Lincoln's Legacies-Memorials

Table of Contents

Memorials & Appropriation

Introduction

Our study focuses on commercial appropriations of Lincoln’s name, image, and values. In keeping with this aim, we have selected several commercial advertisements dating from roughly 1900 to 1950. All these advertisements were produced by companies located in historically Union states, particularly from areas with large numbers of Midwesterners who held a strong reverence of Lincoln. [more]

It is presumed that both producer and consumer for most of the advertised products viewed Lincoln positively. There is an expectation on the part of the advertiser that everyone likes Lincoln, due to the effect of reconciliation. A reconciliationist narrative produced a Lincoln image devoid of historical fact. These advertisements are vacuous in that they are void of any real content. They fail to acknowledge Lincoln’s controversial role in the Civil War and ending slavery. The lack of controversial content pertaining to Lincoln make these commercial representations unobjectable, effective in their ambiguity.

We found several commonalities between the various pieces in our exhibit. Almost all the appropriations depict Lincoln in his bearded Presidential years, except the writing tablet that has illustrations of Lincoln throughout his life. All the appropriations depict Lincoln in a favorable light, in order to also cast favor upon the products being sold. We have concluded, given that these are all advertisements from newspapers and fliers, that these depictions of Lincoln were intended for mass consumption and wide distribution. While the overarching motive behind the Lincoln advertisements is to sell a product, many also suggest America’s take on Lincoln’s “values” to their audience. Some of the more prevalent values include honor, honesty, hard work, humanism and homage to American values of patriotism and freedom. These values are used to link the business practices of the company and their products to Lincoln.

“Lincoln Axiom Tablet”
J.C. Blair Co. Huntingdon, Pa.
Occidental College Special Collections. R2/43, #151.

- Charles Bennett

This J.C. Blair Company Lincoln Axiom Tablet likely dates from the first few decades of the twentieth century, and was manufactured in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. It features seven plates depicting Lincoln in various aspects of his life, followed by ten sheets of blank paper (one of which was torn off, apparently used). The quotes are a smattering of famous quotes from the Gettysburg and Second Inaugural Address combined with lesser-known quotes that exude Lincoln’s honesty and work ethic (See Example). The point of this image is likely to instill the values of honesty and hard work in young minds, as well as educate students about one of the major figures in American History (See Example). An ulterior motive of the advertisement is to capture Lincoln’s image and use it to sell a product, as emphasized by the affixation of an advertisement to the front of the tablet.

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Advertisement from Lincoln Savings and Loan Asoc.
Michigan. February 1948.
Occidental College Special Collections. R2/43, #151

- Charles Bennett

This advertisement for the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association apparently dates from February, 1948 (perhaps Lincoln’s Birthday), making it one of the newer advertisements in our exhibit. It was cut from a Los Angeles area newspaper, and contains grocery store and coffee advertisements on the reverse. The advertisement is emblazoned with a portrait of a bearded, presidential Lincoln. Most of the text in the article tells of Lincoln’s deeds, followed by a mention of the Lincoln Savings company. As with many of the documents of this collection, there is an attempt at education of Lincoln’s legacies. However, the main purpose of the document is clearly to harness Lincoln’s legacy for promotion of a product.

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Advertisements from The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company
Fort Wayne, Ind.
Occidental College Special Collections. R2/43, #151

- Molly Storer

"Human, Kindly"

This advertisement leaflet depicts a bearded Lincoln reading to a child. In his chair, Lincoln appears approachable, focused and wise, while the child looks at him with awe and admiration. The words “Human” and “Kindly” flank the image in order to link qualities of Lincoln to qualities of the business practices of the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company. The “Human” most likely refers to Lincoln’s emancipation of the slaves and his consideration of the slaves humanity. “Kindly” also makes reference to this aspect of Lincoln. While the purpose of this advertisement is to sell life insurance, the secondary motive seems to instill Lincoln’s values in its buyers. This leaflet was from Fort Wayne Indiana, but seems to have been widely distributed.

"Its name Indicates its Character"

This depiction of Lincoln from the Southern California Branch of the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company appears with a focused stare and an amused raised eyebrow. Other than a vague facial expression, not much can be extrapolated from the portrait of Lincoln. The words “Its Name Indicates Its Character” also appropriate ideals of Lincoln to that of the company in order to sell the product. Lincoln must have been a well-liked historical figure in this geographic region because this life insurance advertisement indicates a favorable view of Lincoln’s character.

What these commercial representations of Lincoln fail to explicitly show connotes an equally interesting interpretation of the documents. For instance, the notion of a life insurance company bearing Lincoln’s name is ironic considering the young and seemingly inevitable death expected for a man during Lincoln’s wartime presidency. The image of Lincoln as a kindly father-figure juxtaposes the alternative version of the War President presiding over this deadly draft. However, as told in Drew Gilpin Faust’s “This Republic of Suffering”, the overwhelming instance of death during the Civil War certainly insured the “life” of the Union. [1]

[1] Faust, Drew Gilpin. This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. New York: Knopf, 2008.

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“Lincoln on Private Property”
Committee for Constitutional Government, Inc. New York, NY.
Occidental College Special Collections. R2/43, #151.

- Molly Storer

This advertisement for replicas of Gutzon Borglum’s sculpture of Lincoln includes a quote of Lincoln’s and an image of the Borglum replica. The image is quite small in the context of the leaflet, while the quote takes up most of the space on the page. Lincoln’s quote imparts the value of Freedom of property, and that all men should have the right to own it. This quote provides the incentive for owning a decorative replica of a famous Lincoln sculpture. The secondary values instilled in the buyer are freedom and equality. These are ideals attributed to Lincoln through the “Lincoln as the Emancipator” perspective.

The previously mentioned commercial representations of Lincoln leave out any explicit reference to slavery, emancipation, civil war, and national unity which were ideologies paramount during Lincoln’s presidency. It seems that in this more modern representation of Lincoln, these ideologies have been conveniently forgotten and paved over with ambiguous ideologies in order to associate a product with a universally favorable appropriation of Abraham Lincoln. This fact speaks to David Blight’s theme of consensual and invented memory in order to allow reconciliation of the historically divided North and South. [1]

[1] Blight, David W. Race and Reunion. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001. 344-345.

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“Furniture Fashions—The Rugged Honesty of Lincoln”
The Peck & Hills Furniture Co. Pamphlet. Los Angeles, Ca. September 1917.
Occidental College Special Collections. R2/43, #151.

- Emma Thorne-Christy

This depiction of Lincoln, taking up the entire page of the back of an eight-page pamphlet entitled “Furniture Fashions,” from September 1917, depicts a slightly old, full-body Lincoln. Illustrated in red, in front of a celebratory wreath, and two American flags, this advertisement for the Peck & Hills Furniture Co. suggests the similar qualities between Lincoln and the way their company does business: honest, modest, and fair. These adjectives employ Lincoln’s persona as a simple man raised on a farm.

It is interesting that the title describes Lincoln as ruggedly honest. “Rugged” seems like a very masculine word to use in an advertisement trying to convince women to buy new beds, sectional bookcases, and writing desks for their home. It is possible that “rugged” is used because it describes Lincoln’s physique. As Douglas L. Wilson points out, Lincoln had the “great strength and size” perfect for such a job as a blacksmith. [1] It also may hearken back to Lincoln’s life growing back on the farm. The Peck & Hills Furniture Co. may have used the phrase “rugged honesty” to present Lincoln’s common-farmer-man persona, in order to sell furniture to the everyday-American family.

The advertisement reads:

The Rugged Honesty of Lincoln
“One of the qualities we most admire about Lincoln was his rugged honesty. We earnestly strive to incorporate this same quality in all the dealing of this store. We understate, rather than exaggerate, in our advertising, lest error of misrepresentation creep in. The claims of our salesmen for our goods are moderate. All this, rigidly followed, that our reputation for honest in merchandising may never be shadowed by a single case of dissatisfaction by a customer.”

[1] Wilson, Douglas L. Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln. Vintage, 1999. pg 91.

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“Lincoln Would Have Grasped This Opportunity Eagerly”
The American Correspondence School of Law. Chicago, Ill.
Occidental College Special Collections. R2/43, #151.

- Emma Thorne-Christy

In this advertisement from a learn-from-home law school, Lincoln appears as a young man using scissors to cut off the ad’s coupon and send it in to the school for a free book about the program. He stands from the waist up, with a genteel smile on his face. The advertisement is in the patriotic colors red, white, and blue with black text and hints of peach for Lincoln’s skin. This advertisement has quite a bit of text, and viewers are drawn in by the first word “LINCOLN” in uppercase letters. This advertisement depicts Lincoln in his lawyer persona.

The advertisement is historically accurate in that it depicts Lincoln as self-educated. However, this self-education, as Douglas L. Wilson observes in his book Honor’s Voice, may be embellished and has become a legend. Wilson argues: “Legends, by their nature, are not so much factual accounts as symbolic embodiments or expressions of what the facts represent”. [1] Lincoln’s self-education does not merely mean that the man taught himself, but that he was self-made: “What was remarkable was that he had found a vocation largely on the strength of his appetite for reading and intellectual effort”. [2] This “myth of the self-made man” is thoroughly ingrained in American society. The American Correspondence School of Law is drawing on the legend of Lincoln-the-self-educated-president, in order to encourage others to emulate him by buying and using the school’s product. Most interestingly, the advertisement suggests that you could become the next President if you prepare yourself.

[1] Wilson, Douglas L. Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln. Vintage, 1999. pg 54.

[2] Ibid., pg 54.

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