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Lincoln Collection
APPOINTMENTS ARE REQUIRED for using the Lincoln Collection.
Hours: Monday-Friday: 9:00 am — 5:00 pm
The Lincoln Curator and department staff administers the Henry Horner Lincoln Collection—the most complete holding of Abraham Lincoln's pre-presidential materials found anywhere.
Henry Horner, Governor of Illinois (1933-1940), became a zealous Lincoln collector after receiving a gift book from his first law partner, Frank A. Whitney. The book was Life on the Circuit with Abraham Lincoln written by Whitney's father and Lincoln contemporary, Henry Clay Whitney. Beginning with that single volume, the future Governor amassed one of the nation's great Lincoln collections. Governor Horner donated the collection to the Illinois State Historical Library (predecessor of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library) shortly before his death in 1940. The Horner Collection remains at the core of the Library's magnificent collection of Lincolniana.
Preserved in the Lincoln Collection are:
- nearly 1,500 original letters and manuscripts written or signed by Lincoln;
- over 250 historical artifacts associated with the sixteenth president and his family that are rotated in exhibition at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, including such items as the Edward Everett holograph of the Gettysburg Address (one of only five existent copies of the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln's own hand), the Leland-Boker printing of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by the president, Lincoln's original traveling shaving mirror, Tad Lincoln's toy cannon, the skirt to Mary Lincoln's wedding dress, and many more priceless items of historical import;
- approximately three hundred items of Mary Lincoln correspondence;
- the letter press books of Robert Lincoln;
- over one thousand Lincoln-related prints and photographs;
- over one thousand broadsides;
- over ten thousand books and pamphlets;
- Over one thousand items of Lincoln ephemera and art works & crafts reflecting evolving notions of Lincoln and his legacy in the collective memory of the American people and the people of the world
Materials in the Lincoln Collection are supplemented by thousands of manuscripts and other historical items relating to Lincoln's friends and contemporaries housed in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library's Manuscripts, Newspapers, and Audio/Visual collections, and microfilm of Lincoln-related materials from the Library of Congress and other repositories. In short, the Lincoln Collection, in conjunction with the rest of the Library's collections, covers virtually any time period or aspect of Abraham Lincoln's life and legacy.
Lincoln Collection material is not available on inter-library loan. But many of the Collection's items are accessible through Illinois Legacy Online. Creating digitized databases from the collection and producing collection bibliographies and research guides are ongoing projects of the Lincoln Collection staff.
Use and Reproduction of Lincoln Collection Materials:
- For personal research and study: Reproductions of material from the Lincoln Collection may be made only for use in the research, teaching, or private study of the recipient. Reproductions may not be made or donated to other repositories by the recipient. They also may not be further reproduced without permission.
- For publication or broadcast: Conditions and fee schedules
 are listed in the Library's Permission to Use Agreement .
State regulations prohibit staff members of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum from appraising historical artifacts, documents, signatures, or other items. A list of appraisers/collectors is provided for informational purposes only and is not an endorsement of the individuals or businesses listed.
Questions about making donations of historical items to the Lincoln Collection should be referred to:
Gary Stockton, Acquisitions Chief
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Musuem
112 North Sixth Street
Springfield, IL 62701
(217) 524-5939
Lincoln Collection Contact Information:
James Cornelius, Lincoln Curator
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum
112 North Sixth Street
Springfield, IL 62701
Phone: (217) 785-7954
Fax: (217) 558-1574
Lincoln Research Related Links:
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