Preface
The baby born in a modest log cabin at the heart of the American frontier. The young boy sporting a coonskin cap with a relentless work ethic and passion for learning. The humble country lawyer driven by a steadfast conviction that right makes might. These images represent a handful of popular portrayals of Abraham Lincoln in biographies written for children that have shaped our understanding of Lincoln as an exemplary role model and the quintessential American for readers of all ages.
Honestly Abe: Juvenile Literature About the Life and Times of Abraham Lincoln invites visitors to explore the rich themes and historical trends within children’s biographies, drawn primarily from the Lincoln Club of Delaware Abraham Lincoln Collection in Special Collections. Through cover art, illustrations and narrative text spanning more than 150 years, the materials on view tell the tale of a mythic American figure whose life and values continue to inspire generations of leaders.
Table of contents:
- i. Putnam, M. Louise. The children’s life of Abraham Lincoln. Chicago: A.C. McClurg, 1892.
- ii. Kunhardt, Edith, author; Zeldis, Malcah, illustrator. Honest Abe. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1993.
- iii. Hanford, Phebe A. (Phebe Ann). Abraham Lincoln: his life and public services. Chicago, New York: Werner Co., 1895.
From the opening line of Louise M. Putnam's The children's life of Abraham Lincoln, we see the stage set for many of the themes of juvenile biographies written about him. Putnam writes;
"This book does not claim to be written for the amusement of children... The author's experience with children has led to the conviction that the late War of Secession has created a desire in their minds to know more of the machinery of government than is usually found in works written for them."
This desire for knowledge is embodied no better than by Abraham Lincoln himself, frequently characterized by his hungry mind and determination to understand the world around him.
Author Edith Kunhardt teams up with illustrator Malcah Zeldis to create Honest Abe, a cozy retelling of the Lincoln mythos with iconic artwork. It plays heavily into the tropes prescribed to him, depicting the seminal moments of his life through Zeldis's folk art styling, starting with his birth in a log cabin and his desire to learn.
Like Abraham Lincoln, author of Life of Lincoln Phebe A. Hanaford was an abolitionist and determined to learn, teaching herself math and Latin at home. She would write 14 books over the course of her career. Written in 1865, her biography of Abraham Lincoln was the first to be published following his assassination, and ends hauntingly with a letter from him to his friend, written just before his passing.
