Lincoln at Home: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

In the years following Lincoln’s assassination, lithographic prints depicting the Lincoln family became popular among the Northern American public, often produced as commemoratives during anniversary celebrations. Since the family never sat for a formal portrait, artists relied on earlier photographs of its members to create their compositions, portraying the family members as they would have appeared at the start of Lincoln’s presidency. This hand-colored print produced probably after the war, depicts the Lincolns seated around a table in a parlor room. On the right, Abraham Lincoln and his son Willie (who died in 1862) read from a large book on the President’s lap. On the left, Mary Todd Lincoln gazes out of the print as she holds the youngest Lincoln son, Tad. Robert Lincoln sits between his parents, next to a vase of flowers, resting his hand on a book placed on the table. To the right of Lincoln, a classical column represents the pillar of state, signifying Lincoln as a republican statesman. A small toy cannon in the lower left corner of the image is the only reference to the war that dominated Lincoln’s Presidency.

The lithograph was created by Hartford, Connecticut firm of E.C. Kellogg & Company, established in 1850, by Elijah Chapman Kellogg (1811–1881), after the dissolution of Kelloggs & Comstock. The business operated until Elijah again partnered with his brother, Edmund Burke Kellogg (1809-1872), changing the company name back to E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. The work was co-published by Thayer & Company, a lithography firm operated by Horace Thayer, who was born in 1811, in Hartwick, New York. Between 1846 and 1847, he was a partner in Kelloggs & Thayer in New York City. The partnership dissolved in 1847 and Thayer moved to Buffalo, New York, and became a map publisher. In Buffalo, he was involved in a variety of partnerships, most of which co-published Kelloggs prints. By 1859, he returned to New York City, remaining there until 1864, when he moved back to upstate New York.

The co-publisher and print distributor is Frank P. Whiting and he worked at the Fulton Street addressfrom 1863-1867.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1865-1867
• depicted: Lincoln, Abraham
• depicted: Lincoln, Mary Todd
• depicted: Lincoln, Robert Todd
• depicted: Lincoln, Thomas
• depicted: Lincoln, William Wallace
• distributor: Whiting, F. P.
• maker: E.B. and E.C. Kellogg
• Object Name: lithograph
• Object Type: Lithograph
• Measurements: image: 8 in x 12 in; 20.32 cm x 30.48 cm
• place made: United States: Connecticut, Hartford
• depicted: Children
• Subject: Furnishings
• Subject: Glasses
• Subject: Toys
• depicted: Family
• ID Number: DL.60.3186
• catalog number: 60.3186
• Credit Line: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.