Long lost Lincoln film discovered

A long lost 1913 film about Abraham Lincoln will be unveiled to the public at Keene State College in New Hampshire on April 20th. Considered lost for many years, When Lincoln Paid is a 30-minute film about the mother of a dead Union soldier who asks President Lincoln to pardon a Confederate soldier whom she had turned in.

A nitrate print of the film was found in a barn in southern New Hampshire in 2006. It has been restored and preserved by the Film Department at Keene State College. A 35mm copy is held by Keene State and another has been deposited at the George Eastman House in Rochester. The film stars Francis Ford, the brother of director John Ford. When the film was released, Moving Picture World described it as "a great war drama" with vivid battle scenes.

According to an AP wire story, local film professor Larry Benaquist suggested the film may have once been screened for children who attended the many summer camps located in the area. Benaquist said there was a boys' camp in the area of the barn, and he "believes the films were shown to entertain the children, then put away and forgotten."

Keene State College, to whom this only known surviving print was donated, has posted further information and a couple of brief clips from the film.