Alexander Hesler

[1] Hesler's known portraits include photographs of the two chief Illinois political figures of his day, Lincoln and federal senator Stephen A. Douglas.

[1] Hesler's portable darkroom work included a widely circulated image of Minnehaha Falls, a waterfall located in what was to become the U.S. city of Minneapolis.

[4] Upon Hesler's retirement in 1865, he transferred his Chicago studio and negatives to a fellow photographer, George Bucher Ayres.

[1] Hesler's 1860 glass-plate negatives were used after Lincoln's death as bases for further images of the President, including busts by sculptors such as Gutzon Borglum.

A short documentary film about Mound Cemetery, where he is buried, will release in 2014 and features a segment on Hesler.