University Celebrates Lincoln's Birthday by Exhibiting Lincolnian Treasures--Contains Letter to Harvard Son

The anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birthday, celebrated today by proclamation of Governor Alvan T. Fuller of Massachusetts, marks the 60th year since the assassination of the President.

Since his death many collections of "Lincolniana" have been made throughout the country, but probably the best and most complete is that owned by the University, with the possible exception of the collection in the Congressional Library at Washington.

The Widener Library collection contains a large number of manuscripts. Among these is a brief letter from the President written in 1869, to his son Robert Todd Lincoln '64, who was a senior at that time in the University. The self-educated President had given his son the best possible educational advantages which the country could afford. The subject mater of the letter is unimportant, but Lincoln's striking simplicity is illustrated by the envelope. On the upper left hand corner, where the stamp should be, the President had written in his homely--handwriting, A. Lincoln.

Another unusual feature of the collection is a manuscript of the first proof of Lincoln's second inaugural address. It is interlined and edited, partly by the President in his own handwriting, and partly by John Hay Hon. '02, later Secretary of State, and at that time Lincoln's private secretary.

The Library recently acquired a large addition to its Lincolniana when the late "Widow" Nolen bequeathed his famous collection to the University. This remarkable collection consists not only of a large number of books, but pamphlets, magazine articles, and a very complete collection of busts and statuettes. It is still lying in the basement of the Library awaiting an inventory, but as soon as this is made, it probably will to be on exhibition.