The personal libraries of Lincoln collectors Edward C. Stone and F. Lauriston Bullard form the nucleus of the University's holdings in this area. There are now more than five thousand books and pamphlets by or about Abraham Lincoln in the collection, from political speeches delivered in the 1850s to current scholarship in the field. Primary and secondary source documents of scholarly significance have been emphasized, though much sentimental Lincoln memorabilia can also be found. Scarce ephemera, speeches, funeral orations and political pamphlets share space with the standard multivolume biographies and the journals devoted to Lincoln studies. Highlights of the book collection include several of the variant issues of the campaign debates between Lincoln and Douglas in 1858 and contemporary printings of the "Cooper Union" Address of February 1860, Lincoln's most eloquent statement of his opposition to slavery and of the political beliefs of the young Republican Party. Materials in many modern languages, written by Lincoln scholars around the world, complement the basic collection of nineteenth-century American works.

In the manuscript holdings there are some seventy letters and documents signed by Lincoln. There are also thirty letters by members of Lincoln's cabinet, and several letters to or about Lincoln by his contemporaries. The letters, papers, clipplings, and notebooks of F. Lauriston Bullard document the growth of his fine collection of Lincolniana. Memorabilia include contemporary photographs and engravings of Lincoln, and a life mask and cast of Lincoln's hands by Leonard Volk.

Click on image to enlarge. This wanted poster, issued in 1865 by the War Department, is one of the many objects in the Lincoln collections