The Collected Library, Including Americana and Early Photography

2 stereoviews, one in which Abraham Lincoln's secretary, John George Nicolay (1832-1901) is depicted. Images in very good condition overall. Mounts with some soiling, edge and corner wear.

Stereoview showing a group of men, including John Nicolay (third from right) and Indian Commissioner William P. Dole (second from right), faint penciled notation on verso, "Mineral Springs, Falls of St. Anthony." St. Paul, MN: Joel Whitney (blindstamp on mount recto). In August 1862, Abraham Lincoln sent Nicolay and Dole to Minnesota in an effort to negotiate a peace treaty with the Chippewa Indians. See Joel E. Whitney: “Minnesota’s Leading Pioneer photographer” (p. 102).

No. 2733, President's Summer House, Washington. New York: E. & H.T. Anthony. The stereoview records the historic summit that took place on 27 March 1863, at which a delegation of Southern Plains Native Americans met with President Lincoln at the White House Conservatory, or Lincoln's "Summer House" in Washington. The stereoview shows the long pathway through rows of foliage, the end of which is where the diplomatic party was later photographed together. This image only features a few subjects, including Edward T. Whitney, one of Mathew Brady's photographers, seated on the railing to the viewer's right. Whitney is frequently misidentified as Lincoln's secretary, John Nicolay. See "E.T. Whitney: Brady's Equal in Front of the Camera," by Craig Heberton, Battlefield Photographer, Vol. XIV, Issue 1, April 2016, p. 3. Our sincere thanks to Jeffrey Kraus for his assistance with this image.