Presenting the past: A newly discovered portrait of James Harlan

William Faulkner once wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” While there are many different interpretations of his exact meaning behind this quote, to me, this quote reflects the idea that the past is only viewed within the context of the present. Put another way, the past is not a conclusive end; instead, we – as historians, researchers, scholars, etc. – continue to interpret, discover, and uncover information about the past.

In this sense, the past continues to be reworked and remade in the present, making history anything but a definitive conclusion. New ways of thinking and ongoing discoveries make it impossible for history to be “complete.”

For example, at the December meeting of the Harlan-Lincoln House Executive Committee, a member of the Executive Committee brought forward a portrait of a young James Harlan. To briefly summarize James Harlan’s accomplishments, Mr. Harlan was a beloved Iowa Wesleyan President, the first Republican senator from Iowa, a close friend to Abraham Lincoln, Iowa’s first Presidential Cabinet member, a successful businessperson, a husband to wife Ann (Peck), and a father to his and Ann’s four children.

Until this last meeting, the only familiar portraits of James Harlan feature him as an older gentleman, after he had established himself as a university president and U.S. Senator. This newly discovered portrait showed James Harlan as a young man, in a way most people had never seen him before.

Looking at the portrait prompted a variety of questions: where was this photo taken? When was this photo taken? Why did James look so sullen? Why his waistcoat was partially unbuttoned? Why would he have a photo taken like this when he was a young, politically unknown man?

While this image does not change the story of James Harlan’s life or history, it does allow the viewer a different perspective. The unearthed portrait provides a glimpse into a young man’s life, before later achievements were realized.

As members of the Executive Committee examined the depiction of James Harlan, different narratives began: maybe this portrait showed James just as he was arriving in Washington, D.C. for his appointment as a United States Senator. Perhaps James had recently traveled from his home in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and his casual attire and unbuttoned waistcoat can be explained by fatigue from his journey.

Or, possibly, James Harlan had just completed an initial meeting with Abraham Lincoln to discuss the fate of a severely divided and discordant nation when he was asked to pose for a photo. The point of these different stories shows us that we don’t know, and we may never understand, the full context of this portrait.

Still, at places like the Harlan-Lincoln House, we strive to tell the most accurate histories we know. Discoveries like this portrait of a young James Harlan help us do that. The significance of discoveries cannot be overstated, especially in a museum setting.

With that, if you or someone you know has information related to the Harlan and Lincoln families, please let the Harlan-Lincoln House know. This could be in the form of objects related to the families, oral histories of the house, or maybe just a story related to the family told over the years.

You can contact hlhouse@iw.edu or call (319) 385-6319. Visits to the museum are always welcome, and the Harlan-Lincoln House is open for walk-in or scheduled tours every weekday from 1–4 p.m. Tours can be scheduled online at harlanlincolnhouse.org/schedule-tour/.