While going through the paintings and portraits of the historical society today, I came across a newspaper from the New York Herald that was dated April 15, 1865. (The day that Abraham Lincoln passed away after a fatal gunshot) I was super excited to see this newspaper and I ran to show it to Peggy.
I began researching it and found that there are multiple replications and editions of this newspaper that were printed over the years. So I began looking for information to see if this newspaper was the real deal or not.
I began with the Library of Congress to see what I could find. The assassination newspaper editions vary based on number of pages, content and the time that they were printed. Here's the link from the Library of Congress about the multiple editions that were originally printed of the paper: http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/circulars/nyherald.txt.
So far, so good. This paper has many of the qualities mentioned in the list. I kept looking to see what else I could find. I then found a credible blog with specific information about the newspapers: http://blog.rarenewspapers.com/?p=284. In here, it said that newspapers that have a picture of Abraham Lincoln on the front page are definitely replicas. I was sad to read this, but this newspaper is still quite old and is still an important artifact, just because it is not an original does not mean it has no value.
This replica is at least over a century old and has multiple pages. It is in fragile condition, but the frame and the glass are keeping the newspaper together and it can still be read (I read as much of it as I could!!!). Reproductions began being printed a few years after Lincoln's death and continued being printed in the same fashion until 1908. Replicas are still printed today, but they are not on the same material!
If anyone else wants to read the paper I found a link to some of the basic text at: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/lincolnnews.html.
For those of you that want a bit more information, here is a link to a brief biography of Lincoln: http://www.biography.com/people/abraham-lincoln-9382540#synopsis.
I hope this was as exciting for you to read as it was for me to find today!
