Mumler's studio was located at 170 West Springfield Street in Boston, Massachusetts. |
Mary Todd Lincoln. Photograph by William H. Mumler, February of 1872. |
Later, the image has been dismissed as a fraudulent double exposure. In 1869, Mumler had been put on trial in New York for fraudulently producing his spirit photographs. Because the prosecution could not prove exactly how he did it, he was ultimately acquitted.
How can a 'spirit' photograph, seven years after the death of President Lincoln, be made with a double exposure?
Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.