Kenneth Spencer Research Library Archival Collections

Overview

This collection consists of a reproduction of a rare portrait drawing of Abraham Lincoln, his first ever portrait made after he was nominated for U.S. President, in June 1860. This reproduction was published in Boston in November 1911 by Otto Wiecher, Book and Printseller.

Overview This handwritten reminiscence describes a Lincoln-Douglas debate in Jonesboro, Illinois in late summer 1858. Also included in the reminiscence is the author's personal meeting with both Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas while working as a brakeman for the Illinois Central Railway in 1858 and 1859. The account was written at the age of 81, in Lawrence, Kansas, Feb. 26, 1917, on the first and second front free end papers and half title page in Portrait Life of Lincoln, by Francis Trevelyan Miller,...

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The collection includes correspondence, notes and source material, clippings, maps, photographs, documents, and other related items, dating primarily from 1841-1923.

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Correspondence from John Palmer Usher when he was United States Assistant Secretary, later Secretary of the Interior under President Abraham Lincoln. Two letters are directed to President Lincoln, two are to two of Usher's children.

Overview Cynthia (Dychus) Richmond lived in Springfield, Illinois in early childhood, near Abraham Lincoln's home. In 1935, living in Kansas City, Missouri, she wrote to local coin and antiques dealer Hart D. Mayer, describing the Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin campaign medallion that she wore as a child and Lincoln's comments on it when she visited him at the Illinois Statehouse. Included with her letter is a facsimile reproduction of a photograph of Lincoln--the inscribed original dated...

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Letter of recommendation for H. B. Hurd of Chicago for appointment as Chief Justice of Iowa.

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Letter to George Hoge, written by Abraham Lincoln's secretary on Lincoln's behalf from Springfield, Illinois; political subject. Reply to letter of the 5th, regretting inability to attend "your grand rally at Paris [Illinois] on the 12th." The rally was presumably being held in celebration of the Republican party victories in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.

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This collection contains 40 modern photographic prints of images taken by 19th century American photographer Matthew Brady and copied from prints held by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The images are mostly of members of President Abraham Lincoln's Cabinet, Supreme Court Justices, and high-ranking or former Civil War miltary figures. Numbers listed in folder titles came from the numbering system used by the National Archives.

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Pardon for Gordon Lafitte, alias Gibson, who was convicted of counterfeiting in January 1861 before the U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York, and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. Signed, Abraham Lincoln. Countersigned, William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

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Letter to Quarter Master General M. C. Meigs. Dated Ft. Leavenworth, Dept. of Kansas, June 16, 1864.

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The collection contents include correspondence written to and from Governor Carney.