News From The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

[Joe Di Cola]

(09-06-2012 05:43 PM)Joe Di Cola Wrote:  

(09-06-2012 12:14 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Joe, I think the original draft was on display at the Soldiers' Home in Chicago and was subsequently destroyed in the Chicago Fire of 1871.

It was part of the collection of the Chicago Historical Society (then located on the NW corner of Dearborn & Ontario Sts.), whose building was destroyed by the 1871 Chicago Fire. Ironically, The CHS building was deemed the safest in terms of fire-resistance.

Lincoln had donated the original to be sold for the benefit of Chicago's 1st Sanitary Fair in 1863. The person who purchased it donated it to the Soldiers' Home, whose managers then gave it to the CHS when its new building was opened in 1868.

One other thought...in The Great Chicago Fire (introduced and with notes by Paul M. Angle, 1971), there is reproduced a poignant letter from assistant librarian, Samuel Stone, describing his escape from the burning CHS building and his valiant but unsuccessful attempt to save the original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation.