American Civil War Digital Collections. The Special Collections Department at the University of Delaware Library houses many unique primary sources related to the American Civil War. These include items such as letters, prints, documents, photographs and significant Abraham Lincoln materials. The American Civil War Digital Collections currently highlight the following collections: Letters and Diaries, Autograph Abraham Lincoln Documents (described below), Alexander Gardner Photographs of Lincoln Conspirators, Pierce Family Papers, and Rosenthal Lithographic Prints of Civil War Encampments. As the American Civil War Digital Collections at the University of Delaware Library continues to develop, they will be added to this online source.

The American Civil War Digital Collections: Autograph Abraham Lincoln Documents: This small digital collection includes thirteen images of documents in the University of Delaware's Lincoln Collection that are either handwritten by Abraham Lincoln or contain his original signature. Hiighlights include the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and documents related to Civil War veteran and Delaware native Ashland B. Swigget.

The Abraham Lincoln Autograph Documents form part of a much larger collection of Lincolniana collected by the Lincoln Club of Delaware. In 1972, the Abraham Lincoln Collection came to the University of Delaware, where it is housed in the Special Collections Department of the Morris Library. The collection includes over two thousand books, pamphlets, photographs, artworks, artifacts, historic documents, and miscellaneous materials pertaining to the life and career of Abraham Lincoln

Note: Digital images for this collection provided courtesy of The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, a project of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.  Project personnel scanned images from the University of Delaware Library's Abraham Lincoln Autograph Documents Collection for inclusion in a planned comprehensive electronic edition of documents by and written to Abraham Lincoln, including reports of his speeches and other writings.  For more information, please consult the The Papers of Abraham Lincoln.