"Living with Lincoln": How one family is preserving the 16th president's legacy
Members of the Kunhardt family say they've had both a glorious burden and a wonderful opportunity in their lives.
The reason? Abraham Lincoln.
Since 1897, the Kunhardts have had a treasure trove of photographs, rare books and other artifacts relating to the 16th president of the United States. Five generations have carried on the work, helping to preserve and document the archive.
It's a large part of the family's identity, they say.
"I don't have a memory when it wasn't part of my life," Peter Kunhardt told CBS News. "When I was a little boy I was packing it up and moving it from one warehouse to another. I was helping catalog it. The collection was always this presence that was part of my life."
Beginning with great-grandfather Frederick Hill Meserve (1865-1962), Kunhardt's family has collected photographs that might have been lost forever, including now-iconic portraits used on the penny, the five dollar bill and the likeness used on Mount Rushmore. With the help of Frederick Hill's daughter, Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt (1900-1978), the collection contains more than 73,000 items, including 57,000 photographic prints, as well as thousands of books, pamphlets, maps and theater broadsides.
"My great-grandfather was the first collector of Lincoln photography," said Kundhart. "He did it to illustrate his father's Civil War diary. His father was a Union officer, and my great-grandfather collected to bring it to life. And he stumbled on seven Lincoln negatives, which started him out on a quest to find all the pictures of Lincoln."
The story of that quest is told in "Living with Lincoln," a new documentary premiering Monday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination. Kunhardt, who's also the filmmaker behind documentaries "In Memoriam: New York City, 9/11/01," "Bobby Kennedy: In His Own Words" and "Nixon By Nixon: In His Own Words," produced this new film alongside his sons, Teddy and George Kundhardt. Through photos, home movies and the words of Kunhardt's ancestors (voiced by living relatives), the documentary profiles family members who have maintained the archive all these years.
One piece from the collection, for example, is a glass negative of Lincoln and his son, Tad, a significant part of the overall archive.
"Lincoln came to the White House in 1861, and the following year his middle child, Willie, died while he was in the White House. Lincoln was devastated," said Kunhardt. "He then recommitted himself to his younger son, Tad, and took Tad everywhere...Tad was essentially the spoiled brat of the White House. He drove everyone else crazy, but he could do no wrong in Lincoln's eyes. And one day when Lincoln was being photographed, he brought Tad with him, pulled out an album and the two of them looked at it. And it became the iconic image of Lincoln. That picture, after Lincoln's death, was reproduced everywhere and became the symbolic emotional of Lincoln."
Another stand-out is Mathew Brady's "Cooper Union" portrait, shot in New York.
"Lincoln always said that Brady's image of him was responsible for getting him elected. Brady did a lot of retouching. He made him look even better than he can look on his good days," said Kunhardt.
Now with the 150th anniversary on his death -- on April 15 -- Lincoln is once again top of mind for scholars and enthusiasts alike.
"The subject of Abraham Lincoln is probably the greatest subject for American historical scholarship. You just can dig deeper. It's like an onion. You can just keep peeling back layer after layer," said Kunhardt.
Meanwhile, the Kunhardt's Lincoln memorabilia, which has been stored in family attics and basements over the years, is about to make a big move. It was just announced that Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library has acquired the collection, which will soon be on display for students, faculty and the general public.
"For the first time ever it will really have the proper preservation requirements to make sure these pictures last for another 200 years...and also be wildly accessible," said Kunhardt.
Without all those boxes, life will be different around the Kunhardt household.
"We have no idea who we will be," said Kunhardt.
Check out the video above for more on "Living with Lincoln" -- and to see a photograph from Lincoln's second inauguration, which shows John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's eventual assassin, in the crowd.
