Press Kit New Exhibition Celebrates 200th Anniversary of Lincoln's Birth
“The Last Full Measure of Devotion: Collecting Abraham Lincoln”
Opens Feb. 7, 2009
Press Preview Friday, Feb. 6 – 10 a.m. to noon. RSVP to tpage@huntington.org
Mounted in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln (1809 –1865), “The Last Full Measure of Devotion: Collecting Abraham Lincoln” will examine the ways in which letters, manuscripts, photographs, and ephemera of Lincoln became objects of deep reverence and relentless pursuit by collectors. The exhibition will showcase The Huntington’s significant Lincoln holdings, which rank with the collections of the Library of Congress and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library as the most important in the nation. “The Last Full Measure of Devotion” also pays tribute to those whose deep love of Lincoln made them indispensable in preserving his legacy, tracing the history of collecting and interpreting Lincolniana from 1865 to Henry Huntington’s times. The exhibition will include such iconic pieces as the Strohm copy of the 13th Amendment signed by Lincoln; his notebook on slavery; and a pass that dispatched Lincoln’s bodyguard, Ward H. Lamon, to Richmond, Va., and making him famously absent the night Lincoln was assassinated.
Press Release
| Captions | | Lincoln-Hesler
| Photograph of Abraham Lincoln taken by Alexander Hesler in 1860 after Lincoln won the Republican presidential nomination. © Huntington Library | | Lincoln-Brady | Photograph of Abraham Lincoln includes a handwritten note reading “Let it be done,” signed and dated by Lincoln on Mar. 17, 1865. The photograph itself was taken in 1864 at Matthew Brady’s Washington D.C. studio by his partner, Anthony Berger. It is known as the “five dollar pose,” because the likeness was used as the basis for the engraving on the $5 bill. © Huntington Library | | Lincoln-Jones | Autographed photograph of Lincoln, presented to War Office employee W.H.H. Jones. © Huntington Library | | Lincoln-Gardner | This photograph of Abraham Lincoln by Alexander Gardner, taken on Feb. 5, 1865, was one of the last photographs ever taken of the president. © Huntington Library | | Ballot - 1860 | Official ballot for the Republic ticket of Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin in the 1860 presidential race. Collection: © Huntington Library | | Bodyguard pass - 1865 | Often referred to as Lincoln’s “death warrant,” this handwritten pass dispatched Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln’s friend and self-appointed bodyguard, to Richmond, Va., on April 11, 1865. Lamon was still away from Washington three days later, when the president was fatally shot at Ford’s Theater. © Huntington Library | Gettysburg note - 1863
| An autograph note by Lincoln authorizing his black valet William H. Johnson (who also worked as a messenger for the Treasury Department ) to travel with him to Gettysburg on Nov. 18, 1863. Lincoln delivered his famous speech the following day. The note is addressed to “Mr. Atlee” —Samuel Y. Atlee, Johnson’s employer at the Treasury Dept. Johnson died of smallpox two months later, and was buried at what is now Arlington National Cemetery. Lincoln paid for Johnson’s burial and his tombstone. © Huntington Library | | Scrapbook - 1858 | A scrapbook of Lincoln’s speeches on “Negro equality” that he prepared in 1858 during his celebrated debates with Stephen A. Douglas. Pasted into the book on the right-hand page is a printed excerpt from an earlier debate with Douglas in 1854. Lincoln’s handwritten notes are on the left. [Transcript: “The following extracts are taken from various speeches of mine delivered at various times and places, and I believe they contain the substance of all I have ever said about “Negro equality.” The first three are from my answer to Judge Douglas, Oct. 16, 1854, at Peoria.” ] © Huntington Library | | Grant letter - 1864 | Lincoln’s famous letter to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, dated Apr. 30, 1864, in which he closes with the words “And now with a brave Army, and a just cause, may God sustain you.” © Huntington Library | | Slavery statement - 1864 | A handwritten sentiment about slavery was signed and dated by Lincoln on Mar. 22, 1864, less than a month before his death. It begins: “I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave….” The autograph was solicited by the United States Sanitary Commission for an album that was auctioned at a charity fair. The Sanitary Commission was an official agency of the government, created by President Lincoln in 1861 to coordinate the volunteer efforts of women who wanted to contribute to the war effort. Its members raised funds for the Army, organized supplies, ran camp kitchens and hospitals, made uniforms, and worked with veterans after the war. © Huntington Library | | Reward - 1864 | A broadsheet offering a reward of $100,000 for information leading to the capture of Lincoln’s assassins, issued by the War Department on Apr. 20, 1865. © Huntington Library |
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