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Collection John G. Nicolay Papers

Related Resources

Selected Archival Resources

For Library of Congress collections, please click on the catalog record links for a fuller description and additional links to available online finding aids, indexes, and digital collections.

  • Simon Cameron Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Jesse W. Fell Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Lucretia Rudolph Garfield Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Horace Greeley Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • John Hay Papers, John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts, Brown University, Providence, R.I. Collection finding aid External available online. A finding aid to the microfilm edition External of the collection is also available online.
  • John Hay Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • John Milton Hay Letters to the Editors of the Century Magazine, 1880-1904, Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. Catalog record available online External.
  • John Milton Hay Papers. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Ill. Collection description available online External.
  • Herndon-Weik Collection of Lincolniana, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Joseph Holt Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Abraham Lincoln Appointment Book, 1861, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Abraham Lincoln Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Robert Todd Lincoln Letterpress Volumes, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Ill. Catalog record available online External.
  • Literary Society of Washington (Washington, D.C.) Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • William McKinley Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • David C. Mearns Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Helen Nicolay papers, 1871-1954, Collection 01968, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. Catalog record available online External through the Rocky Mountain Online Archive. Guide available online External in PDF format.
  • John G. Nicolay and John Hay Papers, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Ill. Catalog record available online External.
  • Nicolay Collection, Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Ind. Information on the collection is available on the collection homepage External, and many items are available online. Finding aid available online through Internet Archive External.
  • Read Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Samuel Davis Sturgis Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Evelyn Wadsworth Symington Collection of John Hay Material, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Morrison R. Waite Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.

Selected Writings by or Associated with John G. Nicolay

[See also "Excerpts of John G. Nicolay and John Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History, serialized in the Century Magazine (November 1886-February 1890)" in following section.]

  • Lincoln, Abraham. Complete Works: Comprising His Speeches, Letters, State Papers, and Miscellaneous Writings. 2 vols. Edited by John G. Nicolay and John Hay. New York: Century Co., 1894. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.   This title has been reprinted multiple times and in different editions. Please consult the Library of Congress online catalog for more information on these editions.
  • Nicolay, John G. Abraham Lincoln. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1882. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External and Internet Archive.
  • Nicolay, John G. "Lincoln's Gettysburg Address." Century Magazine 47, no. 4 (February 1894), 596-608. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Nicolay, John G. "Lincoln's Literary Experiments." Century Magazine 47, no. 6 (April 1894): 823-832. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Nicolay, John G. "Lincoln's Personal Appearance." Century Magazine 42, no. 6 (October 1891): 932-938. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Nicolay, John G. Lincoln's Secretary Goes West: Two Reports, by John G. Nicolay on Frontier Indian Troubles, 1862. Edited by Theodore C. Blegen. La Crosse, Wisc.: Sumac Press, 1965. LC catalog record.
  • Nicolay, John G. An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln: John G. Nicolay's Interviews and Essays. Edited by Michael Burlingame. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1996. LC catalog record.
  • Nicolay, John G. The Outbreak of Rebellion. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1881. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External. This title has been reprinted multiple times and in different editions. Please consult the Library of Congress online catalog for more information on these editions.
  • Nicolay, John G. A Rich Collection of Books and Pamphlets Mainly of the Civil War Period; Being a Portion of the Private Library of the Late Col. John G. Nicolay (Washington, D.C.) for Sale at Auction ... January 6, 1905. New York: Anderson Auction Company, 1905. LC catalog record. Helen Nicolay's copy of the catalogue is available online in the John G. Nicolay Papers.
  • Nicolay, John G. A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Century Co., 1902. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External. This title has been reprinted multiple times and in different editions. Please consult the Library of Congress online catalog for more information on these editions.
  • Nicolay, John G. "Thomas Jefferson's Home." Century Magazine 34, no. 5 (September 1887): 643-653. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Nicolay, John G. With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and Other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865. Edited by Michael Burlingame. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2000. LC catalog record.
  • Nicolay, John G., and John Hay. Abraham Lincoln: A History. New York: Century Co., 1890. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External. This title has been reprinted multiple times and in different editions. Please consult the Library of Congress online catalog for more information on these editions.
  • Nicolay, John G., and John Hay. Abraham Lincoln: The Observations of John G. Nicolay and John Hay. Edited by Michael Burlingame. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2007. LC catalog record.

Excerpts of John G. Nicolay and John Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History, serialized in The Century Magazine (November 1886-February 1890)

  • "The Advance-Military Emancipation." 36, no. 2 (June 1888): 281-305. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Announcement of Emancipation." 37, no. 3 (January 1889): 427-447. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Attack on Sumner, and the Dred Scott Case." 34, no. 2 (June 1887): 203-219. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Blair's Mexican Project – The Hampton Roads Conference – The XIIIth Amendment." 38, no. 6 (October 1889): 838-856. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Border Conflict." 34, no. 1 (May 1887): 82-110. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Border States." 36, no. 1 (May 1888): 56-77. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Cabinet Changes – Lincoln Reëlected – Chase as Chief-Justice." 38, no. 5 (September 1889): 687-707. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Call to Arms." 35, no. 5 (March 1888): 707-723. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Capture of Jefferson Davis – The End of Rebellion – Lincoln's Fame." 39, no. 4 (February 1890): 561-576. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Chicago Surrender – Conspiracies in the North – Lincoln and the Churches." 38, no. 4 (August 1889): 546-568. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Edict of Freedom." 37, no. 5 (March 1889): 689-704. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Fall of the Rebel Capital – Lincoln in Richmond." 39, no. 2 (December 1889): 305-313. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "First Plans for Emancipation." 37, no. 2 (December 1888): 276-294. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Formation of the Cabinet." 35, no. 3 (January 1888): 419-436. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Fourteenth of April – The Fate of the Assassins – The Mourning Pageant." 39, no. 3 (January 1890): 428-443. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Jackson's Valley Campaign, and the Seven Days' Battles." 37, no. 1 (November 1888): 130-148. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Lincoln and McClellan." 36, no. 3 (July 1888): 393-416. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Lincoln as Pioneer." 33, no. 1 (November 1886): 6-37. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Lincoln as Soldier, Surveyor, and Politician." 33, no. 2 (December 1886): 250-278. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Lincoln in Congress." 33, no. 4 (February 1887): 515-543. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Lincoln in Springfield-Campaign of 1844," 33, no. 3 (January 1887): 366-396. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Lincoln Renominated – The Wade-Davis Manifesto – Horace Greeley's Peace Mission." 38, no. 3 (July 1889): 406-426. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Lincoln-Douglas Debates." 34, no. 3 (July 1887): 369-396. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Lincoln's Cooper Institute Speech, and Other Political Events of 1859-60." 34, no. 4 (August 1887): 509-534. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Lincoln's Inauguration." 35, no. 2 (December 1887): 265-284. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Lincoln's Nomination and Election." 34, no. 5 (September 1887): 658-684. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Mississippi and Shiloh." 36, no. 5 (September 1888): 658-678. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Movement for Slavery Extension." 33, no. 5 (March 1887): 685-706. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The National Uprising." 35, no. 6 (April 1888): 898-922. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Plans of Campaign." 36, no. 6 (October 1888): 912-933. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Pomeroy Circular – The Cleveland Convention – The Resignation of Chase." 38, no. 2 (June 1889): 278-298. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Premier or President?" 35, no. 4 (February 1888): 599-616. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The President and the Draft – Vallandigham – The Peace Party at the Polls." 38, no. 1 (May 1889): 123-148. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The President-Elect at Springfield." 35, no. 1 (November 1887): 64-87. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Removal of McClellan–Financial Measures–Seward and Chase." 37, no. 4 (February 1889): 546-565. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Retaliation–The Enrollment and the Draft." 37, no. 6 (April 1889): 917-932. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Secession Movement." 34, no. 6 (October 1887): 819-850. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Second Inaugural – Five Forks – Appomattox." 39, no. 1 (November 1889): 132-151. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "Tennessee and Kentucky." 36, no. 4 (August 1888): 562-583. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • "The Territorial Experiment." 33, no. 6 (April 1887): 857-884. Available online through HathiTrust External.

Selected Related Resources

  • Bullock, Helen Duprey. "The Papers of John G. Nicolay, Lincoln's Secretary." Library of Congress Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions 7, no. 3 (May 1950): 3-8. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Burlingame, Michael. "Nicolay and Hay: Court Historians." Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 19, no. 1 (1998): 1-20. LC catalog record. Available online through the University of Michigan Library.
  • Carden, Allen, and Thomas J. Ebert. John George Nicolay: The Man in Lincoln's Shadow. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 2019. LC catalog record.
  • Chronicling America, digitized historic American newspapers, available online.
  • Conroy, James B. Lincoln's White House: The People's House in Wartime. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. LC catalog record.
  • Crook, W. H. Through Five Administrations; Reminiscences of Colonel William H. Crook, Body-guard to President Lincoln. Edited by Margarita Spalding Gerry. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1910. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Donald, David Herbert. "We are Lincoln Men": Abraham Lincoln and His Friends. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. LC catalog record.
  • Emerson, Jason. Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2012. LC catalog record.
  • Epstein, Daniel Mark. Lincoln's Men: The President and His Private Secretaries. New York: Smithsonian Books and Collins, 2009. LC catalog record.
  • Fischer, Louis. "Lincoln's 1858 Visit to Pittsfield, Illinois." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 61, no. 3 (Autumn 1968): 350-364. LC catalog record.
  • Goff, John S. Robert Todd Lincoln: A Man in His Own Right. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968. LC catalog record.
  • Hay, John. An Idler: John Hay's Social and Aesthetic Commentaries for the Press during the Civil War, 1861-1865. Edited by Douglas Warren Hill. Bethesda, Md.: Academica Press, 2006. LC catalog record.
  • Hay, John. At Lincoln's Side: John Hay's Civil War Correspondence and Selected Writings. Edited by Michael Burlingame. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2000. LC catalog record.
  • Hay, John. Inside Lincoln's White House: The Complete Civil War Diary of John Hay. Edited by Michael Burlingame and John R. Turner Ettlinger. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1997. LC catalog record.
  • Hay, John. Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and Letters of John Hay. Selected by Tyler Dennett. Westport, Conn.: Negro Universities Press, 1939, 1972. LC catalog record. Reprint, New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press, 1988. LC catalog record.
  • Hay, John. Lincoln's Journalist: John Hay's Anonymous Writings for the Press, 1860-1864. Edited by Michael Burlingame. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1998. LC catalog record.
  • John, Arthur. The Best Years of the Century: Richard Watson Gilder, Scribner's Monthly, and the Century Magazine, 1870-1909. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981. LC catalog record.
  • Johnson, Martin P. "Who Stole the Gettysburg Address?" Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 24, no. 2 (2003): 1-19. LC catalog record. Available online External through the University of Michigan Library.
  • Lincoln, Abraham. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Edited by Roy P. Basler. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953-1955. LC catalog record. Available online courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Association.
  • Maguire, Ann Marie, and John Maguire. Lincoln's Secretary's Secretary: Helen Nicolay, Artist and Author. Swan's Island, Me.: Island Verse, 2017. WorldCat catalog record.
  • Mearns, David C. The Lincoln Papers: The Story of the Collection, with Selections to July 4, 1861. 2 vols. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1948. LC catalog record.
  • Nicolay, Helen. "Characteristic Anecdotes of Lincoln: From Unpublished Notes of His Private Secretary, John G. Nicolay." Century Magazine 84, no. 5 (September 1912): 697-703. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Nicolay, Helen. Lincoln's Secretary: A Biography of John G. Nicolay. New York: Longmans, Green, 1949. LC catalog record. Reprint, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1971. LC catalog record.
  • Nicolay, Helen. "The Writing of 'Abraham Lincoln: A History.'" Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 42, no. 3 (1949): 259-271. LC catalog record.
  • Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Available online. The site offers a number of photographs and illustrations of or including John G. Nicolay.
  • Seale, William. The President's House: A History. Washington, D.C.: White House Historical Association with the cooperation of the National Geographic Society, 1986. LC catalog record. Second edition, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with White House Historical Association, 2008. LC catalog record.
  • Sellers, John R. "Serving President Lincoln: The Public Career of John G. Nicolay." In Lincoln Reshapes the Presidency, edited by Charles M. Hubbard, pages 52-64. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2003. LC catalog record.
  • Stoddard, William Osborn. Inside the White House in War Times: Memoirs and Reports of Lincoln's Secretary. Edited by Michael Burlingame. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. LC catalog record.
  • Stoddard, William Osborn. Lincoln's White House Secretary: The Adventurous Life of William O. Stoddard. Edited by Harold Holzer. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2007. LC catalog record.
  • Swimm, Katherine Lynn. "In Lincoln's Shadow: John George Nicolay, Private Secretary." Ph.D. dissertation. University of Mississippi, 2002.
  • Taliaferro, John. All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013. LC catalog record.
  • Thayer, William Roscoe. The Life and Letters of John Hay. 2 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1915. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External and Internet Archive. Reprint, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1929. LC catalog record.
  • Thomas, Benjamin P. Portrait for Posterity: Lincoln and His Biographers. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1947. LC catalog record. Reprint, Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1972. LC catalog record.
  • Wilson, Bonnie, and Richard Moe. "Secretary Nicolay's Souvenir Album, 1862." Minnesota History 58, no. 7 (2003): 368-372. LC catalog record.
  • Wilson, Douglas L., and Rodney O. Davis, eds. Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998. LC catalog record.
  • Zeitz, Joshua. Lincoln's Boys: John Hay, John Nicolay, and the War for Lincoln's Image. New York: Viking, 2014. LC catalog record.

Created July 2019