The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes, with permission from their copyright holder. If you decide to use any of these materials, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and securing any necessary permission.
[1] ADfS, DLC-RTL. On October 11, 1863, Mrs. D. P. Livermore of the Chicago Sanitary Commission wrote Lincoln:
``The patriotic women of the Northwestern States will hold a grand Fair in Chicago, on the last week of Oct., and the first of Nov., to raise funds for the Sanitary Commission of the Northwest, whose head-quarters are in Chicago. This Commission labors especially for the sick and wounded soldiers of the
South western States, of whose bravery, and persistent endurance, we are all justly proud. I enclose you circulars, which will explain to you our entire plan, and show you the magnitude of the enterprise, by which we confidently hope to realize from $25,000 to $50,000.
``The greatest enthusiasm prevails. . . . Artists . . . are painting pictures for it, manufacturers are making elegant specimens of their handiwork for the occasion, tradesmen are donating the choicest of their wares, while women are surpassing their ordinary ingenuity and taste in devising beautiful articles for sale, or decorations for the walls of the four spacious halls we are to occupy.
``The Executive Committee have been urgently requested to solicit from Mrs. Lincoln and yourself some donation to this great Fair---not so much for the value of the gift, as for the eclat which this circumstance would give to the Fair. It has been suggested to us from various quarters that the most acceptable donation you could possibly make, would be the original manuscript of the Proclamation of emancipation. . . . if it is at all consistent with what is proper, for you to donate it. There would be great competition among buyers to obtain possession of it, and to say nothing of the interest that would attach to such a gift, it would prove pecuniarily of great value. We should take pains to have such an arrangement made as would place the document permanently in either the State or the Chicago Historical Society.
``There would seem great appropriateness in this gift to Chicago, or Illinois, for the benefit of our Western soldiers, coming as it would from a Western President. We hope it may be possible for you to donate it to us.
``But if it be not possible, then allow us to ask for some other simple gift---from Mrs. Lincoln and yourself---sufficient to show that you are cognizant of our efforts. . . . Our Fair opens on Tuesday, Oct. 27th. . . .'' (DLC-RTL).
On October 21, Isaac N. Arnold telegraphed, ``I am desired by the ladies having charge of the North western fair to remind of it & beg you will send the original of proclamation of Freedom if possible. Answer to U.S. San Com Here.'' (Ibid.).
Concerning the fate of the manuscript, see note to Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, supra.