The Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana - Original Manuscripts

Collection

Identifier: FVW-MANU

Staff Only

Scope and Content

This collection contains a variety of materials broken down into six series, most of which relates to the Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War. The first, Abraham Lincoln Legal Documents, contains documents penned and/or signed in Lincoln’s hand, including legal proceedings, affidavits, and jury notes. The second series, Abraham Lincoln Correspondence, contains letters Lincoln created over the course of his legal career and presidency. Miscellaneous Legal Documents make up the next series and feature documents created by many of Lincoln’s associates such as Stuart, Logan, and Herndon. Series four, Miscellaneous Correspondence, holds letters from elite politicians, many of which concern slavery, abolition, the Republican party, and the Civil War. Series five holds miscellaneous materials including autographs from Lincoln contemporaries, Emilie Todd Helm’s diary, and various pieces of nineteenth-century ephemera. Last, series six includes various pieces of oversized materials, which primarily consists of nineteenth-century broadsides.

Dates

1768 - 1992

Creator

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 (Person)

Biographical

Frank J. Williams was born on August 24, 1940 in Richmond, Rhode Island. Williams’s fascination with Abraham Lincoln began while he was in the sixth grade. Instead of purchasing food, Williams used his lunch money to buy books about Lincoln. This early interest inspired Williams to study law. After earning his undergraduate degree from Boston University, he obtained his law degree from Boston University School of Law. He also went on to earn a master’s degree in taxation from Bryant University. Later, he also served as a U.S. Army captain from 1962-1967 in Germany and Vietnam. During Williams’s legal career, he served as town moderator and town solicitor for Richmond, Rhode Island. He also was appointed to the Rhode Island Supreme Court in 1995, and in 2001 he was elevated to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He also served from 2003-2009 as the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Military Commissions under George W. Bush’s administration. Over the course of his career, Williams never lost his love for Lincoln studies and continued to collect books, artifacts, and memorabilia – a collection that is now valued at over $3 million. Williams has also published and co-authored books on Lincoln such as Judging Lincoln (2002), Lincoln as Hero (2012), The Emancipation Proclamation: Three Views (2008), and the coedited book, The Mary Lincoln Enigma (2013). He is also the founding chair of the Lincoln Forum and served as president of both the Abraham Lincoln Association and the Lincoln Group of Boston.

Over the years, collecting Lincoln has become a family affair. His wife, Virginia Williams, assists in the collecting of Lincoln artifacts and books. V. Williams was born in Texas and graduated from North Texas State University. Working for the U.S. Department of Defense, she served as a teacher overseas and met F. Williams during his time serving in the military. She was a kindergarten teacher in Rhode Island for Cranston Public Schools for almost three decades and has been intimately involved with the Lincoln Forum since its inception. Together, Frank and Virginia Williams have amassed a large and impressive collection made up of more than 15,000 book volumes and 10,000 artifacts. These items were donated to Mississippi State University in 2017. To date, the couple continue to add to the collection and a large portion of these objects are on view at the Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana Gallery at Mitchell Memorial Library on Mississippi State University’s campus.

References

Allison Matthews, “Frank and Virginia Williams of Rhode Island gift extraordinary Lincoln and Civil War Collection to Mississippi State University,” Mississippi State University, Last Modified June 20, 2017.

“Frank Williams,” OAH: Organization of American Historians, Accessed April 2, 2019.

Historical

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was a self-taught lawyer who was admitted to the Illinois bar in September 1836. He moved to Springfield in 1837 and became a junior partner under John T. Stuart. In 1838, Stuart won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, which left Lincoln to oversee the practice’s daily operations. Tired of carrying this responsibility alone, Lincoln left Stuart’s practice and formed a partnership with Stephen T. Logan, a prominent lawyer in Sangamon County, in 1841. The partnership flourished until 1844 when Logan dissolved the partnership in favor of going into business with his son. In the fall of 1844, Lincoln, acting as the senior partner, opened a firm with William H. Herndon serving as his junior partner. Together, the pair worked the Illinois Eighth Judicial Circuit. Lincoln traveled extensively during this time, an opportunity he used to build important Illinois political connections. In 1846, he won a seat in the United States Congress, which led to him taking a two-year sabbatical from his law practice. After his stint in Congress, he returned to his practice with Herndon where he prosecuted hundreds of cases in Sangamon County and the Illinois Eighth Judicial district. Lincoln’s 23-year law career came to an end shortly after the Republican National Convention nominated him for president in 1860. According to Herndon, even after Lincoln won the presidency, the President wished to return to their law practice “as if nothing ever happened.” This wish went unfilled as Lincoln was assassinated shortly after beginning his second term as President in 1865.

References

“Abraham Lincoln Law Career,” Abraham Lincoln Historical Society, Accessed August 7, 2019. http://www.abraham-lincoln-history.org/abraham-lincoln-lawyer/

“The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: A Narrative Overview,” The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Second Edition, Accessed September 12, 2019. http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Reference.aspx?ref=Reference%20html%20files/NarrativeOverview.html

Extent

2.8 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Processing Information

Aaron Thomas, a student worker at Mississippi State University, began processing this collection in July 2019. The collection was completed by Carrie P. Mastley, the collection processor for the Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana, in September 2019.