Donation of G. P. A. Healy's Portrait of Abraham Lincoln

In this photograph, Capt. Howard Ker of the United States Army Corp of Engineers accepts the donation of G. P. A. Healy's 1869 portrait of President Abraham Lincoln at the White House on March 22, 1939. Capt. Ker was in charge of the buildings and grounds of the White House at the time. The portrait came into possession of the White House following the death of Mary Harlan Lincoln (wife of President Lincoln's eldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln) in 1937 and her daughter, Mary Todd "Mamie" Lincoln Isham, in 1938. According to her will, the portrait of President Lincoln was to be offered to the U.S. government following the death of her daughter as long as it was promised to be placed on display in the White House. To see Healy's portrait of President Lincoln, see asset number 5 in the Digital Library.