Lincoln Originals: Abraham Lincoln Documents in the Collections of the Cincinnati Historical Society Library

WINTER 2009 79 Collections Essay Lincoln Originals Abraham Lincoln Documents in the Collections of the Cincinnati Historical Society Library I n 1906, the Cincinnati Historical Society received a remarkable gift from the widow of Albert W. Whelpley, who had been the librarian of the Cincinnati Public Library at the time of his death in 1900. Mrs. Whelpley donated her husband’s collection of autographs and related material, numbering over 1,100 individual pieces, including correspondence, original drafts of poems, prose writings , speeches, original art, photographs, and engravings. The focus of his collection was material by and about American and world celebrities. Among the treasures in this donation were handwritten documents from Abraham Lincoln, including an envelope that the then-lawyer addressed and franked as well as a letter Lincoln wrote to an Illinois man giving some routine legal advice. The most stunning item however, was a five-page handwritten copy of Lincoln’s December 1863 Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. Even though the Civil War was still being fought and its outcome yet undecided, Lincoln’s proclamation outlined a pathway for the granting of pardons and amnesty to persons engaged in rebellion who wished to resume their allegiance to the national government and a method by which seceded states could rejoin the Union. The original draft of this controversial proclamation was in the president’s office when Ohio Senator John Sherman paid him a visit in December on behalf of the Cincinnati Branch of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. Sherman was on a mission to obtain autographs and other historical items to be auctioned at the upcoming Great Western Sanitary Fair at Cincinnati, to raise funds to help the Sanitary Commission’s efforts to provide relief and support to federal soldiers and their families. Albert W. Whelpley (1831-1900), Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County Annual Report, 1898-1899. CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER LINCOLN ORIGINALS 80 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY Letter from Abraham Lincoln to Salmon P. Chase, May 3, 1864, Manuscript Collections. CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER SCOTT L. GAMPFER WINTER 2009 81 Sherman requested the document for the auction, but Lincoln was reluctant to give it because it had become defaced. To Sherman’s surprise, Lincoln offered to copy the entire document, complete with all marks, erasures, notes, and additions . When Sherman expressed concern that this was too much to ask of the president, Lincoln remarked “if a great deal of additional labor by him would relieve the sufferings of a single soldier, he would cheerfully perform it.”1 Upon receipt of the document, the Committee on Coins and Autographs of the Great Western Sanitary Fair reported that “The President of our Republic has contributed his Amnesty Proclamation; our Generals have sent their autographs, and our noted men, in all branches of political and civil pursuits, have added to the wealth of the collection; it now remains for a generous public to make the sale one that will cheer our patriots in the field.”2 This true copy of the proclamation in Lincoln’s hand was subsequently auctioned in January 1864 for the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars. The document , “sold with handsome black walnut frame, 30 x 30,”3 was purchased by The National Union Association of Hamilton County, Ohio, an organization dedicated to “the salvation of the Union” and “the maintenance of the Federal Government, against all its enemies, at home and abroad.”4 At some point in the late nineteenth century, Albert Whelpley obtained the document, along with an explanatory letter from Sherman, and it became part of Whelpley’s substantial personal collection. Great Western Sanitary Fair at Cincinnati, December 1863, Photograph Collections. CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER LINCOLN ORIGINALS 82 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY In addition to the Lincoln documents that came to the Cincinnati Historical Society Library as part of the Whelpley donation, another eleven documents in Lincoln’s hand or signed by him are found in the manuscript collection, the earliest of which was donated in 1897. These letters and documents represent an interesting cross-section of matters, routine and serious, that occupied the mind and pen of Abraham Lincoln both before and during his years in the White House. As its contribution to the commemoration...