Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-19430 (digital file from original item, front) LC-DIG-ppmsca-19431 (digital file from original item, back), Call Number: AMB/TIN no. 1436 [P&P]
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.
