Photo Portrait of Attendees and Exhibits at the National Fair in the Old Patent Office Building in Washington DC (1864)

 

Portrait of attendees and exhibits at the National Fair in the Old Patent Office Building in Washington, D.C., 1864. This seems to have been a smaller and much less well known version of a sanitary fair held in various Northern and Midwestern cities during the American Civil War to raise funds to support Union troops. According to the American Presidency Project, President Abraham Lincoln attended this fair and gave a short speech at it on March 16, 1864. Originally published as a stereoview by Bell & Bro. This is the only photograph of the event I have come across.

Source: National Portrait Gallery.

The American Presidency Project link.