The John Hay houses what many consider the country's greatest collections of material relating to Lincoln, and although Washington may not have slept here, he visited campus in 1790 and received an honorary degree
Unless you're a history buff, you may be unaware that Brown has strong ties to both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, and houses a wealth of artifacts related to these two men, whose February birthdays will be honored collectively on Presidents' Day Monday, Feb. 21.
The John Hay Library, for instance, houses the Lincoln Collection, reached by climbing impressive stairways and passing through locked doors into a few small rooms containing portraits, books, statues, manuscripts, sheet music, and all sorts of Lincoln-related memorabilia.
Purchased for Brown by John D. Rockefeller in 1932, the Charles Woodberry McLellan Lincoln Collection is among the country's greatest collections of material relating to the 16th president. The collection originally consisted of 6,000 items, according to Mary Jo Kline, curator of special collections, but has been added to over the years thanks to the generosity of subsequent donors and the care of successive curators. It currently includes well over 15,000 books and newspapers, 2,600 manuscripts (some 950 written or signed by Lincoln), 5,200 broadsides, 6,900 prints and photographs, 250 phonograph records, 320 pieces of sheet music, and 1,560 museum objects.
In 1926, the Hay Library bought the Warren C. Crane Collection of Lincoln Portraits. It contains nearly all of the political cartoons and portraits issued by Currier & Ives for the presidential campaigns of 1860 and 1864.
What makes the McLellan Lincoln Collection all the richer is that it is housed with the John Hay Collection. John Hay of Illinois, a member of Brown's class of 1858, was Lincoln's private secretary for four years. A year after his death in 1906, Hay's widow donated to Brown 400 books and manuscripts from her late husband's personal library. In 1954, Hay's daughter donated a collection of her father's letters, notebooks and diaries. She also donated 300 letters from Hay to another of Lincoln's secretaries, John Nicolay, with whom Hay wrote the book "Abraham Lincoln: A History."
In 1958 in honor of the 100th anniversary of Hay's graduation from Brown, John Hay Whitney, the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain and John Hay's grandson, donated an additional 4,500 items to the library. The John Hay Collection at Brown is now considered by many to be the premier collection of its kind in the world. Because John Hay's and Lincoln's papers are all housed under one roof, the library is, according to Kline, "an invaluable and convenient place to study the field."
Lincoln isn't the only president whose memory is well preserved by Brown's library collections. In recognition of the 200th anniversary of the death of George Washington, the John Carter Brown Library held a special exhibition titled "Washington: The Man, the Fact, the Myth" featuring 66 artifacts from its regular holdings. These manuscripts, printed materials and historic images trace the life, career, death and posthumous fame of one of the most accomplished men of the 18th century.
The first item in the exhibit was a book written by an English Parliamentarian attacking George's grandfather, Lawrence Washington, as an "immoral clergyman." The significance of this book is noted by reference librarian Richard Ring, who refers to it as "likely part of the reason the Washingtons originally came to America."
The exhibition also featured journals Washington kept during his battles with the French and their Indian allies in the Ohio Country in the early 1750s. Several French accounts offering positive propaganda for the Revolutionary War effort are set against Washington's correspondence to Col. Joseph Reed which illustrates the challenges the Americans faced in their encounters with the British.
Rhode Island history buffs would have been particularly interested in orders for supplies, including muskets and candles, sent by Washington to Providence merchants John and Nicholas Brown in 1776.
Although not apparent from the exhibition nor widely known, President Washington made a visit to campus on Aug. 18, 1790, a few months after Rhode Island became the last state to ratify the Constitution. Two weeks later, he was awarded a Doctor of Laws degree at Commencement.
There was a spectacular celebration in honor of Washington's arrival, with candles illuminating the windows of University Hall. In 1932 in honor of the 200th anniversary of Washington's birth, a plaque (which, according to University archivist Martha Mitchell, has since been stolen) was unveiled in University Hall commemorating his visit. A Brown Alumni Monthly article from 1932 includes a news clip from the Providence Gazette published on the day of his visit. It reads, "The President and many others took a walk on the College Green to view the illumination of the building by the students, which made a most splendid appearance." The article includes excerpts from Washington's remarks on campus in which he applauded Brown (then Rhode Island College) as "improving the morals of the rising generation, and inculcating upon their minds principles peculiarly calculated for the preservation of our rights and liberties."
Tracey Z. Poole is a Rhode Island-based free-lance writer.