Oh, this is so damn cool!!

This was sent to me by my friend, Mark Bosworth, who runs the Photography Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.  I copied the letter so you will know all I know:
***

Lou, I thought you would appreciate this one.  In our collection we have a glass plate negative of Lincoln.  The negative was made in 1859 from a 1858 ambrotype portrait of Abraham Lincoln. The original print no longer exists according to historians in Springfield, IL. and as stated by Mr. Loyd Ostendorf, famed author and historian of Lincoln.   The original print was made by Preston Butler of Springfield IL.  Six cities lay claim to where the photograph was taken.  The negative was taken by A. R. Nicholson of Peoria, IL. Attached is a photograph we took today of me holding the negative.  I am really enjoying working on this museum project. Mark     The International Photography Hall of Fame has the copyright on the image.   ***

Now, I ask you, is this amazing or what?  Click on that above and it will get bigger.  Then look at it real hard and know that in 1858 Abraham Lincoln posed for this picture.  At that point in time photography was pretty new, especially when you stop and think that today we point and click then load the digital image on a new media device and there are no such things as negatives.    But the part that fascinates me is that some one was just a few feet from this man and there is a record of this meeting in glass.  Mark is all twittery because he will be holding the grand re-opening of the Photography Museum in St. Louis on September 3 of this year.  See, it was his job to go to Oklahoma City (?) and pack it all up and move it to St. Louis, where he lives.  That is an opportunity few people get!   Mark was a very good friend of Sherman's from way back when.  One of Sherman's most treasured possessions was a picture of him taken when he was 50 years old standing behind his Norton Motorcycle.  Mark had printed the picture on special canvas.   When Sherman gave the picture to me, I knew I was very special.  Today I have the picture and Mark has the Norton.  He completely restored it and brought it to Pueblo so he could take Sherman's picture behind it 30 years later.  I have a copy of that picture also.      This story is told so you will all know just how devoted this man is to the art of photography and the preservation of the art.  And how blessed Sherman Schroeder was to have such a devoted friend.  Greater love hath no man.