Abraham Lincoln Day-by-Day Chronology (1809-1865)

Abraham Lincoln Day-by-Day Chronology (1809-1865)

Lincoln Day by Day: A Chronology, 1809-1865, 1,166 pages in three volumes created by the Abraham Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission, inclusive is a

136-page index including both name and subject entries for all three volumes.

The Abraham Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission was established by a Joint Resolution of September 2, 1957 (71 Stat. 587) authorizing the establishment of the commission “in order to provide for appropriate and nation-wide observances and the coordination of ceremonies” to mark the one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.

Four volumes, entitled Lincoln Day by Day, had been published 26 years before  the publishing of this collection by the Abraham Lincoln Association of Springfield, Ill., but they were issued before such important manuscript sources as the Robert Todd Lincoln papers and before such notable published sources as The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler, were published.

With the availability of these sources many blanks in the Lincoln Day by Day could be filled. This would allow for a chronology, recording day by day, and, for the crucial Civil War years, even hour by hour and sometimes minute by minute, where Lincoln was, whom he saw, and what he did. Better formatting allowed for more information to presented in fewer volumes than the previous "Day by Day."

To work on and oversee the project to create this chronology, the Commission's Chairman appointed L. Quincy Mumford, Librarian of Congress and a member of the Commission. Others selected for their knowledge in this field were: Roy P. Basler, editor of The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln and Director of the Reference Department in the Library of Congress; David C. Mearns, author of The Lincoln Papers and Chief of the Manuscript Division in the Library of Congress; Clyde C. Walton, Jr., director of the Illinois State Historical Library, which had important Lincoln collections and custody of the files of the Abraham Lincoln Association; and Paul M. Angle, director of the Chicago Historical Society, editor and author of numerous works on Lincoln, and the only surviving editor of the original chronology.

The two main compilers for the chronology were Dr. William E. Baringer, the Executive Director of the Sesquicentennial Commission, who would be responsible for the period of Lincoln's life preceding January 1, 1861 ; and Dr. C. Percy Powell, the Commission's Research Director, who was responsible for the Presidential years. Four assistant compilers, Mrs. Arline Custer, A. J. Fahy, Margareth Jergensen, and Helen-Louise Simpson, were named to assist Dr. Powell in Washington on the volume dealing with the Presidential years. Two researchers, James T. Hickey and Roger Irving, were assigned to work in Springfield, Ill., under the supervision of Clyde C. Walton. Mrs. Marion D. Pratt, assistant editor of "The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln," was consulted.

In a review of Lincoln Day by Day, John Stepp of the Washington (D.C.) Evening Star at the time it was published called it an "Epic Historical Research." In his review, he said in part: "The designers of this epic piece of historical digging had scholars in mind as their chief beneficiaries when they adjusted their sights a year or so ago. And scholars can be forever grateful for the neat accumulation of old and new leads which this chronology provides for the endless task of researching Abraham Lincoln. But another class of reader benefits as well. This is the less studious but nonetheless avid crowd which regards Lincoln as the finest human being this country ever produced... In the relentless parade of days as tersely chronicled here, a Lincoln somehow closer to us emerges... Editor in Chief Earl Schenck Miers, and his band of advisers and subeditors, deserve a great deal of credit for breathing life into a project that could have been dull enough to make a scholar yawn. The Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission, sponsor of the project, could have wound up its year's activities on no finer note."

Ralph G. Newman of the Chicago Tribune in a review of Lincoln Day by Day wrote: "The cumulative work of some of the greatest Lincoln scholars, this project represents the achievement of more than 35 years of research, painstaking study of records, newspaper files, courthouse archives, and a minute examination of every word of the known writings of Illinois' greatest son... Publication of these volumes is the great contribution of the Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission... this is a precise, detailed biography of our 16th President, in chronological form. Its value to the scholar is self-evident; it is equally important and interesting to the casual reader and student of the Lincoln story. No one studying the life of Lincoln or writing on any phase of his career or personality will be able to do a thorough job without using these volumes... There will be many, many more books about Lincoln this year and in future years. There will be none more important."

Also see:

Abraham Lincoln Campaign Newspapers 1860 - 1864 - 518 pages of Abraham Lincoln campaign newspapers from the elections of 1860 and 1864

Civil War: Abraham Lincoln Telegrapher David Homer Bates
Papers Diary Journal and Books - 1,880 pages - David Homer Bates papers & documents, correspondence, diary and journal entries, historical documents, photos, newspaper clippings, printed matter, and drafts and annotated proof sheets, from holdings in the Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana in the Library of Congress.

Abraham Lincoln - Stephen Douglas Debates/Election of 1858 Historical Material - 776 pages of historical material dealing with the Lincoln - Douglas Debates and the Illinois U.S. Senate Election of 1858. Material includes Abraham Lincoln's personal scrapbook of the Lincoln - Douglas Debates. Abraham Lincoln correspondences and papers dealing with political climate of the time, Stephen Douglas, and the election of 1858. Transcripts of the seven Lincoln-Douglas debates. Political cartoons featuring Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.