The  "Field Library Lincoln Collection".

The Field Library in Peekskill, NY, houses a non-circulating collection of over 600 books about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War Era. It is an invaluable resource for scholars, students, casual readers and anyone interested in the life and times of the 16th President of the United States.


Originally called “The Lincoln Memorial in Books”, the Collection was established in 1925, the same year of the Lincoln Exedra dedication, by Chester A. Smith when he was head of the Field Library. It was initially funded by a group of citizens who provided $1,000 to purchase books about Abraham Lincoln for the Library. At that time, the books contained a name-plate giving the names of the Founders of the Fund and those in whose memory it was created. The Lincoln Society in Peekskill continues to provide funds annually to augment the Collection.


The earliest published book is an 1860 transcript of the 1858 Illinois senatorial debates between Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. The Collection includes full-scale biographies of Lincoln, memoirs by his contemporaries, historical works about Lincoln’s views on specific subjects, novelizations about Lincoln and his times, transcripts of speeches and debates, retrospectives and, of course, many volumes about the full sweep of his role in the events leading up to and during the Civil War.

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​The Field Library has hundreds of rare volumes in their Lincoln Collection. Attached is a 38-page catalogue of every book in the Collection. The list is in chronological order of date of publication, from 1860 – 2014, and includes author, title, publisher, date of publication as well as historical background, information, synopsis, etc. of each book. The Lincoln Society in Peekskill will on an on-going basis update the list with new titles and background information about the volumes.

Download the Field Library Lincoln Collection data base.

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