Saturday, October 31, 2026


 


 

 



 



 


 


 


 


 



 


 


 


 

 


 


 



In 1865, photographer Jeremiah Gurney secretly shot a photo of Abraham Lincoln in his open coffin. Furious over the broken ban, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ordered all prints destroyed. Yet, he saved one. It lay forgotten for 87 years until 1952, when 14-year-old Ronald Rietveld found the faded image inside an old folder at the Illinois State Historical Library