Month: December 2025

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The Year in a Writer’s Life – 2025

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Me with Lincoln and Douglass statues, Congressional Cemetery 2025The year 2025 was an incredibly busy writing year for me, so it’s time to recap my Year in a Writer’s Life. You can check out my other year-end posts by reading about my year of traveling, my 2025 Lincoln book acquisitions, and my year in reading.

The big writing project for the year was completing the manuscript for Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours. I had signed a contract with Globe Pequot Publishers in late 2024 and submitted the manuscript to them on May 30, 2025. The working title was originally “Unable to Escape This Toil,” but along the way we decided to change it to a more direct “Lincoln in New England.” The “Unable” line comes from a letter Lincoln wrote to his wife from Exeter, New Hampshire in early March 1860, where he had gone to visit his son Robert after giving his now famous Cooper Union speech in New York City. What was planned to be a relaxing visit turned into 11 unplanned speeches across three New England states. In complaining to Mary that he was overburdened, Lincoln showed the growing strain, but also his growing influence. [Note: I explained the “Unable” letter here] Submission of the manuscript isn’t the end of the publishing process, of course, some of which I’ve documented on these pages and also on Hot White Snow, my blog about the personal side of the writing life. Bottom line – Lincoln in New England will be released into the wild on March 3, 2026 [And you can pre-order now!]

I did a lot of other writing on topics related to the book as well. Among them were articles for the Lincoln Forum Bulletin entitled “Revisiting Lincoln’s ‘Unable to Escape This Toil’ letter” and one entitled “Zachary Taylor – A Whig?” for ALA’s For The People. I have another article in review for the spring Bulletin. Then there was a series of articles related to Lincoln’s two New England tours for the Lincoln Group of DC’s Lincolnian, two of which have already been published, one in press for January release, and a fourth that I’ll write for the spring issue. I also wrote two long articles that will be published in the Winter and Spring issues of the Lincoln Herald and a long research article in review for the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association. I also have two papers in preparation for Lincoln Lore and Surgeon’s Call. During the year, I was quoted in several articles in the media, mostly about Lincoln but one regarding a piece I wrote about a famous quote often attributed to Mark Twain: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

As usual, a good part of my writing life is contributing to various blogs and newsletters. For the quarterly Lincolnian newsletter, I again wrote eight book reviews and the articles noted above. I also had a book review published in the Lincoln Herald journal. I continued to write for the Lincolnian.org website, but even with a slower pace than in the past (because of my other writing), I now have over 242 articles to my credit. Add in the dozens of articles each for this David J. Kent website and my Hot White Snow blog, plus the book reviews on the Abraham Lincoln Bibliography Project website, and I’ve done a lot of writing this year. But wait, there’s more! I also started writing for the new blog, Lincoln250.org, which is a collaboration between the Lincoln Group of DC and the Abraham Lincoln Association and focused on covering Abraham Lincoln’s connections to the Declaration of Independence and the American founding in time for the 250th anniversary in 2026. I’ll contribute to another blog starting in January as well, this one for the new website of the Abraham Lincoln Institute, where I sit on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee.

I continue to do presentations on various topics during the year, including a series recounting important aspects of the history of the Lincoln Group of DC during its 90th anniversary year. And I continue to support the work of other writers. For example, in March I hosted the White House Historical Association’s History Happy Hour program with Michael Vorenberg discussing his book, Lincoln’s Peace. That same month I introduced Jon Grinspan at the annual ALI Symposium at Ford’s Theatre, where he discussed his book, Wide Awake. During the summer and early fall I was approached by two different publishers to ask me to review book proposals from other authors. I provided my feedback on both, as well as reviewed three other books in preparation from authors who reached out to me for input. I was also on hand for the dedication of a new Lincoln statue at the African American Civil War Museum in DC, plus attended the first spring symposium of the Lincoln Forum held at Hildene, Robert Lincoln’s home in southern Vermont. Finally, I was interviewed by a documentary writer and producer for a film in progress on Civil War medicine.

What’s up for 2026?

Spring 2025 was focused on writing Lincoln in New England, so spring 2026 will be focused on promoting Lincoln in New England. The book comes out on March 3, 2026, and is already open for pre-orders (which help start the buzz for the book, so is much appreciated). I have a growing list of presentations I’ll be giving on the book, with a lot more on the way, including in-person, virtual, and podcast spots. You can find a convenient location throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic (and beyond) on my Media page. One of the presentations will be at the 2nd annual spring Lincoln Forum held at Hildene in Manchester, Vermont. I attended the first spring forum this past April and in 2026 I’ll be on the program.

I have several articles in the pipeline as noted above and will continue as editor of the Lincolniana column in the quarterly Lincoln Herald. I’ll also continue writing on the various blogs, and if I completely lose my mind, my finally start the Substack I’ve been toying with for a while. I’ll also be involved in several events for 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, so check back periodically on my Media page.

And finally, I’m already starting research on my next book topic. It will be a tangent off of Lincoln but not about Lincoln. More details later in the year. And if that isn’t enough, I have a topic in mind for the book after that too, which is definitely not about Lincoln. I also have several books I’m editing that I hope to see the light of day sooner rather than later. No shortage of ideas; the issue is shortage of time given that I also will continue extensive world travel and whatever else keeps me interested. Check out the links at the top for my travel, reading, and book acquisition posts.

[Photo of me with Lincoln and Douglass in Congressional Cemetery, Ru Sun, 2025]

 

Lincoln in New England book cover

Coming in March 2026: Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours

Also see – Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America.

Join me on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook and on Instagram.

David J. Kent is Immediate Past President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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The Year in a Traveler’s Life – 2025

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Galapagos Giant TortoiseIt’s time for my annual Year in a Traveler’s Life even though I’m not quite done traveling for the year. You can read about 2024 year here and follow the links to previous years.

I repeated my pattern of the last few years by starting off slowly. The first quarter of the year is usually kept close to home to meet Abraham Lincoln-related obligations, including the Lincoln Memorial birthday wreath laying and various Lincoln Group of DC events. March is always tight because of the Abraham Lincoln Institute Symposium held at Ford’s Theatre, which I always attend and often have introduction duties (and in 2023 was a speaker). I also was locked in front of my computer most of the spring writing Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours, which is scheduled for release March 3, 2026.

April got things rolling with a road trip. The previous two years I had road tripped around New England doing research for the book. This year took me through upstate New York on my way to Vermont to attend the very first Lincoln Forum Spring Conference at Hildene, the Robert Lincoln family home in Manchester. I drove from DC up to Westfield, NY to see the statues of Lincoln and Grace Bedell, the 11-year-old girl who had written Lincoln to encourage him to grow “whiskers.” From there it was on to Buffalo for two Lincoln statues, with a quick trip over the border to Canadian Niagara Falls for the Tesla power plant (which caused some consternation with the border agent who couldn’t understand why I had driven from Virigina to spend only three hours in Canada). Next was over to Rochester for Lincoln-Frederick Douglass, around two finger lakes an on to Seneca Falls for the women’s voting rights exhibits, to Auburn for the William Seward house, to Syracuse for two Lincoln statues, and finally on to Hildene.

The rest of the spring I was writing, with a day trip to tour Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC with the Lincoln Group’s ace tour guide, Craig Howell. I also joined Craig for a tour of Congressional Cemetery in October, where I got my own 15 minutes of fame touting the history of Alexander Dallas Bache. On May 30, I submitted my manuscript to the publisher!

July began a whirlwind of overseas travel. An invitation to a wedding at Oxford University provided a great excuse for the UK road trip we had been talking about for a long time. A flight to Edinburgh gave a few days in Scotland before renting a car (manual shift, left side of the road) to wiggle down through England and Wales over several days before the wedding. Mostly the trip was guided by locations of Lincoln statues, necessitating stops at an old novitiate, Manchester (I’ve been in Manchester cities in multiple states and countries now), Newport (Wales), and Bath. One of the greatest thrills was a stop along the English/Welsh border to visit the home of a famous sculptor whose double-faced Lincoln bust is one of the most unique in the world. I then had to convince the people at the American Museum and Gardens in Bath that they also had a copy, which I eventually talked the one person who knew about it into showing me in the private spaces not open to the public.

The following month really got things going. In mid-August we flew to Lima, Peru to start a Road Scholar tour. From Lima it was on to Cusco, the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu, where we climbed up to the terraces to get the ubiquitous photograph before hiking through the city itself. Luckily the altitude (up to 12,000 feet in Cusco) didn’t cause too much of a problem. Then it was on to Quito, Ecuador before flying out to the Galapagos Islands for a week on a boat hopping around between eight islands. Every perfect day involved a hiking trip to see birds, iguanas, sea lions, and more, plus also a snorkeling and/or kayaking trip to see them all underwater. Snorkeling with huge green sea turtles and kayaking with playful sea lions has been on my bucket list since my early marine biologist days.

The fall was busy but domestic. I attended a Lincoln statue dedication at the African American Civil War Museum in DC in September, then in November make my annual trek up to Gettysburg for the Lincoln Forum Conference, followed a week later by a longer road trip up to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving with family.

But the travel isn’t over for year. I have one short jaunt out of the country relaxing in the Bahamas over Christmas.

Which gets me to 2026.

Spring 2025 was writing Lincoln in New England, so Spring 2026 is promoting it. I have several speaking gigs already arranged and more in process, both in New England and in the DC area, that will keep me busy for several months after the March 3 release. I may go out to Springfield, Illinois for the Abraham Lincoln Association birthday symposium in February, but almost certainly will be in Illinois in June. I will definitely be in Vermont the first weekend of May as I will be on the program of the 2nd Lincoln Forum Spring Conference at Hildene. More info on that here soon.

Beyond that, I am booked on a long overseas trip that will take me first to Mongolia in September, led by a friend of mine who arranges cool trips every year. Four days after that ends I’ll start a Road Scholar tour of Southeast Asia covering Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. I’m obviously not coming back to the states in between, so will be adding in a short trip, probably to Taiwan.

November will take me back to Gettysburg for the Forum. I’m sure I’ll squeeze in other shorter, domestic trips during the year, with spots like Philadelphia, New York City, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia high on my “go to” list next year. We’ll see if I hit the 5 new countries goal. I might not, since I’ve already been to Thailand and Vietnam. Still a lot of places I want to go.

I’ll have my annual Year in the Writer’s Life post up shortly before New Year’s.

[Photo of Giant Galapagos Tortoise, David J. Kent, 2025]

 

Lincoln in New England book cover

Coming in March 2026: Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours

Also see – Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America.

Join me on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook and on Instagram.

David J. Kent is Immediate Past President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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Abraham Lincoln Book Acquisitions For 2025

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David J. Kent office Lincoln library

As usual, the year sped by, which means it’s time to take stock of all my Abraham Lincoln book acquisitions for 2025. I began the year thinking I would continue reducing the number of books I acquire. Then reality hit to the point of purchasing a new set of Lincoln bookshelves for my office library (the number of shelves in my upstairs Lincoln library stayed the same). Those shelves quickly filled up as I reorganized and then added 43 new books to my collection. There are still a few weeks left in the year, but I think I’m now done with acquisitions. The 43 new ones compare to slightly more than half that number in 2024 (25), and even more than the 37 acquisitions in 2023 and 34 in 2022. So much for reducing the total. You can read about past years acquisitions by scrolling through this link.

The oldest publication date of book acquired this year was 1907 for a 9-volume set of the Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln. Other older books have publication dates in the 1920s, 1930s, several from the 1950s, and all the way up to today. Only 12 of the books are those published in 2025 (< 30%), in contrast to last year when the new books were half the total. In part that has to do with the mechanism by which I acquire the books and my intentional efforts to reduce the number of books I buy. Several of the Lincoln books that I read this year were taken out from my local public library, although I admit in some cases, I still bought the book after reading the library copy. The acquisition method had a bigger impact on the number of older books I obtained. Books from various secondary sales outlets (used bookstores, secondary sellers on Amazon and eBay, Lincoln Forum donation table, etc.) tend to be older. Newer books tend to come from traditional booksellers. I bought one old book via an auction because it was a rare compendium that I needed for research.

There were two other means of obtaining books. In the spring I was asked to moderate the White House Historical Association’s History Happy Hour program with author Michael Vorenberg, whose new book, Lincoln’s Peace, was very popular this year (and a great book I highly recommend). To facilitate my interview of him, he had his publisher send me the book (which he later signed at the ALI Symposium). I was also asked by two separate academic publishers to review two book proposals they had received. After reviewing each proposal – two different Lincoln-related topics and completely independent of each other despite the coincidence of the publishers asking me for review nearly at the same time – the publishers offered me payment for my time in the form of books from their catalogues. The result was nearly a quarter of my acquisitions this year came from that process.

A total of 13 of the 43 books are signed. While a few were obtained already signed (usually to some previous owner), I was able to get many signed and inscribed to me by the authors at various Lincoln events I attend. I’m on the board of the Abraham Lincoln Institute, which means I take advantage of my participation in the annual program at Ford’s Theatre each March to get authors to sign my copies of their books. This year I attended a special event at President Lincoln’s Cottage in Washington, DC, which is where I purchased and got both Lucas Morel and Jonathan White to sign to me their new book on Frederick Douglass. I’m also on the board of advisors for the Lincoln Forum, so I get inscriptions from other authors at that meeting every November. This year, as Forum chairman Harold Holzer signed my copy of one of his books, he told me “You’ll be doing this in the spring,” in reference to me being on the program of the 2nd Annual Lincoln Forum Spring Conference at Hildene (Robert Lincoln’s summer home) in Manchester, Vermont. More on that when I do my Year in the Writer’s Life post.

Topics covered in the books run the gamut from compendiums of speeches and letters to Lincoln’s views on religion to his time as a lawyer to the presidency. One unique perspective was given by Stacy Lynn in a book entitled, Loving Lincoln, which explored women’s interactions with Lincoln. Most were women Lincoln romanced, had as legal clients, or simply confided in. Others were women who had opinions on Lincoln. This latter group included the author, whose career as a researcher with the Lincoln Papers project and her own personal experiences gave her additional insights into how women felt about him. Richard Carwardine’s book, Righteous Strife, did a deep dive into the religious nationalism of both North and South in Lincoln’s time and how that impacted his personal beliefs and official duties. Carwardine’s book won the Lincoln Forum book prize and likely will win others.

Several of the books I acquired this year dealt with people and events associated with Lincoln. There were books about Robert Todd Lincoln (Goff), Civil War journalist William Howard Russell (Crawford; Miller), Frederick Douglas (Morel and White), Cassius Marcellus Clay (Marshall), John Hay (McFarland), Judge David Davis (McKoski), and Mary Lincoln (Pritchard). One new book by constitutional scholar Akhil Reed Amar, Born Equal, focuses on Lincoln’s role in the rebirth of the Founders’ concept of “all men are created equal,” a timely topic as we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. I also found two books (Crouch; Herber) that were related to Lincoln in the sense that they examined the scientific world before, during, and after the Civil War, an area that Lincoln helped institutionalize and I discussed in detail in my own previous book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius.

Finally, there are two larger-format books that document collections of Lincoln papers and relics. Abraham Lincoln: His Life in Print by David Rubenstein and Mazy Boroujerdi includes essays by historians and photos of Rubenstein’s personal collection of documents that were displayed in 2024 at the Grolier Club in New York City. Lincoln: The Life and Legacy That Defined a Nation in 100 Objects by Christina Shutt and Ian Patrick Hunt is a companion book to an ongoing special exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

I’ll dig into my reading list on my Hot White Snow site closer to the end of this year, but needless to say, I haven’t read all of the books that I acquired this year – at least yet. I’m currently reading the Carwardine book I mentioned above and will get to the McKoski, Marshall, and Ambar books shortly. I read less in 2025 because I spent most of the first half of the year writing, and that trend will continue as I spend most of the first half of 2026 promoting my new book, Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours (pre-order now!).

Also watch for my Year in the Writer’s Life and Year in Traveling posts coming in the next few weeks!

See the 2025 list showing author/title/publication date below my signature blurb below.

[Personal photo of David J. Kent library of Lincoln books]

 

Lincoln in New England book cover

Coming in March 2026: Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours

Also see – Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America.

Join me on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook and on Instagram.

David J. Kent is Immediate Past President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

 

Here is the 2025 list! [Author, Title, Date of Publication]

Abraham Lincoln’s Political Career Through 1860: Duel with James Shields (Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection) 2018
Lincoln’s Log Cabin Library
The 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1959, Commemoration Ceremony 1958
Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln, Centenary Edition 1907
First Edition of Abraham Lincoln’s Preliminary and Final Emancipation Proclamations (see notes) ?
Amar, Akhil Reed Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840-1920 2025
Ambar, Saladin Murder on the Mississippi: The Shocking Crimes That Shaped Abraham Lincoln 2025
Babcock, Bernie Booth and the Spirit of Lincoln 1925
Boritt, Gabor S. (ed) The Historian’s Lincoln: Pseudohistory, Psychohistory, and History 1996
Burr, Nelson R. Abraham Lincoln: Western Star Over Connecticut 1984
Carwardine, Richard Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln’s Union 2025
Crawford, Martin (ed) William Howard Russell’s Civil War: Private Diary and Letters, 1861-1862 1992
Crouch, Tom D. Smithson’s Gamble: The Smithsonian Institution in American Life, 1836-1906 2025
Dekle, George R., Sr. Abarham Lincoln’s Most Famous Case: The Almanac Trial 2014
Fish, Daniel (reprint by Oakleaf, Joseph Benjamin) A Reprint of the List of Books and Pamphlets Relating to Abraham Lincoln 1926
Friedman, Jean E. Abraham Lincoln and the Virtues of War: How Civil War Families Challenged and Transformed Our National Values 2015
Goff, John S. Robert Todd Lincoln: A Man in His Own Right 1969
Hanchett, William Out of the Wilderness: The Life of Abraham Lincoln 1994
Hayes, Melvin L. Mr. Lincoln Runs for President 1960
Henson, D. Leigh Lincoln’s Rise to Eloquence: How He Gained the Presidential Nomination 2024
Herber, Elmer Charles, Collector and Editor Correspondence Between Spencer Fullerton Baird and Louis Agassiz – Two Pioneer American Naturalists 1963
Horan, James D. Mathew Brady: Historian With a Camera 1955
Kashatus, William C. Abraham Lincoln, the Quakers, and the Civil War: A Trial of Principle and Faith 2014
Leacock, Stephon Lincoln Frees the Slaves 1934
Leidner, Gordon Abraham Lincoln and the Bible: A Complete Compendium 2023
Lynn, Stacy Loving Lincoln: A Personal History of the Women Who Shaped Lincoln’s Life and Legacy 2025
Marshall, Anne E. Cassius Marcellus Clay: The Life of an Antislavery Slaveholder and the Paradox of American Reform 2025
McFarland, Philip John Hay: Friend of Giants, The Man and Life Connecting Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Henry James, and Theodore Roosevelt 2017
McKoski, Raymond J. David Davis: Abraham Lincoln’s Favorite Judge 2025
Miller, Ilana D. Reports from America: William Howard Russell and the Civil War 2001
Morel, Lucas and White, Jonathan W. (Editors) Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln 2025
Newman, Ralph G. (ed) Lincoln For The Ages 1960
Pritchard, Myra Helmer, Edited & Annotated by Jason Emerson The Dark Days of Abraham Lincoln’s Widow, As Revealed by Her Own Letters 2023
Radford, Victoria (Ed.) Meeting Mr. Lincoln: Firsthand Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by People, Great and Small, Who Met the President 1998
Rubenstein, David M. and edited by Boroujerdi, Mazy Abraham Lincoln: His Life in Print: Books and Ephemera from the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection 2024
Shutt, Christina and Hunt, Ian Patrick Lincoln: The Life and Legacy That Defined a Nation in 100 Objects 2025
Spannous, Nancy Bradeen From Subject to Citizen: What Americans Need to Know about Their Revolution 2025
Trueblood, Elton Abraham Lincoln: A Spiritual Biography 1986
van der Linden, Frank Lincoln: The Road to War 1998
Vorenberg, Michael Lincoln’s Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War 2025
Whitney, Henry Clay as edited and intro by Burlingame, Michael Lincoln the Citizen, February 12, 1809 to March 4, 1861 2025
Winn, Ralph B. A Concise Lincoln Dictionary: Thoughts and Statements 1959
Zuckert, Michael P. A Nation So Conceived: Abraham Lincoln and the Paradox of Democratic Sovereignty 2023
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Discoverer of the Only Known Photo of Lincoln in His Coffin Dies

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Ronald Rietveld passed away on November 27, 2025, at the age of 88. Rietveld was a professor of history at California State University – Fullerton for many years, although he is best known for his discovery at the age of 14 of the only known photograph of Abraham Lincoln in his coffin, taken April 24, 1865, as he lay in repose in New York during the long train ride back to Springfield.

Lincoln coffin, New York City, courtesy of ALPLM

Rietveld’s discovery shocked historians. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had barred photography of Lincoln’s body out of respect for Lincoln, his distraught wife Mary, and his remaining two sons. When it was discovered that an unauthorized photograph had, in fact, been taken by photographer Jeremiah Gurney, Jr. while Lincoln lay in state in New York City, Stanton immediately ordered the destruction of all copies of the photograph. The photograph shows two men posing along with the coffin, with Lincoln’s face clearly visible in the open casket.

While Stanton had the four-lens glass plate and any prints destroyed, he surreptitiously preserved one print, which his son kept for many years before giving it to Lincoln’s former secretary John G. Nicolay, who with fellow secretary John Hay was working on the definitive biography of the sixteenth president. The photograph was put in the voluminous files the men had collected and forgotten for 90 years. That is, until an eager teenager enamored with the study of Abraham Lincoln came across it.

“I knew Lincoln photography fairly well at 14 and knew that this picture, if it was indeed a photograph, did not exist,” Rietveld wrote in his reminisces of the discovery. “I had a copy of the May 6, 1865, issue of Harper’s Weekly at the time, in which the scene is sketched, because there were no photographs published.”

Rietveld had attended the dedication of the Bollinger Lincoln Collection at the University of Iowa. Judge James W. Bollinger had been an avid Lincoln collector, and after reading about him in a Des Moines, Iowa, newspaper, the young Rietveld began a correspondence. That got him an invitation to attend the dedication of his collection, which led Rietveld to meet Lincoln scholars of the era such as Harry Pratt, Paul Angle, Louis Warren, Benjamin Thomas, and Harry Lytle, a friend of Judge Bollinger’s from Davenport. Showing his acumen for Lincoln studies, Rietveld was subsequently invited to Springfield, Illinois to see the Lincoln home. While there he visited the Illinois State Historical Library, which housed the Nicolay-Hay Papers donated to them by John Hay’s daughter in 1943. Rietveld recalled:

“I came to a file called X:14. I’ll never forget the number — it’s burned in my memory. Of course, the burning came later. I took it in, opened it up, and was reading Nicolay’s notes about Mrs. Lincoln’s visit to City Point [Virginia] and the fiasco that occurred there after her head had been hit on the top of a carriage during a very bumpy ride. When I finished, I saw an envelope laying there from 1887, sent from Minnesota to John Nicolay at Georgetown. I opened it and there were two pieces of regular stationery paper plus another piece of regular stationery folded in thirds; I laid the last piece aside. I read the first piece, which was the letter from Lewis H. Stanton to John Nicolay, saying in essence, “I have found this in my father’s papers and perhaps you’d like to use it.”

It was the photograph.

Ronald Rietveld went on to become a noted Lincoln historian himself. He received a PhD in history from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and after briefly serving as an assistant professor of history at Wheaton College, became a professor of history at CalState-Fullerton for the rest of his career. When he retired in 2008 – the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth – Rietveld donated his own copy of the photograph and his notes from the day of his discovery to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.

As Lincoln scholars, we all dream of finding some significant, never-before-seen artifact related to Abraham Lincoln. Ronald Rietveld fulfilled that dream when he was only 14 years old.

[Photo from ALPLM. The two men standing are Admiral Charles H. Davis (left) and General Edward D. Townsend (right).]

 

Lincoln in New England book cover

Coming in March 2026: Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours

Also see – Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America.

Join me on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook and on Instagram.

David J. Kent is Immediate Past President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.