Lincoln Memorial University Libraries: University Archives: Museum Research Collections

Hours and Contact

The reference collection is open to researchers by appointment only. To schedule an appointment please call 423.869.6235.

Please visit the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum website for hours of operation, a schedule of programs, and other information.

How to Discover Material

Items held in the Museum are discoverable in the Catalog.

Just limit your search to 'museum' on the left and search like normal.

Links

Lincoln Herald Archive
The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum is one of the largest collections of Lincoln and Civil War materials.
The Lincoln Herald is one of the longest running publications about Lincoln and the Civil War. We are proud to make the back issues of the Herald available online, in their entirety, for free.
Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum
Located on the beautiful campus of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum houses one of the most diverse Lincoln and Civil War collections in the country.
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Exhibited are many rare items - the cane Lincoln carried that fateful night at Ford's Theatre, two life masks, the tea set he and Mary Todd used in their home in Springfield, and numerous other artifacts. Approximately 30,000 books, manuscripts, pamphlets, photographs, paintings and sculptures tell the story of President Lincoln and the Civil War period in America's history.

The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum Collections

A to Z Papers and Manuscripts Collection

Lincoln Collections

Abraham Lincoln Collection

Abraham Lincoln Collection: Family Papers

Abraham Lincoln Collection: Legal Series

Abraham Lincoln Collection: Personal Papers

Assassination Objects Collection

Calendar Collection

Gettysburg Address Collection

Lincoln Biographers and Contemporaries

Lincoln's Cabinet Members Collection

Lincoln Highway Collection

Lincoln in Advertising Collection

Lincoln Migration Papers

Mourning Artifacts Collection

Philately Collection

Civil War Collections

Civil War Broadside Collection

Civil War Correspondence

Civil War Newspaper Collection

Civil War Scrapbook Collection

Civil War Sheet Music Collection

Civil War Sheet Music Collection
A listing of the pieces of sheet music housed by the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum.

Cumberland Gap Byrnes Collection

Diary Collection

Film Collection

Hall of Holography

The Hall of Holography Collection was established at Lincoln Memorial University in October 1934 by Dr. John Wesley Hill, Chancellor of the University. The nucleus of the collection was a gift from Dr. Thomas F. Madigan, who had spent over 20 years collecting and selling autographs. After Dr. Hill's death, Dr. Robert Stanley McCordock, of the Department of History and Citizenship, took responsibility for the collection and its expansion, assisted for several years by Audrey Coulter, class of 1939. Under Dr. McCordock's leadership the collection grew to include items from over 1300 people, all of whom were identified and contacted without today's convenience of the Internet.

Household Furnishing Collections

Mary Todd Lincoln Theatre Collection

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS)

Movies, Radio and TV Collection

Phonograph Collection

Political Cartoons Collection

Political Ticket Collection

Postcard Collection

Presidential Novelty Card Collection

Professional Reference Collection

Stereograph Collection

United States Presidents Collection

Wilderness Road Collection

Personal Papers

Sarah Whiting Avery Collection

Kenneth Bernard Collection

Albert Bobrofsky Collection

Louis Bonhajo Collection

Carl Davis Collection

Betty Draper Collection

Cassius Marcellus Clay Collection

George B. Cockrell Collection

George B. Cockrell Papers
The George B. Cockrell Papers include correspondence, business papers (invoices, receipts, and bills of sale), and miscellaneous printed and handwritten items. The collection was presented to Lincoln Memorial University shortly after WWI by Major George B. Cockrell, C.S.A., who lived for a number of years at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, following the industrial development of 1890.

Dorothy Ellis Collection

George P. Hambrecht Collection

Oliver Otis Howard Collection

O.O. Howard Finding Aid
The O.O. Howard Collection contains letters of correspondence from Oliver Otis Howard to his uncle, John Otis (Representative from Maine to the Thirty-first Congress as a Whig), written while he was a student at Bowdoin College (1850), and later while he was a cadet at West Point (1851); as well as correspondence by and with other members of his family, spanning the years up to October 30, 1909.

Robert L Kincaid Collection

R. J. LeFevre Watercolor Collection

Lockwood Collection

Frederick Hill Meserve Collection

Lloyd D. Miller Collection

R. Gerald McMurtry Collection

Stephen T. McMurtry Collection

Lloyd Ostendorf Collection

Weldon Petz Collection

Sal Satinsky Collection

James Scatterfield Collection

Carl W. Schaefer Collection

Hal Seaberg Collection

Frank A Seiberling Collection

Max Shively Collection

Henry Spencer Collection

John W. Starr, Jr. Collection

James Stiner Collection

Dorothy Lamon Teillard Collection

Benjamin F. Trail Family Papers

Randle B. Truett Collection

Bernhardt Wall Collection

Charles E. West Family Collection

Julia S. Wheelock Papers

Whitney Family Papers

Whitney Family Papers Finding Aid
The “Whitney Family Papers” collection is a large compilation of letters and correspondence centered on Grove D. Whitney. Grove served in the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War, during which he sustained injuries that landed him in hospitals in Alexandria VA. He is also one of the longest living Civil War veterans, having lived until 1932.

Harry Wood Collection

John L. Worden Collection

Levi Worster Collection

Roy Blanton Wyatt Collection

Mission and Scope

The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum Mission Statement:

The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum (ALLM) is dedicated to identifying, preserving, and making available the collections concerning Abraham Lincoln, his contemporaries, the American Civil War, and the study of Lincolniana. The ALLM promotes public awareness and appreciation of the life of the 16^th President, the field of Lincolniana, and the themes and forces that contributed to the era of conflict of the Civil War. The ALLM supports the research needs of LMU faculty, staff, students as well as the community and general researchers. The ALLM promotes awareness through workshops, seminars, forums, courses, outreach programs, and research opportunities for individuals and groups to examine the collections.

The ALLM recognizes that it holds its collections in trust for the Nation. The ALLM is committed to maintaining the professional and ethical standards as set forth by the American Association of Museums and Society of American Archivists. The ALLM recognizes its responsibility to ensure the growth, development, use, and care of the collections in its care. The ALLM further recognizes its responsibility to prevent the loss of collections by deterioration, mismanagement, or indiscriminate dispersal.

Scope of Collections

The ALLM collections are dedicated to the enduring memory and influence of the Nation’s 16^th President Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War as reflected in the Mission Statement. The ALLM collections consist of artifacts, photographs, and papers relating to the life and context of Abraham Lincoln including his early years in Kentucky, his formative years in Indiana, his time in Illinois, his local and national political career and his family; Lincolniana also know as Lincoln related art and printed material including popular, mass produced items for public consumption, and commissioned pieces created by professional artists for public display. These pieces reflect the cultural memory of Abraham Lincoln in American society and anywhere around the world where his image, name, and influence is recognized. Civil War military history focusing on the Appalachian theater of the U.S. Civil War; the materials center on Lincoln’s interest in the upland-south region and its pro-union sympathizes.