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The Visit: A War Worker Calls for a Favor, Late 1862

This oil painting of President Abraham Lincoln was made around 2007 by artist Peter Waddell. The painting depicts Mary Livermore's meeting with Lincoln in the White House in late 1862. Livermore, a women's rights advocate and abolitionist, came to the White House to request a handwritten copy of the Emancipation Proclamation to auction off for a charity event being held by the United States Sanitary Commission, a relief agency who worked to support hurt and sick soldiers during the Civil War. Lincoln obliged Livermore's request and his copy of the Proclamation netted the Commission $3,000. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln would sign the Emancipation Proclamation from the large wooden table seen in Waddell's depiction. In the painting, Lincoln meets with Livermore in his Cabinet Room and office, located on the Second Floor of the White House. The room would be renamed the Lincoln Bedroom by President Harry S. Truman after the Truman renovation of 1948-1952. ***Interior use only for publications***
Artist
Peter Waddell
Date of Work
ca. 2007
Medium
oil paint
Type
Painting
Credit
Peter Waddell for the White House Historical Association