Visitors to Lincoln’s office were often struck by the president’s appearance and welcoming greeting. The first nationally distinguished African American invited into the White House, Frederick Douglass, recalled that although he had been nervous about meeting the president, he immediately felt at ease in his presence. An article in the London South Advertiser describes the writer’s surprise at President Lincoln’s unusual height. This photograph captures the scene of the president at his desk in 1864 as so many described.