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Carrying Lincoln’s Words

Abraham Lincoln used this inscribed portfolio as president to carry documents. It is hard for us to imagine today, but his only support staff were 2-3 personal secretaries. They handled much of the routine paperwork, but the number of Lincoln signatures in various collections across the world testify to how much he had to directly interact with the day-to-day management of the government in wartime.

Along with government paperwork, this portfolio held many of Lincoln’s most famous writings as he worked on them. We know, for instance, that when Lincoln needed to concentrate on his writing, he would often leave the White House for the much quieter Soldier’s Home on the northern edge of Washington. He reportedly did so several times as he developed the Emancipation Proclamation, meaning that critical document likely resided in this portfolio as Lincoln prepared it in the summer and fall of 1862.

Gift of Albert T., Nicoletta, and William Reid Heyser, 2004

AC-LR246 – Abraham Lincoln’s Presidential Portfolio

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