The Earliest Known Photograph, Springfield, 1846 or 1847

A quarter-plate daguerreotype made in Springfield, Illinois, when Lincoln was in his late thirties and newly elected to Congress. It is the earliest known photograph of him. The attribution to Nicholas H. Shepherd rests on the memories of Gibson W. Harris, a law student in Lincoln's office at the time, which is why the date is still given as 1846 or 1847. The combed hair, vest and wide bow tie show a careful, ambitious frontier lawyer, years before the familiar beard and the strain of the presidency.