[Lincoln Photo] On February 5, 1865, Abraham Lincoln posed for a series of portraits at Alexander Gardner's studio. While Gardner was processing this photograph, the negative broke, and he made only a single print before destroying the negative.

After Lincoln's death on April 15, 1865, the photograph acquired special significance. The crack in the plate--near the spot on Lincoln's forehead where Booth's bullet struck -- seemed to foretell the assassination.

Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery and the Polaroid Corporation.
"Cracked plate" photograph of Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), 1865, by Alexander Gardner (1821-82), polaroid facsimile photograph of the original albumen silver print

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