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Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 571
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Abraham Lincoln's Prayer To "The Almighty" For Himself And The Nation - A Singular Letter
May 21, 1860
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 2509
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Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 2024
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Broadside
1 page
SMC 226
Lincoln's personal friend, Julian Hammerslough, asks Rabbi Leeser to raise funds in his synagogue for a memorial to the late President Lincoln.
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Lincoln Directs His “Loyal and Sensible” Jewish Friend, Abraham Jonas to Review a Case of Disloyalty
December 13, 1862
Autograph Endorsement Signed
1 page
SMC 411
President Lincoln charges his friends, legal partners Abraham Jonas and Henry Asbury to dispatch with Thomas Thoroughman, a Confederate Colonel who also happened to be the city attorney for St. Joseph, Missouri.
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Lincoln Family Friend Edward Jonas Recalls Abraham Lincoln and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates
December 3, 1917
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 398
Edward Jonas recalls his interactions with Abraham Lincoln during the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858. Though he was a young boy at the time, he recounted how Lincoln exchanged stories with him and listened extremely attentively to him.
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Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address Transcript & With Malice Toward None Quote in Autograph
March 4, 1865
Autograph Quotation Signed
1 page
SMC 401
Lincoln writes and autographs the famous "with malice towards none" paragraph from his second inaugural address.
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Abraham Lincoln on Issachar Zacharie, His Mysterious Jewish Foot Doctor and Personal Spy
September 20, 1862
Autograph Manuscript Signed
1 page
SMC 407
Here, Lincoln describes Issachar Zacharie's removal of corns from the President's feet in order to alleviate "what plain people call back-ache." The two would meet frequently, though not for medical reasons. Zacharie served as a spie, and provided the President with valuable information about various aspects of the Confederacy.
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Lincoln Names Himself "The Humblest of All Whose Names Were Before the Convention" to Defeated Rival Cassius Clay
May 26, 1860
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 409
Newly-minted Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln humbles himself before formal rival Cassius Clay in order to secure his position.
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Abraham Lincoln in 1860: "Just Now, The Skies Look Bright. What Clouds May Hereafter Rise, We Know Not."
July 2, 1860
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 410
Lincoln reports to his friend that his prospects for winning the 1860 election looked promising.
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 414
Here, relating to the Mexican War ending, Abraham Lincoln alludes to "Othello's occupation's gone."
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Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 443
At the request of his correspondent, John Coulter, Lincoln wrote this letter outlining his electoral win-loss record against his long-time detractor, the Reverend Peter Cartwright.
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President Abraham Lincoln Appoints Jewish West Pointer Alfred Mordecai Jr. Second Lieutenant
August 10, 1861
Document Signed
1 page
SMC 445
President Abraham Lincoln appoints Alfred Mordecai Jr. a Second Lieutenant four months into the Civil War. Mordecai would climb the ranks and die a general.
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Abraham Lincoln Suggests Suffrage for Some Louisiana Blacks: The "Very Intelligent" and Union Veterans
March 13, 1864
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 448
Abraham Lincoln tactfully suggests to the new governor of the freshly freed state of Louisiana, Michael Hahn, that Hahn might grant suffrage for blacks who either fought for the Union or were "very intelligent." This proposal was a very elegant compromise between those who did not want suffrage for blacks and those who did; it also ensured that Lincoln, right before an election, didn't rock the boat too much.
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Abraham Lincoln Swears That He Shall Not Retract or Modify the Emancipation Proclamation
December 20, 1863
Autograph Quotation Signed
1 page
SMC 455
At the request of Henry C. Wright of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Lincoln vows to not retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation.
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Abraham Lincoln's Check to His Son, Robert Lincoln, to Equip Him For Service Under Grant
February 20, 1865
Check Signed
1 page
SMC 456
Check from Abraham Lincoln to his son, Robert Todd Lincoln. The president had finally allowed his son to serve in the war, and made sure he was sent to General Grant. This check was to ensure that his son was properly kitted out for war.
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Contemporary Copy of Chase's Letter to Abraham Lincoln in Support of General Hunter's Emancipation Order
May 16, 1862
Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 501
Salomon P. Chase, President Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, was the most ardent abolitionist in Lincoln's cabinet. Here, he praises General Hunter's declaration of emancipation of all slaves in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
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Abraham Lincoln Comforts His Campaign Manager After Losing the Senate Race: "And This Too Shall Pass"
November 16, 1858
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 527
Following his defeat in the 1858 Senate contest, Lincoln writes to his campaign manager: “You are feeling badly - 'And this too shall pass away' - Never fear." The phrase came from an Eastern folktale attributed to King Solomon. Judd's disappointment would indeed soon pass away: within 6 weeks Lincoln would be proposed as a presidential candidate in the 1860 election.
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Abraham Lincoln Explains Why He Supports Zachary Taylor For President in 1848: Political Pragmatism
April 10, 1848
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 532
Though an ardent supporter of Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln explains why he supporting Zachary Taylor in the upcoming election. Not because he would make a better president than Clay, but because "he would make a better one than Polk, or Cass, or Buchanan, or any such creatures, one of whom is sure to be elected, if he is not." In short, Lincoln was being politically pragmatic.
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Abraham Lincoln, Noting "We Have Not Yet Appointed a Hebrew," Names C.M. Levy an Assistant Quartermaster
November 4, 1862
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 533
Here President Lincoln makes an historic appointment for primarily political purpose. Mindful of the support that Jews, flocking to the Republican Party, had given him, Lincoln was clearly eager to repay the favor.
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 538
Rabbi Sabato Morais of Congregation Mikve Israel sends his congregation's contribution to the Lincoln Memorial to be built in Washington. The synagogue was part of an appeal to all religious institutions in Philadelphia, and Morais, who revered Lincoln, was proud to report to the city's mayor that his congregation had raised $300.
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 566
Shortly after having been part of the Union loss at the Battle of Bull Run, Lincoln, in an effort to encourage the troops, promotes Sherman to General. Sherman would devastate the South and ensure Union victory three years later.
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Lincoln Would be Glad to See General Milroy but knows "...He Wishes to Ask for What I Have Not to Give"
October 19, 1863
Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 570
Abraham Lincoln gracefully sidesteps a meeting with the problematic General Milroy, who was arrested for losing half of his troops. Milroy railed against his superiors, who jailed him for his actions, and continuously pestered Lincoln for his release and restoration to command.
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Mary Surratt's Daughter Petitions Andrew Johnson for the Return of Her Mother's Remains
February 5, 1869
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 2033
Mary Surratt was hanged as a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. She was also the first woman executed by the United States government. Here, her daughter, Anna, successfully petitions President Andrew Johnson for the return of her body.
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Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 2038
Lincoln, who always liked to give his son Tad special gifts, asks here for two maps for his son.
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1856 Poll Book Certifying Abraham Jonas, Lincoln's Intimate Jewish Friend, an Elector
November 4, 1856
Ephemera
3 pages
SMC 2176
Abraham Lincoln appears alongside one of his best friends, a British born Jew named Abraham Jonas, in an 1856 poll book.
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Autograph Manuscript Signed
1 page
SMC 2233
His education, Lincoln said, was deficient: it lasted, formally, but a year. At 16 years old, Lincoln created a personal notebook, known then as a sum book. Here, amid arithmetical calculations, he also writes a piece of doggerel, daydreaming about his future.
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Writing to Gideon Welles, Abraham Lincoln Attends to a Request From Jewish Congressman Leonard Myers
September 9, 1864
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 2340
Republican Congressman Leonard Myers of Pennsylvania, renowned for his dedication to civil rights, wrote to President Abraham Lincoln not infrequently on behalf of those seeking an introduction, an appointment, or something to do with the machinations of war. Here, Lincoln writes to the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, that he wishes to accommodate Myers's request to appoint Charles R. Wilson to the Naval School.
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Republican Nominee Abraham Lincoln Mentions His Childhood Friends of Spencer County to Former Employer William Jones
June 18, 1860
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 2342
Abraham Lincoln, returning to Indiana, says it would be rather nice to see his "old Spencer County friends."
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Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Ball , 1861: Invitation Printed By, and Naming as a Ball Manager, Adolphus S. Solomons
March 4, 1861
Ephemera
1 page
SMC 2367
Rare invitation to Abraham Lincoln's inaugural ball, prominently featuring the name of the Jewish manager and printer of the invitation, Adolphus S. Solomons, twice.
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Lincoln Assassination Eyewitness Recalls Running to Fetch Dr. Liebermann Who Attended Lincoln's Deathbed
April 24, 1865
Autograph Letter Signed
8 pages
SMC 2388
Samuel Koontz ran to fetch the Russian-born Jewish Dr. Charles Henry Liebermann, who lived a scant two blocks from Ford's Theatre. The news that Liebermann was the first "important" doctor to attend Lincoln - discounting the gaggle of doctors (seven in all) from Ford's theatre - is significant. He was the first to treat him, owing to the distance between his house and the theatre.
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 229
Two months before Lincoln's assassination, Mary Todd Lincoln invites some of Washington's most famous socialites to Ford's Theatre to watch the brother-in-law of John Wilkes Booth perform.
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Hugh McCulloch Confides That He Would Reluctantly Accept an Appointment as Treasury Secretary
February 16, 1865
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 231
Hugh McCullough confides in House Speaker Schuyler Colfax that should President Lincoln offer him the position of Treasury Secretary, he'd accept with "extreme reluctance." Ironically, McCullough wasn't Lincoln's first choice, either. Sadly, McCullough shone in the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination by stabilizing the markets.
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Autograph Quotation Signed
1 page
SMC 296
Frederick Douglass, who was asked by Abraham Lincoln himself what Douglas thought of his second inaugural speech, here autographs the famous Lincolnian quotation from that address.
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John Wilkes Booth Writes to John Ford to Arrange His Performance in a Play Which Lincoln Was to Attend
September 17, 1863
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 304
Though this was not the play at which John Wilkes Booth would jump from the stage and assassinate President Lincoln, here, a year and a half before he would do so, Booth writes to John Ford in order to arrange his performance at the latter's theatre for a play which Lincoln was to attend.
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Abraham Lincoln's Famous Civil War Condolence Letter to Young Fanny McCullough About Loss and Memory
December 23, 1862
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 346
Written to Fanny McCullough on the loss of her father, Abraham Lincoln makes a very rare reference to his mother's death when he was a boy. Lincoln, too, was dealing with more recent grief, having buried his son earlier that year. This letter was written a week after the battle of Fredericksburg, which claimed the lives of over 1500 men, including Fanny's father.
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 347
Lincoln's Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, pleaded with Lincoln not to go to Petersburg because of great personal risk to the President. Lincoln responds that he had already been to Petersburg with Grant, and plans to go to Richmond, newly fallen, as well. He assures Stanton that he will take care of himself.
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Rare Abraham Lincoln Letter to His Dear Friend Abraham Jonas - He is "Hobbled" by a Troublesome Nephew
October 21, 1856
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 350
Abraham Lincoln makes an extremely rare allusion, by way of a none-too-kind pun, to an intimate family problem. Lincoln cannot come to Quincy to speak on behalf of the Republican ticket, because he is working day and night to keep his wayward, crippled step-nephew out of jail. His nephew was the source of a considerable amount of trouble for Lincoln, and here he refers to it in code, for Jonas alone to understand.
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Autograph Document Signed
1 page
SMC 352
The Oath of December 8 was announced by Lincoln, on that day, in his annual message to congress in 1863. He would offer a pardon to any man who would swear, without coercion, his allegiance to the Union.
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Abraham Lincoln Arranges for the Anonymous Publication of His Famous Poem "My Childhood Home I See Again"
February 25, 1847
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 353
To minimize the risk of ridicule, Congressman-Elect Abraham Lincoln asks fellow lawyer, Andrew Johnston, to publish his poem about the publication his poem anonymously in the Quincy Whig.
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 356
President Lincoln hand-writes every component of a letter of thanks to Jewish civic leader L.J. Lieberman thanking him on behalf of Messrs. Rockhill and Wilson, clothiers, who had donated a suit tailored to the President's measurements to the Great Sanitary Fair in Philadelphia in June of 1864.
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Abraham Lincoln Sends His Autograph as a Favor to His Jewish Friend Sigismund Kaufmann
December 24, 1861
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 357
Sigismund Kaufmann, a prominent Jewish-German, was a friend of President Lincoln, and had amassed the support of New York's German Jews in favor of Lincoln. He had requested Lincoln's autograph, and the president happily obliged.
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Signed Photograph
1 page
SMC 383
Abraham Lincoln sat for this photo in Roderick Cole's studio in 1858, and reportedly said to Mr. Cole, "I cannot see why all you artists want a likeness of me unless it is because I am the homeliest man in the State of Illinois."
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President-Elect Lincoln Grows His Beard: This Second Photograph, Signed, Depicts the Progress
January 26, 1861
Signed Photograph
1 page
SMC 384
At the advice of fellow Republicans, and even an eleven-year-old girl, Abraham Lincoln decided to grow a beard. This photograph depicts the progress of Lincoln's increasingly famous beard.
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As Lee Surrenders, Abraham Lincoln Happily Grants a Favor to the Captain of the Riverboat Queen
April 9, 1865
Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 123
The only surviving Lincoln letter from April 9th, 1865, the day that Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of North Virginia to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant at the home of Wilmer and Virginia McLean in the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Written aboard the "River Queen" on the Potomac, President Lincoln grants a favor to the steamboat's Captain Bradford.
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Abraham Lincoln: He'll Speak Where it will do Good - Not as a Compliment to Himself
October 29, 1854
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 141
Abraham Lincoln, determined to speak out against slavery wherever helpful, instructs the editor of the Carlinville Whig paper not to introduce Lincoln as "merely a compliment to me," for he'd rather save everyone the bother, unless "it promises some good."
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John Wilkes Booth Letter, Written Eight Weeks Before Lincoln's Assassination, Mentions Ford's Theatre
February 9, 1865
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 142
John Wilkes Booth writes to his friend to request that he send his card photographs to an address in New York City. After that, he shall collect his mail at Ford's Theatre. Ironically, the cards that Booth has sent for, his "favorite" photo of himself, later became the image on the wanted poster associated with the assassination of President Lincoln.
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Document Signed
1 page
SMC 156
President Abraham Lincoln appoints Pennsylvania Congressman Edward Joy Morris as Minister Resident to Turkey. Morris had spent time in and written about the Levant, and as such, was suited to the post.
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Abraham Lincoln Appoints Henry Ernest Goodman as Surgeon of Civil War Union Volunteer Army
May 16, 1864
Document Signed
1 page
SMC 160
President Abraham Lincoln promotes the eminent and beloved physician, Henry Ernest Goodman, of Philadelphia, from assistant surgeon to surgeon. Edward Stanton, the Secretary of war, co-signed the document.
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Congressman Lincoln Praises Future Vice President of Confederacy for his Opposition to the Mexican War
February 2, 1848
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 161
In 1848, Abraham Lincoln and Alexander H. Stephens were both Whig supporters of Henry Polk, and ardently against the Mexican War. Here, Lincoln praises Stephens. Thirteen years after their short-lived alliance, the country was embroiled in a civil war; Lincoln was President of the United States, and Stephens Vice President of the Confederacy.
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In Refusing a Parole, Lincoln Notes That Federal Prisoners Are Being "Frozen and Starved" in Libby Prison
March 3, 1864
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 162
Here, Lincoln replies to a request from his wife Mary’s cousin, Lyman Todd, that he cannot "enlarge on parole" a Colonel Smith. Such a thing would set a precedent, he says, upon which nearly all the prisoners held by the Union might act – and this, in the face of how the Confederacy was treating Federal prisoners, is completely unacceptable.
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Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 193
Abraham Lincoln endorses General Alexander McClernand's pick for the position of sutler (a civilian merchant who sells goods to the army), Henry Rice.
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Abraham Lincoln Biographer Ida Tarbell Praises Isaac Markens's "Abraham Lincoln and the Jews"
March 24, 1913
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 198
Here, Ida Tarbell, renowned for her biography of Abraham Lincoln, salutes Isaac Markens, whose seminal study of Lincoln and the Jews pioneered the genre in Lincoln literature.
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Autograph Endorsement Signed
1 page
SMC 209
Lincoln asks William Alexander Hammond, the Surgeon General of the Union Army if a Mr. Bushnell should be appointed. Hammond replies in the affirmative, as there is a place for Bushnell at Louisville.
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Three Days Before He is Assassinated, Abraham Lincoln Orders the Discharge of a Sickly Boy from the Army
April 11, 1865
Autograph Note Signed
4 pages
SMC 211
Three days before he will be shot and killed, Lincoln responds to a friend’s letter beseeching his help in arranging the discharge of a sickly boy from the army.
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Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 212
On his last birthday, Abraham Lincoln pardons mischievous schoolboys, allowing them to return to school on condition that they do not misbehave.
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Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 213
Abraham Lincoln writes this letter mostly in what he imagines to be Stephen Douglas's inner monologue. Lincoln minces no words in accusing Douglas of stirring up a debate on the subject of temperance in Illinois in order to divide the Republican party and get himself elected to the state Senate.
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Unused Ticket for Ford's Theatre April 14, 1865 - The Night Lincoln Was Assassinated There
April 14, 1865
Ephemera
2 pages
SMC 214
Unused Ticket for Ford's Theatre April 14, 1865 - The Night Lincoln Was Assassinated There. Autograph note signed in the hand of famed coin dealer James W. Haseltine, dated July 14, 1865, certifying that this original ticket, for the night Lincoln was assassinated, was presented to him by James R. Ford.
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Abraham Lincoln Signed Photo from First Washington Sitting, With John Hay Note of Authentication
1861
Signed Photograph
2 pages
SMC 216
One day after sneaking into Washington from Baltimore under cover of darkness, Lincoln, exhausted and pensive, sits as president-elect for this photo—his first taken in Washington.
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The Day He Dies, Lincoln Writes a Pass to Richmond for Wife of the Doctor Who Would Attend His Death-Bed
April 14, 1865
Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 575
Lincoln issues a pass for Mrs. Alice Stone to travel to Richmond; by that night her husband, the Lincoln family physician, would be attending at Lincoln’s deathbed.
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Broadside
1 page
SMC 625
South Carolina proclaims it has dissolved its bonds to the United States, becoming the first state to secede.
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Signed Book
1 page
SMC 638
The Lincoln-Douglas debates over slavery occasioned, in Lincoln, the most audacious rise from obscurity to political prominence in American history. The printing of the debates ensured the ongoing discussion, as well as ensconced them firmly in the American consciousness of the nineteenth century.
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Harper's Weekly With Illustrated Story About Five Union Soldiers, Including a Jew, Executed for Desertion
September 26, 1863
Ephemera
3 pages
SMC 650
Original Harper's Weekly for September 26, 1863 about the execution of five Union deserters at Beverly Ford; with illustrations.
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Rare Signed Copy of Lincoln's Jewish Chiropodist and Spy, Dr. Issachar Zacharie's Book
June 25, 1864
Signed Book Inscribed
3 pages
SMC 676
Rare signed copy of Dr. Issachar Zacharie's book "Surgical and Practical Observations on the Diseases of the Human Foot." His book, was most likely plagiarized, and his credentials, equally as likely to be false.
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Campaigning for General Land Office Commissioner, Lincoln Asks Congressman to Write to “Old Zach” About Him
June 1, 1849
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 853
Abraham Lincoln writes to Representative Moses Hampton of Pennsylvania, a congressman with whom whom he had served. Lincoln was seeking the position of commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington. and wanted Hampton to put in a good word for him with President Zachary Taylor. Lincoln did not get the position.
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Document Signed
1 page
SMC 878
On the last full day of his life, Abraham Lincoln appoints William Kellogg as Collector at the Port of New Orleans.
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"Honest Abe" Lincoln, Annoyed About an Unpaid Bill, Orders It Paid – On the Day He Effectively Declares War
April 19, 1861
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 907
On a very busy day for Lincoln; the day we would declare war on the South, he discovers that his bill for his ten day stay at the Willard Hotel prior to his inauguration remains outstanding. He sends his secretary, John Nicolay, with this letter to the hotel owners, instructing them to give Nicolay the receipt and he will write a check for the amount immediately.
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Abraham Lincoln, in a Prelude to the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Agrees to Follow Douglas to Bloomington
July 15, 1858
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 909
Abraham Lincoln writes to his friend William H. Hanna to assure him that he will follow Douglas on his speaking tours to take advantage of any "openings."
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Buchanan Approves Abraham Lincoln’s Ordering Fremont to Rescind His Emancipation Proclamation
September 27, 1861
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 984
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The Eyewitness Account of Abraham Lincoln's Assassination by the Physician Who Treated Him at the Scene
May 28, 1865
Autograph Letter Signed
8 pages
SMC 1004
Charles Leale, a surgeon and first responder to Lincoln's shooting, gives a detailed summary of the night of the assassination to a friend.
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Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1030
Chief Justice Taft looks forward to reading Emmanuel Hertz’s Lincoln addresses, noting that "The fame of Lincoln has spread to every land, and details in respect to his personality will certainly prove to be of interest and usefulness."
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Chief Justice William Howard Taft Comments on an Abraham Lincoln Address by Emanuel Hertz
March 26, 1926
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1031
William Howard Taft, the only man to be both President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court here comments, obliquely, on an address about Lincoln, in which Emanuel Hertz has "noted a reference to a suggestion of mine."
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Lincoln, Four Days After Son Willie's Death, Tells Sumner Mary Lincoln Needs His Help - "Can You Come?"
February 24, 1862
Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 1034
Four days after the death of his eleven year-old son Willie - and as his youngest son still lay seriously ill - a grieving Lincoln asks Mary Lincoln's close friend, Senator Charles Sumner, to call on his inconsolable wife.
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Lincoln Interjects Himself Into a Case of Two Jewish Merchants Charged With Selling Goods to Blockaders
January 8, 1865
Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 1038
Meyer and Philip Wallach were Jewish brothers who were charged with selling goods to blockaders and were held at an infamous prison for Confederate officers. Here, President Lincoln protects them by ordering the head of the prison to keep them in his custody - to neither send them away or allow them to be transferred.
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Millard Fillmore Asks Lincoln for a Favor; On the Back of the Letter, Lincoln Takes Steps to Oblige Him
May 19, 1863
Autograph Endorsement Signed
1 page
SMC 1065
Former President Fillmore asks President Lincoln to intercede on behalf of his nephew, a disgraced lieutenant. On the verso of the letter, Lincoln takes steps to oblige Fillmore, but ultimately did not intervene in the case.
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Abraham Lincoln's Appointment of Benjamin F. Isherwood, the Creator of the Steam Navy
March 10, 1863
Document Signed
1 page
SMC 1081
Benjamin Isherwood designed steamboats that would quickly outrun blockade runners. Isherwood expanded the US Navy's fleet from 28 to 600 steam vessels in the course of the Civil War. Here, President Abraham Lincoln appoints Isherwood Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering.
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Document Signed
1 page
SMC 1084
Abraham Lincoln's draft order for the state of New York, which sparked riots and racially-motivated violence and murders. It was the second largest civil insurrection in American history.
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Abraham Lincoln Recommends a Franklin Pierce White House Appointee to General Benjamin Butler
January 14, 1864
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 1085
Here, for the second time, Abraham Lincoln endorses Thomas Stackpole, who had risen through the ranks as a White House staff member, from watchman, to doorman, to the more intimate steward. Lincoln had recommended Stackpole to General Wool as a fine businessman, and repeats the endorsement to General Benjamin Butler four years later.
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Autograph Document Signed
1 page
SMC 1089
Legal brief from a case in which Abraham Lincoln, in his time known as one of the top lawyers in the country, unsuccessfully defends a farmer in a dispute over a verbal agreement about the price of hogs.
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Abraham Lincoln Reacts to Attempted Jail-Break of Confederate POWs on Johnson Island
October 2, 1864
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1090
This note from Lincoln to the Naval Secretary Gideon Welles instructs him to get a firsthand report about the infamous attempted prison break of Confederate POWs on Johnson's Island.
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Abraham Lincoln's Inscription on a Photograph to Lucy Speed, Who Had Gifted Him a Bible
October 3, 1861
Signed Photograph
1 page
SMC 1097
President Abraham Lincoln expresses his gratitude to Mrs. Lucy Speed, the mother of his best friend when he was in his twenties. Mrs. Speed had given the younger melancholy Abraham Lincoln a Bible and instructed him to read it and adopt its precepts; help would follow.
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Abraham Lincoln Appoints Edward Joy Morris Minister to the Ottoman Empire - and by Extension, Palestine
July 15, 1861
Document Signed
1 page
SMC 1099
In the midst of the Civil War, Lincoln replaces the Southern minister to the Ottoman Empire with Edward Joy Morris.
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Hannibal Hamlin Calls for Making Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday a National Day of Observance
February 7, 1887
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 1105
Hannibal Hamlin, who served as Abraham Lincoln's first Vice President, regretfully declines an invitation to speak at an event honoring the late president's birthday, but calls for it to be nationally recognized as a holiday, much like Washington's birthday.
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Oliver Wendell Holmes: At Fort Stevens, Abraham Lincoln Was Forced to Duck From Enemy Fire
June 14, 1922
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1106
Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes confirms that during the Civil War, when he was serving as a captain, President Abraham Lincoln came to visit the troops at Fort Stevens, during which they were fired upon. This was the only time in American history a sitting president has exposed himself to combat. President Lincoln was forced to duck from enemy fire.
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Robert Todd Lincoln is Gratified That His Father's Name is Still Current and His Memory Respected
December 24, 1883
Autograph Letter Signed
4 pages
SMC 1107
Robert Todd Lincoln is gratified to learn that a political club is named after his father. In this letter, he also declines to run for president.
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Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 1108
When asked if Chester Arthur should be kept under heavy guard, Robert Todd Lincoln responds that if a deranged person wants to kill the president, "it is impossible to thoroughly guard against those classes of people."
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Carl Sandburg: Walt Whitman "Strolls In and Out of the Pages Regularly" of His Lincoln Biography
October 12, 1938
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1110
Carl Sandburg, a poet who won acclaim for his four-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln, tells Morris Lychenheim,one of Whitman’s last surviving friends, that Walt Whitman "strolls in and out of the pages regularly."
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Typed Manuscript Signed
4 pages
SMC 1111
Manuscript of Vachel Lindsay's "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight" with an early letter from the poet to the Springfield Art Society. Lindsay had conceived of the idea to have a contest in order to design a flag for the city of Springfield. However, he makes it clear in this letter that he wants to have "no hand in the matter."
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Signed Book
1 page
SMC 1113
The pro-slavery, prestigious ophthalmologist, Dr. Robert K. Stone, served as the Lincoln's family doctor. Here, Stone affixes his signature to a book detailing the miraculous recovery of an ailing woman, cured by taking communion.
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Pass to President Abraham Lincoln's Funeral in the East Room of the Executive Mansion
April 19, 1865
Ephemera
1 page
SMC 1116
Pass to Lincoln's funeral, on Wednesday, April 19, 1865.
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A Union Officer in the Field Describes the Reaction to News of Abraham Lincoln's Assassination
April 20, 1865
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 1128
Here, an Ohio lieutenant, serving in Alabama, describes how the troops there received, and took, "news of the shocking murder of our president."
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1544
President Lincoln asks Major Ramsey on behalf of a widowed woman to find work for her two sons. "Wanting to work is so rare a merit, that it should be encouraged," Lincoln continued, echoing his own famous work ethic.
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Lincoln Asks General Grant as a Friend, for a Favor: Find a Place for His Son, Robert, on His Staff
January 19, 1865
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1548
In order to broker a compromise between his wife, who had already buried two sons, and Robert Todd, who desperately wished to experience the war, Lincoln writes to Grant, not as President, but as a friend, asking him to find a place on his staff for Robert to serve. Lincoln asks merely for his son to be given a nominal rank and that Lincoln himself, and not the public, would furnish his necessary means.
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Autograph Quotation Signed
1 page
SMC 1551
Lincoln writes and autographs the famous "both sides deprecated war" passage from his second inaugural address.
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Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 1552
Though Lincoln had almost no experience in government, his new Republican party swept to victory in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana in the Congressional elections of October 9th, and it looked, almost for a certainty, Lincoln writes here, "as if the Government is about to fall into our hands."
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Abraham Lincoln's Scarce Reference to Deaths of Mother and Sister, With Accompanying Poem About Memory
April 18, 1846
Autograph Letter Signed
4 pages
SMC 1553
In all of Abraham Lincoln's surviving letters, he only mentions the death of his mother twice, and the loss of his sister once; both are mentioned here. Lincoln also includes a poem he wrote on the occasion of returning to his home state twenty years after he departed it.
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Lincoln is "Not in a Sentimental Mood" Having Heard Reports of the Bloody Battle of the Wilderness
May 7, 1864
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1554
After just having heard that the union lost 1776 men in the Battle of the Wilderness, amongst other bad news, Lincoln was asked to give a sentiment for an autograph collector, Lincoln replied "I would give a sentiment, but just now I am not in a sentimental mood."
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Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 1602
A Lincoln card, submitted to his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton on April 20, 1863. This was a busy day for Lincoln, as he was dealing with admitting West Virginia into the Union, fighting in many southern states, and a large force patrolling central Tennessee. This is a small portion of what Lincoln had on his desk that day, and any number of these issues could have concerned Stanton.
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1648
Justice Benjamin Cardozo thanks Emanuel Hertz for his pamphlets on Lincoln, "which are sure to interest" him.
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Abraham Lincoln Carte-de-Visite Photo By Mathew Brady of Which Lincoln Said "I Look Most Like That One"
January 8, 1864
Carte de Visite
1 page
SMC 1694
Lincoln sat for his portrait more than forty times, but he said that if he had to pick an image that looked most like him, it would be this one.
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Abraham Lincoln Declares He is Not a "Man of Great Learning, or a Very Extraordinary one in Any Respect"
October 13, 1860
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1701
Abraham Lincoln consents to having a law book dedicated to him, but begs "only that the inscription may be in modest terms, not representing me as a man of great learning, or a very extraordinary one in any respect."
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Abraham Lincoln Signed Photo: The "Solitary Pine Pose," From the January 8, 1864 Sitting
January 8, 1864
Signed Photograph
1 page
SMC 1702
One of five photographs of Abraham Lincoln taken by Mathew Brady in Washington on January 8, 1864, it is sometimes called "The Solitary Pine" pose, from the comment by Francis Grierson, who saw Lincoln debate Douglas. Lincoln, he said, "rose from his seat, stretched his long, bony limbs upwards as if to get them in working order and stood like some solitary pine on a lonely summit."
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Autograph Document
1 page
SMC 1739
Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, is summoned to President Lincoln's last cabinet meeting, held hours before Lincoln's assassination.
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Autograph Endorsement Signed
1 page
SMC 1811
Abraham Lincoln directs the release of "this boy" who had enlisted in the Union Army and received the standard bonus. Whether the boy was underage, AWOL, or a bounty-jumper(one of many who signed up for the enlistment bonus and then deserted) is unknown.
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Abraham Lincoln’s Final Hours, Death, and Autopsy Report Documented by Dr. Robert Stone
April 15, 1865
Autograph Manuscript
7 pages
SMC 1844
An account of Lincoln's death, written by his personal physician, Dr. Robert K. Stone. This seven-page narrative details Dr. Stone’s dramatic rush to the stricken president’s side, and, some eight hours later, Lincoln’s final minutes, decline, death, and autopsy. The report is stained with human blood; it is, very likely, Lincoln’s.
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Abraham Lincoln Corrects His Presidential Salary Payment, Which Credits Him With Days Not Worked
April 5, 1861
Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1848
Abraham Lincoln applies for his paycheck as President, and asks to be paid on the first of each month. He then realized that he started work on the fifth of the month, and immediately amends the request for the fifth of the month, lest he be paid for four days of work he did not complete.
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Lincoln's Second Testimonial for Issachar Zacharie, His Mysterious Jewish Chiropodist - And Personal Spy
September 22, 1862
Autograph Testimonial Signed
1 page
SMC 1906
In the midst of a hectic schedule, President Lincoln finds the time to endorse Issachar Zacharie, his Jewish chiropodist and spy: the same week as the bloody Battle of Antietam, and the same day Lincoln read his Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet.
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