Research Guide
This online research guide offers some helpful suggestions for learning more about Lincoln’s Writings, and especially for preparing good, close readings of Lincoln documents, using only freely available Internet resources. Of course, there are many more essential sources available either behind paywalls or only in print, but we have tried in this space to feature only the types of sources that would be accessible to everyone, anywhere in the world. Last updated June 2016
The Big Three
- Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln Association)
- Abraham Lincoln Papers (Library of Congress)
- Lincoln Log: Daily Chronology (Abraham Lincoln Association)
Additional Primary Sources
- Papers of Abraham Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library)
- Lincoln Recollections (JAH/House Divided Project –full text, published vols)
- Lincoln / Net (Northern Illinois University)
- Herndon’s Informants (short recollections about Lincoln; U of I Press)
- Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection (various Lincolniana)
- Congressional Globe (Library of Congress, A Century of Lawmaking)
- War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Cornell / Making of America)
- Chronicling America (US newspapers via Library of Congress)
- Chronicling Illinois (ALPLM, various archival collections)
Top Secondary Sources
- Multi-volume Lincoln biography by Michael Burlingame (Knox College)
- Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association (full text archives)
- Google Books (full text searchable snippet view of modern Lincoln scholarship)
- Lincoln Herald magazine archive (LMU)
Other Helpful Sites
- Abraham Lincoln’s Classroom (Lerhman Institute)
- Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life (Smithsonian)
- With Malice Toward None (Library of Congress)
Featured House Divided Resources