A Visit to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library

On June 9-11, 2016, six members of the Chicago Archive Collaborative traveled to Springfield, Illinois, to visit fellow CARA member Wanda V. Dole, Interim Director of Library Services for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The Chicago Archive Collaborative consists of three archive collections: the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, Claretian Missionaries USA-Canada, and the North American Province of the Cenacle. Representatives of all three archives participated in the trip to Springfield.

Over the course of two days, Wanda gave the visitors a thorough tour of the operations of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, from special collections to conservation to reference services. What follows is a visual tour of this experience.

Lincoln Curator James Cornelius shares the Minute Book of the
 Pigeon Creek Baptist Church that young Abraham Lincoln
and his family attended in Indiana.

 Ian Hunt, Acquisitions Librarian, shows a Civil War jacket to Claretian Missionaries Assistant Archivist Doris Cardenas.
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum holds more than 12.5 million items pertaining to Illinois history, of which the Lincoln collection is less than 1%. All together, there are more than eight miles of shelving.

Conservator Bonnie Parr points out some discoloration on a Hamlet costume worn by
Edwin Booth, the brother of John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assassin. 

A Civil War figurine in the reading room of the Manuscripts Collections.

Reference Librarian Gwen Podeschi shares a Civil War-era scrapbook. The reference collection is a popular resource for genealogists.

Many thanks to Wanda for her invitation to tour the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. We gained a lot of insight into the rewards and challenges of managing a state library. To close, here is a photo from the Museum of young Abe Lincoln in his famous log cabin!