The Collection
The Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection
With more than thirty thousand artifacts in the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, and new materials added every year through donation and acquisition, careful consideration had to be given to where the collection would live when it was gifted to the State of Indiana in 2009. The Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites has extensive exhibition and storage space, a state-of-the-art conservation lab, and a staff of skilled curators and conservators. The Allen County Public Library, meanwhile, has specialized storage, expert staff, and technical resources needed to curate and digitize the collection’s extensive research materials and to engage effectively with scholars, Lincoln enthusiasts, and the general public. Together, these organizations provide a level of care, accessibility, and scholarly and public engagement that no single organization could match.
Access the Lincoln Collection
To explore this incredible collection, check out what we have on display at the Rolland Center for Lincoln Research, located inside the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, or visit the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites in Indianapolis! And don’t forget to explore our online holdings, where the vast majority of the collection has been digitized and made available to the public.
Have a research question about a specific item in the collection, or a general question about Abraham Lincoln’s life and times? Reach out to our Lincoln Librarians—we’d be happy to help.
Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites
Housed at the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites in Indianapolis are more than seven thousand nineteenth-century prints and engravings, along with a large collection of fine-art materials, including paintings, sculptures, and framed pieces. The museum also cares for an extensive collection of textiles, including campaign flags, ribbons, and banners, Mary Lincoln handkerchiefs, Abraham Lincoln’s shawl, flags, and much more. In addition, the institution preserves a wide range of artifacts, including Abraham Lincoln’s legal wallet, the Emancipation Proclamation inkwell, the Gardner chair, and many other historic items.
Two artifacts especially worth highlighting are the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment, both of which the Indiana State Museum keeps secure and carefully preserved.
Allen County Public Library
The Allen County Public Library curates a large collection of books and pamphlets, ranging from books once owned by Abraham Lincoln and his family, and works written by their contemporaries, to twentieth- and twenty-first-century scholarship on Lincoln. The collection also includes a wide variety of newspapers and newspaper clippings, as well as manuscripts such as letters written by and to the Lincoln family, documents signed by Abraham Lincoln, letters written by contemporaries, and even letters and diaries belonging to Civil War soldiers. In addition, the institution houses a substantial collection of ephemera, including election tickets, political cartoons, broadsides, and song sheets.
The photograph collection held at ACPL is truly extraordinary. It contains more than six hundred photographs collected by four generations of the Lincoln family, offering a remarkable visual record of the family and their history.
Contact Us
To learn more about artifacts in the Lincoln Collection, contact our Lincoln Librarians!