The President Lincoln ambrotypes were only discovered in 2012 - images shoe Abraham Lincoln , his wife Mary Todd Lincoln and son William "Willy" believed to have been done originally by Christopher S German in 1861 , German took several photos of Lincoln Feb 9th the exact number is not known. These images have been an ongoing project with many details still being discovered , such as Marys beaded hair tie which shows in other known images of Mary - Mary's brooch which is in the Boston Museum of Fine Art. The image with President Lincoln seated with book --- research indicates the book-mark could be the Springfield Farewell Speech which was reportedly lost and later rewritten on the train to Washington.