Introduction
Eight score ago, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln brought forth, in his dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, words that still speak to America’s national identity.
In essence, what Union soldiers sacrificed there were measures that none of us should forget; that we should understand their devotion to the essential proposition of our government: that it is OF, BY, and FOR the people. It is our obligation to increase our devotion to the Union cause, and ever to defend our foundational principle of equality in citizenship. Lincoln urged mindfulness of this sacrifice and devotion, that doing so would give us all a new birth of freedom, this national ideal as first expressed in the Declaration of Independence.
This exhibition draws from the Lincoln Collection at the University of Delaware Library, a collection built by members of the Lincoln Club of Delaware that was given to the University to support scholarship and ongoing understanding of the ideals and accomplishments of our sixteenth president. On display here are varied primary sources from the Lincoln Collection, from contemporary reports of the planning committee for the Soldiers’ National Cemetery and the 1864 edition of Autograph Leaves of Our Country’s Authors—where the so-called “standard” version, or Bliss copy, of the Gettysburg Address was first published—to a 20th-century graphic telling of the battle, to a 21st-century presentation of 3-D historic photographs from Gettysburg.
Credits
This exhibition was curated by L. Rebecca Johnson Melvin and Mary Ladely. Library assistance for design and installation was provided by Kris Raser and Dustin Frohlich, with thanks to Brian Kamen and Chad Maring.
