April - June 2008 Volume 8 Number 2
PROJECT RECEIVES RECORD $1.4 MILLION GRANT
The Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund recently
awarded the Papers of Abraham Lincoln a five-year
grant of $1,412,993 to support the search for Lincoln
documents at the National Archives in Washington, DC. The
Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library
Foundation will administer
the grant for the benefit of
the Papers of Abraham
Lincoln. This new funding
will allow the project to
hire four additional
researchers in Washington
to expedite the searching
and scanning processes.
The National
Archives holds tens of
thousands of documents
written or signed by
Abraham Lincoln or written to him. Since June 2006, a small
team of researchers has been combing records from the State,
Treasury, and Interior Departments at Archives II in College
Park, Maryland. This grant will augment the research there
and allow the project to begin work on the more numerous
records at the National Archives in downtown Washington.
When the research at Archives II is complete, all researchers
will focus their attention on the records in the main archives
on Pennsylvania Avenue.
“This grant
represents an unparalleled
opportunity for the Papers
of Abraham Lincoln,”
according to Director
Daniel W. Stowell.
“Together with other
funding sources, it provides
us with the personnel
necessary to complete the
search of the largest
repository of Lincoln
documents in the world.”
Over the next
several months, the Papers of Abraham Lincoln will hire new
researchers to join the existing team in Washington in the fall
of 2008.
The National Archives in Washington, DC.
NHPRC ENDORSES THE PAPERS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
In May, the National Historical Publications and Records
Commission (NHPRC), a granting agency of the National
Archives, formally endorsed the Papers of Abraham Lincoln
and awarded a $75,000 grant for the next year.
The NHPRC has provided funding for the Lincoln
Legal Papers and the Papers of Abraham Lincoln annually
since 1990, but this award is the Commission’s first
endorsement of the expanded Papers of Abraham Lincoln
project. During the past eighteen years, NHPRC has awarded
a total of $1.3 million dollars to the project. The money has
paid staff salaries, funded travel, and supported the
digitization and transcription of Lincoln documents within the
project’s scope. The project appreciates the Commission’s
continued support and new endorsement of its efforts to
document the life of Abraham Lincoln.
