^ a^ r — g& ^ ^; i^== ^ ^ g ^=::^ t THE Lincoln COLLECTION of the ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY t9l ^ p? — q &==q p — g g==^ p =g p — q g= THE LINCOLN COLLECTION of the ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY By PAUL M. ANGLE This is the first of a series of booklets describing the resources of the Illinois State Hiitorical Library. Published by the Library, at Springfield, 19 40. PRINTED BY AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY CENTENNIAL BUILDING Springfield, Illinois TRUSTEES Oliver R. Barrett Kenilworth Lloyd Lewis Chicago Irving Dilliard Collinsville LIBRARIAN Paul M. Angle Springfield Ltnfoi^ Room THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY The Illinois State Historical Library had its origin forty-one years ago when the Secretary of State transferred 442 volumes of American history to the newly-appointed Trustees. Today (1940) its collection of books and pamphlets numbers approximately 75,000. On its shelves are 10,000 bound volumes of newspapers and 60,000 feet of newspaper microfilm. Many thou- sands of manuscripts, photographs, paintings, prints, broadsides and posters round out holdings which crowd its present quarters almost to the limit. THE LINCOLN COLLECTION Early in the history of the Illinois State Historical Library the Trustees decided that an inclusive collection of Lincolniana should be an objective of primary im- portance. Abraham Lincoln was not only the greatest Illinoisan; he was also the greatest American. More- over, he was a resident of Springfield for nearly a quarter of a century; his home stood — and still stands — there; his body lay in final peace at the limits of the city. Time was to bring about another appropriate coincidence then unforeseen, for the building in which the Library is now housed stands on the site of the residence of Ninian W. Edwards, in which Lincoln and Mary Todd were mar- ried. 6 THE LINCOLN COLLECTION LINCOLN MANUSCRIPTS More than two hundred autograph letters and docu- ments of Lincoln constitute the heart of the collection. Chronologically these range from a signature on a peti- tion to the Sangamon County Commissioners' Court dated March, 1831 — one year after Lincoln's settlement in Illinois — to a telegram to Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks sent from City Point, Virginia, on April 5, 1865 — ten days before his death. In size they vary from small cards to an eight-page letter. In character and importance they cover the whole range of Lincoln's writings. The collection is especially rich in early documents. Included are a number of poll books in Lincoln's hand- writing, testifying to his service as an election clerk at New Salem; several surveys represent that phase of his life. Legal documents as early as 1837 illustrate the be- ginnings of his professional career, while others show his steady progress from an obscure practitioner to lead- ership at the bar of Illinois. In many letters the human qualities of Lincoln stand out. Two of the most interesting, for example, concern William Florville, a colored barber of Springfield whom Lincoln referred to as "our 'Billy the Barber.' " In the first letter, written from Bloomington, Sept. 27, 1852, to C. R. Welles, Lincoln asked Welles to facilitate his attempt to get Florville a decree for the conveyance of certain town lots, and added, "Billy will blame me, if I do not get the thing fixed up this time." On Feb. 10, 1860, hardly more than three months before his first presidential nomination, Lincoln wrote from Spring- field to ask a fellow-lawyer in Bloomington to pay the taxes on Florville' s lots. He himself had been paying THE LINCOLN COLLECTION 7 the taxes for several years, he explained, but forgot to do it on his last trip to Bloomington. In letters and documents of the war years, Lincoln's humanity shines from the drab horror of the conflict. "A poor widow, by the name of Baird," he informed Stanton on March 1, 1864, "has a son in the army, that for some offence has been sentenced to serve a long time without pay or at most, with very little pay. I do not like this punishment of withholding pay — it falls so very hard upon poor families." Whereupon he ordered that the soldier be allowed to re-enlist on the usual terms. Again, on March 15, 1864, he wrote to Stanton asking him to see "the gallant Drummer-boy, Robert H. Hendershot, whose history is briefly written on the fine drum presented him which he now carries. He must have a chance, and if you can find any situation suitable to him, I shall be obliged." Perhaps the most revealing item in the entire collection, however, is a small pass, dated April 9, 1864, permitting "John Ehler, a boy 10 years old," to join a certain soldier in the 61st New York Infantry in the Army of the Potomac. On the back are these words, written two days later: "They say that by the destruction of a bridge this boy has been unable to pass on this. Might it not be renewed for the little fel- low? A. Lincoln." Many letters in the collection relate to matters of out- standing importance, both in Lincoln's life and in the affairs of the nation. The Library owns the remarkable series of letters which Lincoln wrote to Elihu B. Wash- burne of Galena between 1854 and 1860. Without much exaggeration this series could be described as a history of the Republican Party in Illinois during these critical years, and the letters certainly define and describe Lin- 8 THE LINCOLN COLLECTION coin's position in the party for this period. Another series of seven letters and telegrams to Gen. George B. McClellan throw light on one of the most heart-break- ing episodes of the Civil War — the Peninsular campaign — and portray Lincoln's mounting doubt of his com- mander's capacity. At the same time, they reveal the President's genius for phrase-making. Not frequently do military communications contain a sentence like Lin- coln's telegram of July 5, 1862, to McClellan, when there still seemed to be some hope that Richmond might be taken: "If you can hold your present position, we shall 'hive' the enemy yet." And not often does a com- mander-in-chief write with the patience-worn-thin that marks Lincoln's telegram of October 24, 1862 to the same officer: "I have just read your despatch about sore- tongued and fatigued horses. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have been doing since the battle of Antietam that fatigues anything?" It is not surprising that the Library's collection should contain an order dated November 5, 1862, in which the first sentence reads as follows: "By direction of the Pres- ident, it is ordered that Major-General McClellan be re- lieved from the command of the Armv of the Potomac, and that Major-General Burnside take command of that army. ... A. Lincoln." Lincoln's relations with other major commanders are exemplified in many letters in the Library's possession. Of several letters and telegrams to "Fighting Joe" Hooker while Hooker was at the head of the Army of the Potomac, perhaps the most interesting is the tele- gram of June 5, 1863, in which Lincoln offers this advice: "I have one idea which I think worth suggesting to you, and that is, in case you find Lee coming to the north of ■%ff <^ / ^- /' - , /_ ^ - ^ '-«-__ ^- ^^ V^ i-*-^^^2c4i 7y fcs^^ Tavern Keepers' Bond The signature, "Abraham Lincoln," is not in Lincohi's handwriting. To iia. 'Hi ; ri- ol' llic GospH, or oilier nuihorisedrefsiin-OREETING, Zl^X&.i..^ . .. .-J cue tc £|Li.«-ii-'>« art-i^ jieuail ijwi. to |cnt uv tlic- hr4u i^nK^i ^Poiwiamtii- riivO ^^tatc- c (Iwiw,, tSii siioft In- ijutt iuffiwpiit U'uunnt. &'«.'<»'■ iiiiwt. mij fiaiiO tuwi ical £>(• c-ft'w«. . //y^„ '..^^./'^ ^:,./ Marriage License of Lincoln and Mary Todd With the return of the Rev. Charles Dresser, the officiat- ing clergyman. THE LINCOLN COLLECTION 9 the Rappahannock, I would by no means cross to the south of it. ... I would not take any risk of being en- tangled upon the river, like an ox jumped half over a fence and liable to be torn by dogs front and rear with- out a fair chance to gore one way or kick the other." Most characteristic, as far as Lincoln is concerned, of the six letters to Gen. John A. McClernand in the collec- tion, is the one (August 12, 1863) in which he applied balm to McClernand' s wounded pride. "My belief," Lincoln concluded, "is that the permanent estimate of what a general does in the field is fixed by the 'cloud of witnesses' who have been with him in the field; and that relying on these, he who has the right needs not to fear." Illustrating well the calm mastery to which Lin- coln finally attained is a letter (December 2, 1864) to Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks which opens with this sen- tence: "I know you are dissatisfied, which pains me very much, but I wish not to be argued with further;" and closes: "This is certainly meant in no unkindness, but I wish to avoid further struggle about it." To select any single letter or document in the Li- brary's collection and say, "This is easily the finest," would be a rash undertaking, but one of the candidates for the honor surely would be Lincoln's letter of August 26, 1863 to James C. Conkling, together with the several telegrams which relate to it. This letter, which was sent to be read at a mass meeting in his old home, has been described as Lincoln's last stump speech. Certainly he rarely reached greater heights of eloquence than !"" attained in its conclusion, when he said: "Peace does noi appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that 10 THE LINCOLN COLLECTION among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And then there will be some black men who can remember that with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have helped man- kind on to this great consummation, while I fear there will be some white ones unable to forget that with ma- lignant heart and deceitful speech they strove to hinder It. Many letters and documents not written by Lincoln himself relate so directly to his life that they constitute an integral part of the Lincoln collection. The Library possesses, for example, the unique document licensing Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd to marry, which bears on its face the return of Charles Dresser, the officiating minister: "Solemnized on the same 4th day of Nov. 1842. ' ' It owns many letters written by members of Lin- coln's family, including two childish notes of great ap- peal by Willie Lincoln. (One of these, written from Washington on May 3, 1861, describes the thousands of soldiers in the national capital and mentions partic- ularly Elmer Ellsworth, whose death three weeks later plunged the entire North into sorrow.) It owns the tele- gram, dated April 15, 1865, in which Robert Lincoln asked David Davis to come at once to Washington and take charge of his father's affairs. And it possesses all the papers in the estate of Abraham Lincoln, deceased. PRINTED LINCOLNIANA The heart of the Illinois State Historical Library's collection of printed Lincolniana is the Henry Horner Collection, presented to the library by Governor Henry THE LINCOLN COLLECTION 11 Horner on April 23, 1940. This collection, the result of forty years of discriminating work, has been supple- mented by the Library's own extensive holdings in printed Lincolniana, so that it now numbers approxi- mately 4,500 titles — books, pamphlets and broadsides — relating wholly or in major part to Abraham Lincoln, his immediate family, or his ancestry. In addition, duplicate copies of many titles have been retained so that they may be lent to scholars and to other libraries much more freely than in the past. To describe a collection of this size in detail is obvi- ously an impossibility. Perhaps, however, some idea of its scope and quality will be conveyed by mention of a few of its many rare and unusual items. Of the first (1860) campaign biographies listed by Ernest James Wessen,^ the Henry Horner Collection con- tains at least one edition of all except three — the very rare Vose campaign life, and one Welsh and one German biography. On the other hand, the collection includes two titles listed by Wessen which are not to be found in any of the other large public collections: I. Codding, A Republican Manual for the Campaign, Princeton, Illinois, 1860; and an anonymous work in German, Das Leben von Abraham Lincoln, nebst einer kur%en Skiz^e des Lebens von Hannibal Hamlin, Chicago, 1860. Most of the books and pamphlets in any large Lin- coln collection can be procured, with patience, for rel- atively small sums. There are others, however, which are infrequently available, and the rarity of which is demonstrated by the high prices they command. Most of these — perhaps all — are to be found in the Henry 1 "Campaign Lives of Abraham Lincoln, 1860," in Papers in Illinois History, 19V . Springfield, III., 1938. 12 THE LINCOLN COLLECTION Horner Collection. Without attempting an inclusive list, one may specify as typical the Fish bibliographies of 1900 and 1906; the Oakleaf bibliography; Frederick Hill Meserve, The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln (one of 102 copies); Ben: Perley Poore, The Conspiracy Trial for the Murder of the President, including, of course, the rare third volume; an edition of this same work in ten parts in paper, no other copy of which is known to exist; and the folio edition of Tributes to the Nlemory of Abraham Lincoln, Washington, 1885. One of the two known copies of the Life of Abe Lincoln, of Illinois, a diminutive (1 }/2" x 1^/i"^ satirical campaign biography of eight pages, published in 1860, is included in the collection. So also is an ap- parently unique copy of Lincoln's "House Divided" speech printed by the True Republican Press at Syca- more, Illinois, in 1858. Rarely found in other collec- tions are original time tables of the Lincoln funeral train: (1) from New York to Albany on the Hudson River Railroad (2) from Buffalo to Erie on the Buffalo and Erie Rail Road, and (3) from Indianapolis to Chi- cago over three separate railroads. Over the years "association" copies — that is, copies of books "associated" in unusual or especially appro- priate ways with certain individuals — accumulate in any large collection. The Henry Horner Collection contains many such, but there are three which deserve particular mention. The first is a copy of Joseph G. Baldwin's Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi, a humorous book, popular in its day, of which Lincoln was very fond. The copy which he himself read, worn by its travels over the old eighth judicial circuit and damaged by the Chicago fire, is naturally highly prized. The sec- ond is Isaac N. Arnold's own copy of his book. The His- / -'C. . <. 1.-'^ <^- •»-- i~-fi--^" /'X-£».v^' jC^—e-^y-- tx^-i^,.^ ■Ci-'*'-.^-^-^ &,^>^-Jl. '. ■ .J /tyV-L/J i.''^/.j;v. ,Vx/,-,7/- />',./ i^'^/f/..'?^. /■■",-/ '. • '•• •'■ ^cny- ' ''/flu.'. Ht' ' // ' ' '^ Lincoln Denies Know Nothing Affiliations O. M. Hatch, who validated the letter, was Secretary of State of Illinois. ^a^l.-, erf if) hjt,^-,^^^^^ — hV^a^o Ch Y-^-<^ The "Good Neighbor" Policy in 1861 THE LINCOLN COLLECTION 13 tory of Abraham Lincoln, and the Overthrow of Slavery. The mere fact of the author's ownership would lead any li- brarian to prize the book, but this volume has impor- tance as well as interest: heavily marked and annotated, it was obviously used by the author in the preparation of his later and better known work, The Life of Abraham Lincoln. The third volume is a copy of Ward Hill La- mon's The Life of Abraham Lincoln, inscribed and pre- sented by the author to John Hay, and bearing many of Hay's marginal notes and corrections. The facts that both Lamon and Hay were intimate associates of Lin- coln, and that both men wrote important books about him, raise this particular volume well above the level even of association copies. PAINTINGS AND MEMORABILIA The Lincoln Collection includes a large number of prints and photographs, but two paintings give real dis- tinction to the pictorial section. Both were painted from sketches drawn from life. One is by George H. Story, the other by William Coggswell. Both men were portrait painters of reputation in their day. Neither portrait is great art, but each possesses value as an his- torical document. Excelling the portraits in artistic merit, but lacking their documentary value, are six miniatures, five of Lincoln and one of Mrs. Lincoln, recently painted by the late William Patterson. The work of a fine artist thoroughly familiar with his sub- ject, the miniatures should preserve a faithful record of Lincoln's appearance for centuries. Memorabilia, or what might be called association articles, can be found almost without end in institutions or in the hands of private collectors. Unfortunately, 14 THE LINCOLN COLLECTION many if not most are of doubtful authenticity. In the Library's collection, however, are several articles of es- tablished genuineness — Lincoln's shaving mirror; the original doorplate from his Springfield home; a pair of his riding gloves, v^ith a letter from Robert T. Lincoln to Gen. C. C. Augur stating that he was sending the gloves as a mark of appreciation for Augur's sympathetic aid at the time of the President's funeral. On deposit in the Library, though not its property, is the desk on which Lincoln wrote his first inaugural address. MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS Although not considered integral parts of the Lincoln Collection, several of the Library's collections of manu- scripts relate to subjects of such great concern to Lincoln that they have large value in the study of his life. Brief mention of the most important follows: THE GEN. CHRISTOPHER C. AUGUR COLLECTION THE GIFT OP HIS SON, MURRAY B. AUGUR This collection of several hundred letters and papers of one of the distinguished Union commanders relates principally to the Civil War and particularly to the siege of Port Hudson, where Augur was in command of the left wing of the Northern army. Represented are letters from Augur himself, Generals Nathaniel P. Banks, U. S. Grant, B. H. Grierson, Joseph E. Johnston (C. S. A.), Phil Sheridan, T. W. Sherman, and Admirals David G. Farragut and D. D. Porter. Of unusual interest is a letter from Sheridan to Augur written on Oct. 21, 1864 — two days after the Battle of Cedar Creek — in which Sheridan described his famous ride from Winchester and the battle THE LINCOLN COLLECTION 15 itself. "Disaster in the morning," he summarized, "turned out a magnificent victory in the evening." From this collection and its donor came the Lincoln riding gloves mentioned in another connection, THE NATHANIEL P. BANKS COLLECTION This collection of the papers of a famous Republican leader and Union general consists of approximately 2,000 letters for the years 1840 to 1894. The majority of the letters relate to the Post-Civil War period. Included is much important material on the formation of the Repub- lican Party, the campaign of 1856 and 1860, and on the military occupation of Louisiana while Banks was in command there. A fine series of letters from John C. Fremont after the Civil War is of particular interest. THE ORVILLE H. BROWNING PAPERS In addition to the original of the Browning Diary, published as Vols. 20 and 22 of The Illinois Historical Col- lections, this collection includes several hundred letters, chiefly in the period 1860-1870. Represented, among many others, are Schuyler Colfax, David Davis, Preston King, John A. McClernand, Gen. George E. Pickett (C. S. A.), S. C. Pomeroy, George D. Prentice, Admiral Charles Wilkes and Richard Yates. The collection is not a large one, but it is important because of the long and intimate association between Browning and Lin- coln, and because of the intrinsic value of many of the letters it contains. LINCOLN REMINISCENCES Ninety-six letters and statements written at the time of the Lincoln Centennial make up this collection. 16 THE LINCOLN COLLECTION Many are from men then prominent in American life; many others were written by individuals who knew Lincoln more than casually. THE JOHN A. MCCLERNAND-WILLIAM J. BUTLER COLLECTION One may say without exaggeration that this is one of the finest collections of Civil War papers in existence. McClernand, Springfield lawyer and Democratic leader, entered the Union army as a brigadier general after the Battle of Bull Run. As a major general in command of the XIII Corps he served in the Vicksburg campaign until relieved by Grant two weeks before the fall of the city. Eight months later he regained command of his old corps, but acute illness soon forced him to return to Illinois. In November, 1864, he resigned his commis- sion. The McClernand Papers, which include nine letter and order books and more than 10,000 letters, extend from 1823 to 1896, but the great majority fall between 1861 and 1864. For these years they represent the com- plete correspondence and records of a major general out- ranked in the West only by Halleck and Grant. The col- lection contains more than two hundred letters from Grant alone, while practically every prominent military and political leader of the North is represented. For the war in the West, this collection is indispensable. THE NATIONAL LINCOLN MONUMENT ASSOCIATION PAPERS The National Lincoln Monument Association was the organization which built the Lincoln Monument at Springfield and administered it until it was transferred to the State of Illinois. This collection consists of the Association's complete records. Three classes of ma- (Pa 0^CiA£^ I ^;«i^ /Z^o (-<^. Q-^ J?:.e-<7*' Cyy^^ A^=^ The Torture of Patronage The close, "Your tired friend," is probably unique. Itt &>tx-^.^. fSit^y , ^i^J fA^ t-<.^.fcJU 4-x*.-t-_,, -M..V al£fi> _ t^-u-- /^-t-C-^, *L< J-e^w^ 0'?/y.fiL^ -TixJ.^ -<^*-^ ("^rt.^^ -7-^^^.^^ ■£^e^<^ A, lUyiM- - ^it—^ , U^ •'A-u-^ /5-c^^v^ i3i.^-<^jf &U--^ , ■(■t^.c^.-c. 9-t^i.^, ^. '^u^^^ /Vt>l^, ^^5x.-^ lynAXAKC^r^ . Conclusion of the Conkling Letter, Aug. 26, 1863 The word "poised," the close and the signature are in Lincoln's handwriting. THE LINCOLN COLLECTION 17 terial may be differentiated: (1) Correspondence for the years 1865-1882; (2) Duplicate receipts for contributions to the monument, 1865-1868; (3) Circulars, contracts, reports, etc., for the duration of the Association's life. Altogether, these papers provide a detailed picture of the difficulties which beset the Springfield men who undertook to erect the monument which has since be- come a place of pilgrimage for many millions. THE NICOLAY AND HAY COLLECTION This collection, the gift of Alice Hay Wadsworth, consists in the main of notes and memoranda used by John G. Nicolay and John Hay in the preparation of their famous biography, Abraham Lincoln: A History, to- gether with portions of the original manuscript and proofs. Although the collection is by no means com- plete, it contains much important material, including original letters by Robert Todd Lincoln, Nathaniel P. Banks, William Tecumseh Sherman, Simon Cameron, Adam Gurowski and others. Many letters, often con- taining information of value, were called forth by the serial publication of Abraham Lincoln: A History in the Century Magazine, and these are included in the collec- tion. Also included is a file of letters received from the Century editors during serial publication. One unique Lincoln item found its way into the Nicolay and Hay Collection. This is a sheaf of tele- grams from Governors of the Union states giving official returns in the presidential election of 1864, all tied to- gether. On each telegram is the name of the state in Lincoln's careful handwriting. Obviously, this was his own file. The Nicolay and Hay Collection includes another 18 THE LINCOLN COLLECTION unique manuscript of considerable interest and impor- tance. This is the transcript of John Hay's letters and diaries made by Henry Adams soon after John Hay's death. This material, with names represented only by capital letters, was privately printed in a small edition in 1908. In this printing, however, occasional passages from the diary and some letters were omitted. The Henry Adams transcript remains of importance in spite of the much fuller and more scholarly Dennett edition (Lincoln and the Civil War, in the Diaries and Let- ters of John Hay^ hccsLUse it contains some material which is not to be found in either the Dennett edition or the privately printed Letters and Diaries. THE JESSE J. RICKS COLLECTION This collection, named for its donor, comprises more than a hundred letters of men prominent in American life during Lincoln's lifetime. Most of the letters have intrinsic importance. In the collection, to name only a few, are letters from William H. Bissell, John Brown, Orville H. Browning, Henry Clay, Edward Coles, David Davis, Jefferson Davis, John A. Dix, Edward Everett, U. S. Grant, Horace Greeley, Andrew Jackson, George B. McClellan, John A. McClernand, Richard J. Oglesby, F. B. Sanborn, John Reynolds, Lyman Trumbull and Richard Yates. The collection also contains several hun- dred letters written to Norman L. Freeman, Illinois lawyer and politician, during the years 1852-1858; as well as an unusual book-length manuscript entitled "The Woodcutter, or a Glimpse of the 19th Century at the West." This is a description and critique, done with considerable insight and a great deal of asperity, of American life and manners. Apparently written THE LINCOLN COLLECTION 19 about 1840, it is the work of Paul Brown, who described himself on the title page as the author of "Disquisition on Faith," and "A Dialogue on Commonwealths." Several Greeley items in the Ricks Collection deserve mention, even though they fall outside the Lincoln pe- riod. One is the manuscript notification of Greeley's nomination for the Presidency in 1872, signed by J. R. Doolittle, chairman of the Liberal Republican National Convention. Another is the manuscript of Greeley's let- ter of acceptance, while the third consists of the proof sheets of Greeley's letter of acceptance with his own corrections in the margins. THE PAPERS OF RICHARD YATES AND RICHARD YATES THE GIFT OF MRS. RICHARD YATES Included in this collection are the papers of Richard Yates (1815-1873) and Richard Yates (1860-1936). Both men, father and son, were distinguished public servants. The elder Yates represented his state in Congress both as a member of the House of Representatives and as a Senator, and guided its destinies as Governor during the critical years from 1861 to 1865. The younger Yates was Governor of Illinois from 1901 until 1905, a member of the national House of Representatives for seven con- secutive terms, and an able occupant of other positions of public trust. The bulk of the Yates Papers, which approximate 10,000 in number, cover the years 1852-1873 and relate to the career of Richard Yates, the Civil War Governor. They are especially rich in political material for the critical period prior to 1860, and present a vivid picture of a state at war. The collection has only recently been made available, and is therefore virgin material. 20 THE LINCOLN COLLECTION NEWSPAPERS Although not considered integral parts of the Lincoln Collection, the Illinois State Historical Library pos- sesses newspaper files which are practically indispensa- ble to the close student of Lincoln's life. With the ex- ception of sixteen months in 1843 and 1844, its file of the Sangamo Journal (later called the Illinois Journal and now known as the Illinois State Journaf) is practically complete from the first issue (November 10, 1831) until Lincoln's death. (The file is unbroken from 1865 to the present time.) The editors of this paper were close political and personal friends of Lincoln, and as a result it reported his activities fully and sympathetically. His first campaign announcement (1832) appeared in its columns, and his great speeches at Peoria on October 16, 1854 and at Springfield on June 16, 1858 (the "House Divided" speech) were first printed in its pages. In addition to these high points of his career, hundreds of lesser activities are recorded. Hardly less important is the file of the Illinois State Register which, except for the year 1859, is complete from the date of its establishment in Springfield (1839) to the present. What the Journal was to Lincoln and the Whigs and Republicans, the Register was to Douglas and the Democrats. Not only did the Register record faith- fully the political career of Lincoln's foremost rival; it also gave expression to that not inconsiderable portion of the Illinois body politic which looked upon Lincoln and his followers with disapproval. Taken together, Register and Journal furnish the full background for Lin- coln's progress from obscurity to fame and martyrdom. THE LINCOLN COLLECTION 21 IN GRATITUDE Were it not for the public-spirited generosity of many- individuals, the Lincoln Collection of the Illinois State Historical Library would never have attained its present status. In the text of this booklet some of those who have contributed to the enrichment of the Lincoln Col- lection have been mentioned — Gov. Henry Horner, Mrs. Alice Hay Wadsworth of Geneseo, New York, Mr. Jesse J. Ricks of New York City; Mrs. Richard Yates, now residing at Royal Oak, Michigan; and the late Mr. Murray B. Augur of Chicago. To others the Trustees of the Library are equally indebted — to Mrs. William F. Dummer of Chicago, the donor of a splendid series of letters from Lincoln to her husband's father, Henry Enoch Dummer of Beardstown and Jacksonville; to the late Dr. Otto L. Schmidt of Chicago, long President of the Library's Board of Trustees, and to the surviving members of his family, for benefactions too numerous to mention; to the late Clinton L. Conkling of Spring- field for the superb letter which Lincoln sent to his father, James C. Conkling, and for the gift of many other papers of importance. Hundreds of authors have given copies of their writings in order that the Library's Collection might approach completeness; many pos- sessors of valuable material, not in position to make outright gifts, have made substantial concessions in order that their possessions might be preserved for posterity. To all these, on behalf of the people of the State of Illinois, the Trustees of the Illinois State His- torical Library make public acknowledgment of their gratitude.