Lincoln's Connection with Leavenworth
Abraham Lincoln delivered his first presidential campaign speech in Leavenworth, Kansas in December, 1859 at the urging of close friend Mark Delahay, a Leavenworth attorney and newspaperman. After the speech, Lincoln was so delighted with the reception he received in Leavenworth that he stayed about one week, and later said, “If I were to ever travel west again, I think I would go to Leavenworth.”

The Lincoln Collection
The Bernard H. Hall Abraham Lincoln Collection contains more than 10,000 rare and original items and memorabilia such as:

• One of the fourteen known original copies of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution – the document that abolished slavery.
• A broad assortment of books and pamphlets on Lincoln's life and work. Included is a complete 85-volume set of “Following Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865,” by Bernhardt Wall, books containing original engravings of all the places Lincoln had lived or traveled.
• A unique letter written by Mrs. Lincoln and co-signed by Lincoln.
• One of the Lincoln's last messages to his wife – a telegram from Grant's headquarters in City Point, sharing with her the joy he felt at the imminent fall of Petersburg which meant the end of the Civil War and bloodshed.
• A lock of hair purportedly taken from Lincoln's head at the time of his death.
• The Craig Collection of Americana which comprises more than 500 manuscripts and documents dating from 1665.

About the Collector

Bernard H. Hall, M.D., F.A.C.P., donated USM's Lincoln Collection in 1969. Dr. Hall was former director of psychiatry at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka , Kan. and at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City where he was also director of community health services. He was a lecturer, author, and a collector of Lincolniana for 40 years. Mindful of Lincoln 's visit to Leavenworth in 1859, Dr. Hall wished his collection to be in Leavenworth and hoped that it would become “a shrine to a great man” and “a memorial to the incomparable Abraham Lincoln.” Dr. Hall died in 1987. This Photo was taken at the time of the official presentation of Dr. Hall's collection to Sister Mary Mark Orr, who served as head librarian at Saint Mary for many years

45 single-leaf manuscripts dating from the 12th century. 9 books of exegesis, philosophy, and theology, and eight completed Bibles printed before 1501. The first English translation of the Latin Vulgate: the Rheims New Testament of 1582 and the two-volume Douai Old Testament of 1609-10. The first American edition of the Doway-Rheims Bible published by Matthew Carey in Philadelphia in 1790. 1763 Saur Bible from Germantown, the first Bible printed on paper made in colonial America . Craig Codex—manuscripts of the Gospels, the Acts of Apostles, and the Epistles of Saint Paul scribed upon 70 vellum leaves in handmade ink, featuring 64 red and blue illuminated capitals. It was created at the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Bertin in Saint Omer, France in 1228.