The project “The Papers of Abraham Lincoln” was created in 1985 but earlier this month received a significant contribution that will support the digitization of the writings of Abraham Lincoln. Iron Mountain Incorporated, a storage and information management company, has announced a collaboration with the project by providing its services to enhance the archive to be made available online.
Today marks the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. He’s one of the most famous politicians in American history and was the president during the Civil War so there’s a lot of interest around his writings. In 1985, the project “Lincoln Legal Papers” was created with the aim to identify and publish Lincoln’s writings. In 2001, the project was renamed as “The Papers of Abraham Lincoln”.
This project is administered through the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, a division of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. It’s sponsored by the Center for State Policy and Leadership at the University of Illinois Springfield and the Abraham Lincoln Association.
The documents are divided into three types: the first series covers the period in which Abraham Lincoln practiced law between 1836 and 1861, the second series covers documents not related to his legal activity between 1809 and 1861 and the third series covers the period when Lincoln was the president of the USA.
For Americans, Abraham Lincoln’s writings are an important heritage also linked to a particularly critical period in their history. The project “The Papers of Abraham Lincoln” wants to keep that legacy for future generations and today the Internet allows to reach many more people than any paper book.
The project “The Papers of Abraham Lincoln” has already located almost 200,000 documents connected to Abraham Lincoln. Their digitization and publication on the Internet accompanied by annotations is a huge job. The collaboration with Iron Mountain can provide at least the IT resources to allow people around the world to learn more about this important historical figure.
