Announcement of the final release of the Abraham Lincoln papers on American Memory

["danna c. bell-russel" <dbell@LOC.GOV>]

Good afternoon.

This announcement is being sent to a number of lists. Please accept our
apologies for any duplicate postings.

The Library of Congress National Digital Library Program and the
Manuscript Division  are pleased to announce the final release of the
Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, at
<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/malhome.html>. This final release of
the Papers includes 20,000 documents, comprising 61,000 digital images
and annotated transcriptions of approximately 10,000 documents.

The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress contain items
dating from 1833 through 1916. Most of the approximately 20,000 items in
this release are from the 1850s through Lincoln's presidential years,
1860-65. Treasures include Lincoln's draft of the Emancipation
Proclamation; his March 4, 1865, draft of his second Inaugural Address;
and his August 23, 1864, memorandum expressing his expectation of being
defeated in the upcoming presidential election. Other correspondence
relating to these treasures provides historical context for
understanding how and why they were written.

The Lincoln Papers richly documents historical events of the period,
such as the crisis surrounding the reinforcement of Fort Sumter in early
1861, the Sioux uprising in Minnesota in the fall of 1862, and the
writing of and popular response to the Emancipation Proclamation of
1863. Letters to Lincoln from a wide variety of correspondents--friends
and legal and political associates from Lincoln's Springfield, Illinois,
days; national and regional political figures and reformers; local
people and organizations writing to their president--offer sources on
the political, social, and economic history of the times as well as
insights into Lincoln's personal and professional life. Included in the
Papers are documents written after Lincoln's assassination on April 14,
1865, such as letters of condolence to his widow, Mary Todd Lincoln, and
correspondence between his oldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, and others.

The Lincoln Papers came to the Library of Congress from Robert Todd
Lincoln (1843-1926), who arranged for their organization and care
shortly after his father was assassinated. At that time, Robert Todd
Lincoln had the Lincoln Papers removed to Illinois, where they were
first organized under the direction of Judge David Davis of Bloomington,
Illinois, Abraham Lincoln's longtime associate. Later, Lincoln's
presidential secretaries, John G. Nicolay and John Hay, assisted in the
project. In 1874, most of the Lincoln Papers returned to Washington,
D.C., and Nicolay and Hay used them in the research and writing of their
ten-volume biography, Abraham Lincoln: A History (New York, 1890). In
1919, Robert Todd Lincoln deposited the Lincoln Papers with the Library
of Congress and on January 23, 1923, he deeded them to the Library. The
deed stipulated that the Lincoln Papers remain sealed until twenty-one
years after his own death. On July 26, 1947, the Lincoln Papers were
officially opened to the public.

Annotated transcriptions that accompany the digital images of items in
the Papers were provided by the Lincoln Studies Center, under contract
to the Library of Congress. The Center is located at Knox College,
Galesburg, Illinois, and was established in 1997. It is headed by noted
Lincoln scholars and editors Rodney O. Davis and Douglas L. Wilson. The
Lincoln Studies Center created annotated transcriptions for all the
documents in Lincoln's own hand and, in addition, annotated
transcriptions for nearly 50 percent of the other items, which consist
mostly of Lincoln's incoming correspondence. Annotation for Lincoln's
autograph documents include a headnote providing historical and
documentary context, as well as annotations on the content of the
document. Annotations for incoming correspondence typically identify
persons and organizations writing to Lincoln or referred to in the
documents, explain terms and events, and provide brief historical
context. These fully searchable transcriptions and annotations
dramatically extend access to the Abraham Lincoln Papers and enhance
their teaching and research value.

This release completes the online presentation of the Abraham Lincoln
Papers at the Library of Congress. An introductory, or demonstration,
release of approximately 2,000 documents was made available in February
2000. This was followed by the first formal release in February 2001 of
approximately 17,000 documents (54,000 images) and 3,500 document
transcriptions.  Both the introductory and the first release contained
descriptive document titles and annotated transcriptions that were
"works in progress." This final release in March 2002 includes updates
of those "works in progress" as well as the remaining 3,000 documents
(7,000 images) and 6,500 transcriptions.

Please direct any questions to ndlpcoll@loc.gov

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