Photographic History Collection: Alexander Gardner

Gardner, Alexander

Alexander Gardner was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1821. Before coming to America in 1856, he trained as a jeweler and a chemist, but was more interested in the fairly new invention of photography. After immigrating to New York, he worked for Mathew Brady, in his photographic studios in New York and Washington, DC. In 1862, after disagreeing with Brady over photographer’s rights to gain credit for their pictures, he left Brady’s studio and started his own business in Washington, DC, where his most famous subject was Abraham Lincoln. Gardner not only took the last posed photograph of Lincoln in February of 1865, but also photographs of his funeral and the hanging of the conspirators of his assassination. Besides Lincoln, he also took pictures of other government figures such as, Supreme Court Justices and visiting delegates.