[Presidential campaign button with portraits of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin] (LOC)

[Presidential campaign button with portraits of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin]

1860.

1 item : campaign button with tintype photographs ; 3/4 x 3/4 in.

Notes:

Political campaign button for Abraham Lincoln's first (1860) U.S. presidential campaign. Includes a bust portrait of Lincoln on one side and a bust portrait of vice presidential nominee Hannibal Hamlin on the other side; with a metal wire fastener. The Lincoln portrait was copied from a popular 1858 ambrotype attributed to Roderick M. Cole of Peoria, Ill. (Source: Ostendorf, p. 263)

This campaign button represents an early use of photography to advertise an American presidential candidate. Lincoln relied on photography, a fairly new new technology in 1860, to make himself better known during the campaign.

Published in: Lincoln's photographs: a complete album / by Lloyd Ostendorf. Dayton, OH: Rockywood Press, 1998, p. 263.

Title devised by Library staff.

Subjects:
 Lincoln, Abraham--1809-1865.
Political campaigns--1860.
Presidential elections--1860.

Format: Buttons (Information artifacts)--1860.
Portrait photographs--1860.
Tintypes--1860.

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.19430

Call Number: Unprocessed in PR 17 CN 541.2 [item]

Comments and faves

  1. ★

    Hookham.Fotography, Quay Bell, garww, Marilah, and 28 other people added this photo to their favorites.

  2. Catskills Grrl (47 months ago | reply)

    Wow, I have never seen this one and I have seen a LOT of Lincoln images.

  3. kparrish (47 months ago | reply)

    very cool....and again, so young looking. but i guess being president, war and the enormous amounts of stress he was obviously under will age you.

  4. amsd2dth (47 months ago | reply)

    The facial expression is interesting... and he reminds me of Kramer in that photo (as in, Seinfeld).

  5. Lú_ (47 months ago | reply)

    I collected campaign buttons as a child; my requirement was that I usually received them from the candidate or at a campaign event. (I probably still have them somewhere.) I'd not seen them before from this early, though, and would be interested if anyone knows more about the provision (where they given away, free? what did they cost the campaign to make?) and use (this looks like it might have been worn on a chain?) of campaign buttons at the time.

    (edit: almost none of mine, most from the 1970s, had photographs on them)

  6. Leslie Clement (47 months ago | reply)

    I've seen hundreds of Lincoln photos, being a Civil War buff, but I've never seen this shot. Thanks for posting it.

  7. fw652830 (47 months ago | reply)

    The Lincoln/Hamlin presidential ticket was a somehow lost segment of the political life of the Great Emancipator. Few are familiar with Mr. Hamlin's name. It would be nice to know a bit more about Mr. Lincoln's colleague.

  8. Trpster* (46 months ago | reply)

    Hamlin?? I have never heard of him. (I get to look him up!) Also, amazing how Mr. Lincoln's campaign took advantage of "modern technology" .

    Wonderful piece of campaign memorabilia. The Lib of Congress is an amazing place!

    NOTE: If you go to the LOC website, (listed) you can view a photo of the Lincoln/Johnson medailion, including the obverse.

  9. Trpster* (46 months ago | reply)

    Hannibal Hamlin "Lincoln's Frustrated Vice President" August 27, 1809 - July 4, 1891

    Abraham Lincoln's first vice president, Hannibal Hamlin, was a distinguished New England politician who served six terms in the Maine legislature (1836-40 and 1847); represented his state in the House of Representatives for two terms; and interrupted his second term in the U.S. Senate in 1857 to serve as governor of Maine, a position he soon resigned to re-enter the Senate.

    Hamlin was a Democrat until 1856, when he broke with the party over the Kansas-Nebraska Act and joined the Republican party. When Lincoln won the Republican presidential nomination at the convention held at the Wigwam in Chicago on May 8, 1860, party leaders sought a vice-presidential candidate who would balance the ticket. Hannibal Hamlin seemed to be a good choice. A former Democrat with antislavery sentiments, he was geographically desirable since he came from a northeastern state.

    Hamlin had not wanted the vice presidency. Having traded his influential Senate seat for a traditionally powerless office, he hoped to be assigned some important function in the Lincoln government. Although the president listened to his views, which included his urging the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation and the enlisting of free blacks in the army, Hamlin was relegated to the background.

    Hamlin resented his idleness, but he did not want to be replaced as vice president. When the president and his advisors decided it would be politically expedient to name Andrew Johnson, military governor of Tennessee, to the vice-presidential spot in 1864, Hamlin was again disappointed.

    After his vice presidency, Hamlin was collector of customs for the port of Boston, served again in the Senate (1869-81), and concluded his public career by serving as minister to Spain (1881-82) during the Arthur administration. He died suddenly on July 4, 1891, at his club in Bangor.

    Fascinating Fact: Frustrated by his lack of meaningful work while vice president, Hamlin enlisted as a private in the Maine Coast Guard and invoked public criticism by taking his place among the ranks during the 1864 summer encampment at Kittery.

    civilwar.bluegrass.net/PoliticsAndPoliticians /hannibalham...

  10. Zmanphoto (43 months ago | reply)

    Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Tintypes, ambrotypes, Wet-plate Collodion photographs, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

  11. njohnson49 (39 months ago | reply)

    I actually own one of these. The portrait of Hannibal Hamlin is missing, but the Licoln portrait is still intacked.

  12. Jonathan Lurie (35 months ago | reply)

    WINNER
    You are invited to add this photo to www.flickr.com/groups/buttons/

  13. ski king2011 (19 months ago | reply)

    I have 2 Lincoln campaign buttons just like the one in the large picture above. Anyone know what they are worth?

  14. jewdensue (10 months ago | reply)

    I wish i could find some place to buy one. Hannibal Hamlin was a relative of mine.

  15. Ernie Tyler (4 months ago | reply)

    I own one of these as well, in good shape with both portraits. Love to know its value.

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