Photograph of James Brown, Civil War veteran, with a picture of Abraham Lincoln

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

Elderly African American man with a beard, in a suit, tie, and hat and wearing military medals is turned 3/4 to look at the framed picture of Abraham Lincoln he is holding. Reverse: a newspaper clipping of the same photograph, stamped in purple ink "AMERICAN MAY 29 1936". The title of the article is "Vet, 104, in Parade" with caption in bold and italics: "JAMES BROWN, 104 YEARS OLD! Oldest war veteran left in Illinois." Photograph was intentionally hand-colored with white paint to improve reproduction of the photograph in printed media; the clipping in which the photograph appears is pasted to a paper which is adhered to the photograph.

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