After 100+Years Long-Lost Silent Film About President Lincoln Found

A 1915 silent film about Abraham Lincoln was thought to be lost forev­er before being found in a warehouse on New York’s Long Island.

Dan Martin, a summer intern at Historic Films Archive in Greenport, was sorting through boxes of the donations at the archive’s warehouse last summer when he found the only known surviving copy of The Heart of Lincoln, a silent film about the life of President Abraham Lincoln.

“For someone going to school for film preservation, this is about the most rewarding outcome you can have sifting through those old film cans,” Martin said.

The Heart of Lincoln had been listed by the Library of Congress as among the some-7,000 silent films believed to be completely lost to time.

The film was directed by Fran­cis Ford, who also starred in the movie. Ford’s younger brother, John Ford, went on to win four Academy Awards for Best Direc­tor. John Ford directed the 1939 film Young Mr. Lincoln, which starred Henry Fonda as Abraham Lincoln.

Joe Lauro, owner of the Historic Films Ar­chive, said the movie’s rediscovery came as a shock.

“With silent films, probably 70% of them are gone,” Lauro said. “It’s a piece of the puzzle that’s now been found. The puzzle of lost American cinema.”

The Heart of Lincoln has now been cleaned and digitized by film archivist Eliot Kissileff.

“I guess it was just lucky the cans were sealed and had not de­cayed,” Kissilef said.

Lauro said his next planned step is to have a score added to the re­stored film so it can be screened to new audiences.