This feature documentary chronicles how five generations of one American family have shared the “glorious burden” of collecting, preserving and documenting a treasure trove of photographs, rare books and artifacts relating to Abraham Lincoln. In the years following the Civil War, Peter Kunhardt’s ancestors – in particular, his great- grandfather, Frederick Hill Meserve – collected photographs that might have been lost forever, including now-iconic portraits used on the penny, the 5 dollar bill, and even the image of Lincoln used to create his likeness on Mount Rushmore.
Through photos, home movies and the words of Peter’s ancestors (voiced by several of his living relatives), the film profiles several key family members whose stewardship of the Lincoln collection became an obsession, including Peter’s grandmother, Dorothy Kunhardt, author of the classic children’s book Pat the Bunny, and his father, Philip Kunhardt, Jr., a former managing editor of Life® magazine. Juxtaposing the challenges and humanity of the Lincoln revealed in the Meserve-Kunhardt Collection with those of his ancestors, Kunhardt sheds light on the rewards and, in some cases, pitfalls involved in helping to preserve an important part of America’s past.
