses were used by the early 1780s by the likes of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. In 1785, Jefferson was using both stationary and portable presses made by James Watt & Co.

Using letter copying presses, copies could be made up to twenty-four hours after a letter was written, though copies made within a few hours were best. A copying clerk would begin by counting the number of master letters to be written during the next few hours and by preparing the copying book. Suppose the clerk wanted to copy 20 one-page letters. In that case, he would insert a sheet of oiled paper into the copying book in front of the first tissue on which he wanted to make a copy of a letter. He would then turn 20 sheets of tissue paper and insert a second oiled paper. To dampen the tissue paper, the clerk used a brush or copying paper damper. The damper had a reservoir for water that wet a cloth, and the clerk wiped the cloth over the tissues on which copies were to be made. As an alternative method of dampening the tissue paper, in 1860 Cutter, Tower & Co., Boston, advertised Lynch's patent paper moistener.

Then letters were written with special copying ink which was not blotted.[citation needed] The copying clerk arranged the portion of the letter book to be used in the following sequence starting from the front: a sheet of oiled paper, then a sheet of letter book tissue, then a letter placed face up against the back of the tissue on which the copy was to be made, then another oiled paper, etc.

Prior to the introduction of inks made with aniline dyes in 1856, the quality of copies made on letter copying presses was limited by the properties of the available copying inks. Some documents that were to be copied with copying presses were written with copying pencils rather than copying ink. The cores of copying pencils, which appear to have been introduced in the 1870s, were made from a mixture of graphite, clay, and aniline dye.

By the late 1870s, an improved method for moistening pages in copying books had been invented, and by the late 1880s it had been widely adopted. Rather than using a brush or damper to wet the tissues, the clerk inserted a thin moist cloth or pad between each oil paper and the following tissue.

In the late 1880s, adoption of improvements in office systems for filing unbound documents increased the demand for copying machines that made unbound copies of letters, as opposed to copies in bound books. In 1886, Schlicht & Field, Rochester, NY, introduced the Rapid Roller Damp-Leaf Copier, a roller copier, which used pressure supplied by rollers to copy letters onto a roll of dampened paper. After copies were pressed onto the paper, the paper entered the cabinet under the copier, where it dried on a large roller. An attachment was used to cut dried copies off the roll.

Copies could be made more quickly with a roller copier than with a letter copying press. It was claimed that nearly 100 papers could be copied in two minutes with a roller copier. Roller copiers competed with carbon paper technology. It was claimed that a roller copier could make a half dozen copies of a typewritten letter if the letter was run through the copier several times. It could make a dozen copies if the letter was written with a pen and good copying ink.

The Process Letter Machine Co., Muncie, IN, offered the New Rotary Copying Press, a loose-leaf copier, in 1902. This machine was similar to roller copiers but copied onto loose-leaf paper.

Could this process be what they are talking about re: Mr. Lincoln?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Great research, Laurie! This is IMO how copies were made in those days, not by photography.

As for photographic copies I think like Betty. This is one of the claims where I instantly wonder - why is such not widely known? Also - who shall have taken these photos? (Brady? Gardner? Who else?) And where does the info (suddenly) come from? What about the Everett, Bancroft/Bliss copy of the Gettysburg Address Lincoln gave away for similar purposes? If the EP had been photographed, these should consequently/most likely have been photographed, too, but is it possible such happened that unnoticed?

Isaac N. Arnold's letter to A. L., and A. L.'s letter are in Arnold's "The Life of Abraham Lincoln", published in 1885:
http://books.google.de/books?id=sSy4N1nn...&lpg=PA267

A contemporary's account of the entire incident and context, and the fate of the document is in "Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs" (Vol. 2) by George S. Boutwell. He doesn't mention any photographic copies.
http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_t...0407166/27

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BTW, does anyone know where the Rail Splitter's banner "Lincoln" quote "If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?" comes from? It's one of those often attributed to Lincoln, but I've never found out.

[Anita]

Thank you Betty, Laurie and Eva. I was skeptical when I read that Lincoln had photographic copies made.

Laurie, just think of the oodles of records produced during the Civil War. Was the letter copying press you described in your post used by Nicholas, Hay, Stanton and other record keeping entities of the government?

Eva, your question is a good one- "If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?" comes from? It's one of those often attributed to Lincoln, but I've never found out." I found the answer from our very own Roger. Check out " Unproven Quotations Attributed to Abraham Lincoln" http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln56.html

[LincolnToddFan]

The "two-faced" quote is simply hilarious and brilliant...what a way to checkmate his detractors!

[RJNorton]

Thanks, Anita. Kids have been writing me about that one for a long time. It has been claimed that during the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, when opponent Stephen Douglas accused Abraham Lincoln of being two faced, Lincoln turned to the audience and said that (or something like that). But in searching the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, checking the Fehrenbachers' book, and looking elsewhere (such as contemporary newspaper accounts), I have never been able to locate a source for that quote. I sure agree with Toia's comment - hilarious and brilliant - but so far I have not found that Lincoln really said it. I am not saying he didn't - I just have not found a legitimate source for that particular quote.