Scope and Content Note
The records of the United States Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission Office of the Research Director consist of the files of Research Director C. Percy Powell and the records of William E. Baringer in connection with his work on the manuscript of Lincoln Day-by-Day. The collection spans the period 1809-1965, with the bulk of the material from 1960. The papers are organized in three series: Lincoln Day-by-Day , Lincoln Bibliography Project, and Miscellany.
The bulk of the records consist of holograph and typewritten drafts, printer’s copy, and a few page proofs of the manuscript of the three-volume work compiled by Baringer and Powell under the general editorship of Earl Schenck Miers entitled Lincoln Day-by-Day (Washington, D.C.: Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission, 1960). Of particular significance is the extensive file of research notes from primary to secondary sources that document the chronology of Lincoln’s life. Only about half of these were cited in the printed work.
The office of the research director was also engaged in compiling a bibliography of all publications concerning Lincoln published since the appearance of a bibliography by Jay Monaghan in 1943-1945 (Lincoln Bibliography, 1839-1939, 2 vols., Springfield, Ill., Illinois State Historical Library, 1943-1945). The series relating to the bibliography project, which was not completed, consists of card indexes by title and author to publications appearing between 1939 and 1959.
Miscellany consists of the research director’s office files. Included are copies of records, reports, and minutes of the commission, correspondence with leaders and groups concerned with Abraham Lincoln, including the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia, the Illinois and Indiana sesquicentennial commissions, and such authors as Howard K. Beale and Earl Schenck Miers. Rounding out the collection are the manuscript and printers proofs of the Handbook published by the commission in 1958, material relating to their public relations and publicity programs, and a few printed items by other groups.