thanksgiving and blessings ~

[lookingland]

most of my friends who are innerested in this sort of thing have prolly seen it already, but it being thanksgiving and monday being the anniversary of the gettysburg address, i thought i would share this article (brought to my attention by the fabulous christastrophe).

for those of you who feel skeptical about the fidelity of these images, the 19th century photographic process has the sharpest resolution of any, ever. even today's technology cannot beat it. you can make a billboard from a 19th century image and it will retain its crispness. also, one point they make in the article is to note how rare pictures of lincoln are. comparatively speaking, that's not entirely true. yes, they are rare, but having 130 images of anybody in that era was pretty rare. certain famous (and/or vain) people were enormously photographed (gen. custer, edwin booth). lincoln was the first president who was really widely photographed. so 130 isn't a bad number, considering.

so check out these new exciting possible lincoln finds right here and judge for yourself (go to the link where they show the images) whether you think it might truly be the man in the funny hat amidst the crowd at gettysburg on that hallowed day. i think there's a pretty dang good chance that it is. and even if it isn't, there's a ton of wonderful little details throughout the image ~ like a young boy holding a rifle closer in the foreground, soldiers hanging out chatting, mounted officials on horseback with fancy sashes, etc. just really cool stuff.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,
but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here
to the unfinished work which they who fought here
have thus far so nobly advanced.



lincoln at gettysburg?
november 19, 1863



the original photo ~ very poor contrast here
he's way, way in the back on the horizon.
otherwise happy thanksgiving to my american flisters! (and thankgiving in general to all!) i am shutting down for the holiday and i leave you with washington's original thanksgiving proclamation ~ because i love it so: click me and read me!

see you next week!

: D

Comments

[sparowe]

Hadn't seen it, and probably wouldn't have, so thank you for sharing! :)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

you are welcome ~ ! hope you had a happy holiday!

: D

[faynudibranch.livejournal.com]

Haha, I read an article on that the other day and my first thought was -- what? There are 130 photos of him? Oh my god! But they were intent on trying to convince me that somehow this number was traically low.

which is why in my head I have my very secret list

List of people there need to be photos of: person a: Sanford Conover/Charles Dunham

It's pretty cool it's getting so much attention, though. I guess it /is/ Lincoln, but imagining some research freak digging through old photos and actually finding something makes me feel better...as I dig through old newspapers...looking for obscure notices... >.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i have a list as well ~ particularly of photos that are said to have existed but are now lost to us. 130 seems like a bonanza when you consider some people were never photographed at all.

and i agree ~ there is stuff to be found out there, archives yet untrawled, letters and diaries packed away in trunks waiting to be discovered still.

: D

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Hope you have a lovely, relaxing holiday with loads of pie! :)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

thank you ~ ! and there was pie, so it was all good.

: D