You may go directly to the collection,
Abraham Lincoln Papers
at the Library of Congress, in American Memory.
The complete Abraham Lincoln Papers
at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 20,000 documents dating
from 1833 to 1916. Most of the approximately 20,000 items, however, are from the
1850s through Lincoln's presidential years, 1860-65. Treasures in this collection
include Lincoln's draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, his March 4, 1865 draft
of his second Inaugural Address, and his August 23, 1864 memorandum expressing
his expectation of being defeated in the upcoming presidential election. The bulk
of the Lincoln Papers consists of letters written to Lincoln by a wide variety
of correspondents: friends, and legal and political associates from Lincoln's
Springfield, Illinois days; national and regional political figures and reformers;
and local people and organizations writing to their president.
