The 1860 letter to Henry Wilson shows Lincoln‘s Political organization at work during his first presidential campaign.

The Edward C. Stone Collection represents the primary “passions” of this distinguished gentleman’s life: a collection of Lincolniana encompassing some 3,900 books as well as original Lincoln documents and correspondence; a collection of Stone’s Massachusetts State Senate papers including correspondence and related legislative material from 1948–1960, Stone was a dedicated environmentalist and educator serving the Cape Cod and Plymouth districts; and a collection of Americana including autographs and other material related to the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Presidents from George Washington to Warren G. Harding.

Stone’s admiration for and earnest scholarship related to the 16th president provides the basis for the largest portion of the collection. A founding member of the Lincoln Group of Boston, Stone donated his massive library of first editions related to Lincoln and the American Civil War to the University in 1948. Stone complimented his impressive library with his personal collection of Lincoln manuscripts and correspondence ranging from documents on a Supreme Court ruling dated 1838, to suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus in 1861, to a letter dated on the day of his death.

The Edward C. Stone Collection is also one of the earliest collections given to the University making it a cornerstone of the holdings here at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center.