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mm^^ssmsiasessB^ss^^iassmmsBsswB LINCOLN ROOM UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY Memorial the Class of 1901 foimded by Harlan Hoyt Homer and Henrietta Calhoun Homer wiBMmMimniHnrmiiiinmiiiiTiiwimwiw THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS • PRESIDENTS' PAPERS INDEX SERIES INDEX TO THE Abraham Lincoln Papers O 21 MANUSCRIPT DIVISION • REFERENCE DEPARTMENT LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON : 1960 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 60-60014 For sale the of by Superintendent Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D.C. - Price $1 rAiCC-^tJ /CcO-M A-^- Preface THIS INDEX to the Abraham Lincoln Papers is a direct result of Public Law 85-147, dated August 16, 1957, the object of which is to inspire informed patriotism, to provide greater security for the original manuscripts, and to make the Lincoln and other Presidential papers more accessible and useful to scholars and other interested persons. The law authorizes and directs the Librarian of Congress to arrange, microfilm, and index the papers of the 23 Presidents whose manuscripts are in the Library. An appropriation to carry out the provisions of the law was approved on July 31, 1958, and operations began on August 25. A reedited microfilm of the Lincoln Papers superseding one that had been made in 1947, became available in December 1959. Positive copies of the film may be purchased from the Chief, Photoduplication Service, Library of Congress, Washington 25, D.C. A positive print is available for interlibrary loan through the Chief, Loan Division, Library of Congress. Contents PAGE Provenance v Selected Bibliography vi How to Use This Index vii Reel List viii Abbreviations ix The Index £ Appendices National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections Card 121 Description of the Papers 122 Sources of Acquisition 122 Statement of the Librarian of Congress 1 24 111 Index to the Abraham Lincoln Papers Provenance dates assigned to a number of documents needed correction in the light of later research. In addition, STORY of the Lincoln— Papers has often some Lincoln documents which had been unaccount- been told, but details vary sometimes aston- ably retained by John G. Nicolay were restored to the T^HEishingly. The most complete account appears President's papers. These have been arranged as in David C. Mearns, The Lincoln Papers (Garden City, "Series Two" to assure their identification. Miscel- N.Y., 1948), I, 3-136. An article by the same author laneous acquisitions were arranged in a third and which appeared in the December 1947 issue of the final series. Three reels (95, 96, and 97) contain the Abraham Lincoln Quarterly contains the substance of the second and third series. story and is reproduced in part in the following pages.' This index has been prepared to include the mate- To what was said 13 years ago a few facts may be rials in the second and third series, to reflect recent re- added. A comprehensive edition of Lincoln's Collected search, and to conform to the style of other Presidential Works was issued after much labor by a devoted editor Papers indexes published by the Library of Congress. and staff.^ Many other scholars have studied the There are 14,724 pieces in the Lincoln Papers. The documents, and all may now benefit by their findings. whole collection is now in 194 volumes and 3 manu- A manuscript acquired by the Library of Congress script boxes. in 1958 added this new fact: Justice David Davis The Library began in 1940 to formulate plans which wrote to Edward McPherson, Clerk of the House of would ensure the safety of its unique and particularly Representatives, on June 22, 1866, stating that the prized materials. Following the attack on Pearl Har- papers found on President Lincoln's person were bor on December 7, 1941, and the declaration of war sealed by Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.' on the United States by Germany a few days later, Later the papers were opened in Justice Davis' pres- Archibald MacLeish, then Librarian, directed the ence. Of this he wrote: evacuation of the specially selected materials according to plan.* "My distinct recollection is that all the papers of public importance were retained by Mr. Stanton & either The Lincoln Papers, along with other materials, deposited in the War or State Depts. I think copies were evacuated from the Library on December 29, were furnished me & handed to Mr. who Nicolay 1941, under the supervision of Alvin W. Kremer, packed them together with Mr. Lincoln's private Keeper of the Collections, to the Alderman Library papers in secure boxes. These bo.xes were sent by the of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. On Secy of War under guard to Bloomington Illinois, my residence & are now in the vault of the National Bank August 14, 1944, they were returned to the Library. of Bloomington. They are sealed & when they will be Lincoln's second inaugural address and two drafts of & examined has not been determined." opened yet the Gettysburg Address, together with certain other were evacuated to Fort The location of the original documents that were "top treasures," separately were returned in withheld and of the copies is not now known. The Knox, Kentucky.* They September 1944. item lost or in the vast original letter by Justice Davis has been restored to No was damaged evacuation was not the McPherson Papers in the Library's Manuscript program. Fortunately Washington Division. attacked, but the Library of Congress in 1941 was In 1959 the microfilm and the index of the Lincoln prepared for eventualities as it had not been in 1814. Lincoln Papers which had been prepared in 1947 were re-ex- In anticipation of the day when the Papers amined. Certain omissions were found in the micro- could be opened, and in accordance with the terms — of the Dr. St. L. Chief of the film primarily pages with dockets or notations or gift, George Sioussat, commissioned Dr. C . Powell endorsements or other contemporary writing. The Manuscript Division, Percy and Mrs. Helen D. Bullock to arrange and index the ' Full citation in bibliography. Quoted with the permission of the copyright owners. * Most of the information concerning the evacuation was sup- 2 Roy P. Easier (ed.), The Collected Works oj Abraham Lincoln plied by Alvin W. Kremer. (New Brunswick, 1953-1955), 8 volumes and index volume. * Robert Penn Warren, "The War and the National Muni- ' David C. Mearns, "Abraham Lincoln Papers," Library of ments," Library of Congress Quarterly Journal oJ Current Acquisi- Congress Information Bulletin, 17 (December 1, 1958), 661-62. tions, 2 (November 1944), 64-75. them to the manuscripts. They and all others who assisted in any On January 23rd, 1923, he conveyed with the that way in these tasks as well as in the repair, mounting, Library by deed of gift, stipulation they microfilming, and binding were enjoined to complete should be withheld from 'official or public inspection view' until after the of secrecy. When the collection was opened to the or private expiration twenty- the date of his death." He died public just after midnight on July 26, 1947, the papers one years from July were chronologically organized, attractively bound, 26th 1926." have since indexed, and microfilmed. The originals Searchers interested in Abraham Lincoln and his been available for use under the standard conditions times may wish to examine the personal papers listed the use of which govern manuscripts. below. These collections contain a varying number A succinct account of the of the peregrinations of letters written by President Lincoln, retained copies from 1 865 to 1 923 is contained in the papers passages of letters written to him, and letters or other documents from Mr. Mearns' article alluded to: previously referring to him. after the assassination, Robert "Immediately Anderson, Robert Holtze, Henry Lincoln asked Associate David Davis to Justice Black, Jeremiah S. Johnson, Andrew undert2ike the administration of the estate. The Blair, Montgomery Lamont, Daniel S. Judge came on from Chicago, gathered up bonds, Bromwell, Henry P. H. McClellan, George B. and household and F. securities, outstanding accounts, Butler, Benjamin Porter, Fitz John of the files. were Simon urged the prompt removal They Cameron, Rga^j john M. Colonel and within a D. packed by Nicolay and Hay, Caton, John Schurz, Carl Chandler, Zachariah fortnight were secured within the vault of the Sherman, John Salmon P. National Bank at Bloomington. The Judge, for Chase, William T. M. Sherman, reasons not a sense of Clayton, John yet discovered, experienced Stanton, Edwin M. Denison, S. relief in the knowledge that they were safely out of George Stuart, George H. he did mention his fears lest Garrett, John W. Washington, although Ambrose W. Gresham, Walter Q. Thompson, they fall into dangerous hands. It is barely possible Herndon-Weik Collection Trist, Nicholas P. that he infected Robert Lincoln with his forebodings, Ethan A. Wade, Benjamin F. for Robert Lincoln spoke of some which 'would be Hitchcock, Holt, Welles, Gideon damaging to men now living.' That was on April Joseph 27th, 1865; on June 6th he wrote that 'the papers relating to the Administration' were 'in such a con- fused state' that they could not then 'be got at.' They seem to have remained subject to the Judge's order until 1874 when Robert Lincoln directed that Selected Bibliography they be sent to Mr. Nicolay, in Washington, for use in the preparation of the authorized biography of his father. They were still in Mr. Nicolay's custody Bullock, Helen D., "The Robert Todd Lincoln when he died in 1901 and appear to have been stored Collection of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln," in the State with the thereafter Department approval Library of Congress Quarterly Journal of Current When died in Robert of Secretary Hay.