Lincoln Club of Delaware records

The Lincoln Club of Delaware began on February 12, 1929, when a group of forty-six male admirers of Abraham Lincoln met at the Wilmington Country Club for an informal dinner-meeting. The meeting was sponsored by Wilmington manufacturer John Bancroft, the Reverend Charles L. Candee and Burton P. Fowler, headmaster of Tower Hill School. The group included Wilmington City Librarian Arthur L. Bailey, Episcopal Bishop Philip Cook, Congressmen Robert Houston and William Heald, and University of Delaware President Walter Hullihen, among other prominent members of the Wilmington community. Decorations for the dinner included three paintings by Wilmington artist Frank E. Schoonover. Schoonover went on to serve as president of the Club in 1950 – 1951, and his sketch of Lincoln continues to be used on Lincoln Club and Lincoln Collection documents and publications.

At the first meeting it was decided to make the dinner-meeting an annual event in commemoration of the anniversary of the birth of Lincoln. Each year a prominent speaker addressed the group on some aspect of Lincoln’s life, and, at the conclusion of the dinner, one of those present was assigned the duty of arranging the next year’s dinner. The cost of the dinner was defrayed by the attendees, and there were no dues or formal organization. Until 1942 the dinner-meetings were generally held at the Wilmington Country Club. From 1942 through 1973 the location was the Soda House on the estate of R.R.M. Carpenter in Wilmington.

Wilmington attorney Frank G. Tallman, a charter member of the Lincoln Club, died in 1938 and left his collection of Lincolniana, comprising about 2,000 items, to the Wilmington Institute Free Library. At a 1939 special luncheon meeting of the Lincoln Club a committee was appointed to prepare for cataloging and housing the Tallman collection in the public library. TheClub assumed responsibility for the transfer and care of the collection and set up a fund for that purpose. The room housing the collection was formally opened on May 26, 1941, and, beginning in 1960, was open to the public one afternoon a week from October to May, staffed by an attendant paid out of the treasury of The Lincoln Club. Tallman’s substantial collection of books, pamphlets, photographs, prints, autograph letters, and memorabilia was increased over the years by gifts from Tallman’s family, club member J. Stuart Groves, and other collectors.

In 1941 the Lincoln Club formally organized itself and elected a board of directors. A 1945 revision to the original constitution formally named the club “The Lincoln Club of Delaware” and stated that the objectives of the Club were “to promote a better understanding of the ideals and achievements of Abraham Lincoln” and to “cooperate with the Wilmington Institute Free Library in the maintenance and development of The Tallman Collection.” The new constitution also established procedures for the election of the board of directors and for approval of applications for membership, as well as provision for annual dues. By 1967 the Club had 280 dues-paying members. In 1970 the Club published its history, included in the Lincoln Club Archives, with an account of its early years by Albert O.H. Grier and a more extensive account by Harold Brayman of the years 1944 – 1969. Brayman’s portion of the history includes substantial summaries of the addresses given by the invited speakers. Brayman’s history was updated by Thomas L. Clark, covering the years up to 1993, and in anonymous histories published annually by the Club from 1999 through 2001.

In 1974 the dinner meetings returned to The Wilmington Country Club, largely because the increased membership could no longer be accommodated at the Soda House. Between 1969 and 1971 the Lincoln Room at the Wilmington Institute Free Library was closed for renovation. Due to space considerations, the Library decided during this period that it could no longer housethe Lincoln Collection. In 1972, the Lincoln Club donated the collection to the University of Delaware and it was relocated to two rooms on the second floor of the University’s Goodstay Center in Wilmington. With the relocation of the collection to the Goodstay Center, the Lincoln Club began to hold other special events in addition to the annual meeting. Spring receptions for members took place from 1972 to 1999. Starting in the Fall of 1987 the Club instituted Fall Programs for members and guests on some aspect of Lincoln’s career. In 1998, the collection was moved to the University of Delaware campus to more secure facilities with better public access for research and exhibition. A dedicated exhibition space for the Lincoln Collection was constructed adjacent to the Special Collections Exhibition Gallery in Morris Library for display of selected items on a permanent rotating basis.

Although women had long played an important role in the activities of the Lincoln Club, particularly in its care for the Lincoln Collection, they were not invited to become members until the by-laws were amended in 1989.

Grier, Albert O.H. and Harold Brayman. A History of the Lincoln Club of Delaware. The Lincoln Club of Delaware, 1970.