the lincoln club of delaware

The Abraham Lincoln Collection in Special Collections, Morris Library, at the University of Delaware  perpetuates the memory of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, through books, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers, broadsides, archival documents and manuscripts, photographs, art, objects of material culture, and other memorabilia. The Collection contains several thousand items pertaining to Lincoln’s private life and public career. Among the most significant items in the collection are copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment signed by Lincoln. Also included are official documents with Lincoln’s signature, two books from Lincoln’s personal library, newspapers and magazines of the period, and a copy of the Ford’s Theatre playbill printed shortly after the assassination. Among the artwork in the collection are photographs and lithographic portraits of Lincoln and bronze portrait busts. A group of prints by Currier and Ives depict Lincoln’s assassination and funeral. The collection also includes a large group of printed funeral orations and memorials.

The Abraham Lincoln Collection, bequeathed in 1938 to the Wilmington Institute Free Library by Club member Frank G. Tallman was, at the time, one of the finest private collections of Lincolniana in the country. The Tallman gift formed the core of the Lincoln Collection, but Club member J. Stuart Groves and other collectors also donated material, and other supporters have contributed funds to enable purchases. Among the best known items in the collection are a Lincoln-signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, a shawl worn by President Lincoln on a visit to Gen. George McClellan, handwritten notes by Lincoln that contain his signature, and photographs by Alexander Gardner.

In 1972, the Lincoln Collection was donated to the University of Delaware and relocated to the University’s Goodstay Center in Wilmington, where it was housed in three rooms with period furnishings. Donald A. Rydgren (1922-2017) was curator and host of the Lincoln Collection for 45 years. Over the years, members of the Lincoln Club of Delaware and the University of Delaware administration determined that significant portions of the Lincoln Collection would be more appropriately preserved, displayed, and available for research in the University Library’s Special Collections Department. Beginning in 1998, selected materials were transferred from the Goodstay Center to the Special Collections Department, located in the Hugh M. Morris Library on the Newark campus.

The Club actively supports the Collection, adding books and other memorabilia as they become available, and paying for the upkeep and maintenance of existing exhibits. Records of the Lincoln Club of Delaware are also housed in Special Collections. Donations for maintenance and expansion of the Collection are welcome. Tax deductible donations in support of the Collection may be made to the University of Delaware, attn: Lincoln Collection, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press; Newark, DE 19717-5267.