Partner Article

Iron Mountain helps document detectives preserve Lincoln's papers

Torn and stained documents carried on whaling ships by former slaves; letters hidden in bags by settlers heading west; and fragments of half-eaten notes found in rodent nests. These are just a few examples of the valuable paper artefacts identified as having been written by 16th US President Abraham Lincoln. The entire collection of Lincoln’s papers are benefitting from Iron Mountain’s support as the world commemorates the 150th anniversary of his assassination.

A new partnership between the storage and information management company and the Papers of Abraham Lincoln - a project dedicated to finding and publishing all documents written by or to Abraham Lincoln during his lifetime (1809-1865) - will help to collect and preserve the written record of a man who led his country through the turbulent Civil War and the abolition of slavery. The project has already scanned more than 97,000 documents.

Iron Mountain’s support will boost the number of researchers seeking and curating the Lincoln papers worldwide. It will help showcase the most important papers, educate visitors on Lincoln’s legacy and provide a long-term, archiving solution for the unique collection.

Recent document discoveries include: a letter from San Marino bestowing national citizenship on the President; a fragmented, mouse-eaten letter about poetry that formed part of a rodent nest in a wall of Lincoln’s home; a military muster roll carried by a family on a famously ill-fated 1846 wagon train across the US; and signed ship registration documents found in Australia long after the ship - a whaler built by a former slave - was sunk in what was arguably the last official skirmish of the Civil War.

“The name of President Lincoln is known the world over,” said Dr Daniel Stowell, Director and Editor of The Papers of Abraham Lincoln. “He wrote thousands of letters and other documents and received even more, making him one of the most written-to presidents in history. These thousands of personal, political, and presidential documents, each tell a story and together tell the story of what would become the United States of America during one of the most important eras in North American history. We are dedicated to finding these documents, preserving them, and making them available for study. The partnership with Iron Mountain will help us to protect items of international cultural interest and ensure easy access for anyone interested in consulting the archive.”

The partnership forms part of Iron Mountain’s Living Legacy Initiative. Dedicated to preserving vital cultural information, the initiative provides organisations with funding and information management support.

“We launched the Living Legacy Initiative because we believe that everyone deserves equal access to the ideas and artefacts that shape our human experience, regardless of economic or geographic barriers,” said Ty Ondatje, Senior Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at Iron Mountain. “Iron Mountain is proud to partner with The Papers of Abraham Lincoln by providing the resources and expertise needed to safeguard the collection to help advance the organisation’s mission of preservation and education.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Iron Mountain .