The late Lloyd Ostendorf was considered to be one of the leading experts on photographic images of President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln lived during a time when photography was still in its infancy and even though he was the most famous person in America at one time very few genuine photos of Lincoln are known to exist.
Ostendorf, a long time resident of Oakwood (OH) had an impressive personal collection of Lincoln photos and whenever a purported and previously unknown photo of Lincoln would turn up he would usually be consulted to see whether he thought it was actually an image of our martyred leader. Usually, they were not.
This interview was recorded in 1998 near the end of Lloyd's life. He talked about how he first became interested in Lincoln and his thrilling experience as a youth when he discovered his first Lincoln photo in the attic of an abandoned house in Dayton. Ostendorf was also a highly regarded artist.
Over the course of his career as an authority on Lincoln he published a number of books. As new images of Lincoln occasionally turned up he would revise and update the numerical inventory of genuine photos in existence and would upon occasion issue another book with every photographic image of Lincoln that was known to exist at that date. At the time of this interview he had just published the latest collection and there were about 130 known photos.
Authentic photos of Lincoln are extremely rare and highly valuable. The Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer has made several visits to the program and during one of our conversations he recounted how he used to make pilgrimages to Oakwood to visit Lloyd Ostendorf and consult with him about things related to Abe Lincoln.
This was a fascinating interview with a man who was truly passionate about his work.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Microsun Lamps.
