"Cracked Plate" Photograph of Lincoln

For just five days, the museum will display the original print of the “cracked plate” portrait of Abraham Lincoln. This photograph by Alexander Gardner is one of the most haunting portraits of any president. Created on February 5, 1865, it was the last formal portrait of Lincoln to be taken before his assassination in April 1865. When the mammoth glass negative cracked, Gardner made only one print from the damaged negative before discarding it. This unique print will not be on view again until Sept. 2015 when Dark Fields of the Republic: Photographs by Alexander Gardner opens.