Abraham Lincoln's 205th Birthday

I love the florid designs of older bank note engraving. In honor of Abraham Lincoln's 205th birthday, I submit this $5-bill from 1923.

from United States Currency, by Kenneth Bressett

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Daniel Chester French, and His Lincoln

Mark D. Ruffner, from U. S. postage

Several years ago, I visited Chesterwood, the Massachusetts summer home and studio of Daniel Chester French (1850-1931). French is remembered primarily for two great statues he created, the seated Abraham Lincoln that resides within the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concord Minuteman, shown below.

examiner.com

mass.historicbuildingsct.com

French's house is a handsome structure, approximately two miles west of Stockbridge, and overlooking the Berkshire Hills. Coincidentally, it was designed in 1898 by Henry Bacon, the architect of the Lincoln Memorial.

Chesterwood

Chesterwood

By far, the real attraction at Chesterwood is French's studio, where the famous Lincoln statue was carved. Above, you can see at least three models for it (there's a small model at the foot of the largest one).

The room is essentially an enormous cube, with one side comprised almost entirely doors and skylights.

loc.gov

loc.gov

Now I'd like to turn your attention to the floor directly in front of those huge doors. Because French sculpted so many statues that were placed outside, he needed to see how they would look in natural light. He therefore designed that part of the floor to be a large, wheeled cart that could be rolled out into the sunlight on railroad tracks.

yeodoug.com

This is a photo by Douglas Yeo that shows the same view from the other side. You can read Douglas Yeo's own impression of Chesterwood and see more at Mr. Yeo's site, here.

An interesting problem arose as the Lincoln Memorial was finalized. It had been designed to have skylights, which would have cast shadows downward, as they appeared in French's studio. But the skylights were scrapped, thus allowing light to enter the memorial only horizontally. On top of that, light was also reflected upward from the floor, and so poor Abraham Lincoln looked strangely startled!

gbfans.com

You can imagine that both the sculptor and architect were as surprised as Lincoln appeared to be, and hugely disappointed. Much time and effort was spent correcting the shadows through artificial lighting, so that today President Lincoln appears as that iconic face we all know.

en.wikipedia.org

What's in Your Pocket?

Some years ago, a friend gave me a photograph of all Mahatma Gandhi's worldly possessions at the time of his death, in 1948. The photo was remarkable in that there were less than two dozen items total, including a 1910 Zenith pocket watch and his spectacles.

The Moderate Voice

This past March, five of those items were auctioned off in New York, causing much concern in India that ownership might pass to another country. There was an intense bidding war which was finally won by the Indian billionaire, Vijay Mallya, chairman of United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines. Gandhi's relics would stay in India after all. The five items sold for $1.8-million.

The image of those items got me to thinking of a couple of similar photographs.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation

Above are the contents of Thomas Jefferson's pockets, found after his death. They include (clockwise from upper right): a key ring and trunk key, a gold toothpick, a goose quill toothpick, a pocket knife, an ivory rule, a watch fob, steel pocket scissors, and a red leather pocketbook.

National Park Service

Above are the contents of Abraham Lincoln's pockets the night he attended Ford's Theater. They include (clockwise from the right): newspaper clippings, a pocket knife, a monogrammed button, eyeglasses and eyeglass case, a watch fob, an eyeglass buffer, a monogrammed handkerchief, a wallet with a Confederate bill, and a second pair of eyeglasses and case.

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

One need not be famous for such collections to be of interest. My friend John Atkinson sent me images of a few of the many items that were found in the wallet of his grandfather, Dr. Harry H. Atkinson (1880-1932).

Dr. Atkinson was an avid hunter and outdoors man.

One of the more interesting articles found in Dr. Atkinson's wallet was a Civil War letter from his grandmother to his father and uncle. The uncle was killed weeks later. Dr. Atkinson must have carried this for decades.

Would the contents of your pockets or wallet reveal your character, or a provide a window into your personality?

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