Hello friends, welcome to episode 11 of Secrets of the Civil War.

So far we've covered all sorts of innovations that arose out of the conflict from,

deviled ham spread and spy balloons to surgical advancements.

Today, we're going to continue that exploration with a wide range of new developments like

photojournalism, a national currency, and the evolution of pre-made clothing.

And of course, you can't revolutionize the food industry through canned goods without

creating something to open those cans, can you?

Today is a schmorgasbord of inventions.

Let's dive in.

I'm Sharon McMahon, and here's where it gets interesting.

In July 1952, a 14-year-old budding historian named Ronald Reefeld was granted permission

to view the Lincoln Archives in Springfield, Illinois.

Ronald had free license to examine all the records as long as he returned everything

to its proper place.

Hours later, while packing up the letters, photos, and keepsakes he had poured over, Ronald

just discovered something that all the other state historians had missed.

A photo of Lincoln's body in his open casket.

The photo, along with other governmental documents, had been donated to the Illinois State Historical

Library by the son of U.S. War Department Head, Edwin Stanton, who served with Abraham

Lincoln during the Civil War era.

He is a character, by the way, we are going to talk about him more next episode.

Ronald immediately recognized the photo as authentic because he also had in front of

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