Paul M. Angle collection about Lincoln forgeries

Paul M. Angle collection about Lincoln forgeries, 1928-1929.

Angle, Paul McClelland, 1900-1975, collector.

Descriptive Inventory for the Collection at Chicago History Museum, Research Center

By Margaret Scriven, 1962; rev. 2013

Please address questions to:

Chicago History Museum, Research Center

1601 North Clark Street

Chicago, IL 60614-6038

Web-site: http://www.chicagohistory.org/research

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Title: Paul M. Angle collection about Lincoln forgeries [manuscript], 1928-1929

Main entry: Angle, Paul M. (Paul McClelland), 1900-1975, collector.

Inclusive dates: 1928-1929

Size:

ca. 200 items

Access: The collection is open for research use.

Provenance statement: Gift of Paul M. Angle in 1952.

Terms governing use: Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Please cite this collection as: Paul M. Angle collection about Lincoln forgeries (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.

This descriptive inventory contains the following sections:

Biographical note,

Summary description of the collection,

Description of some material related to the collection,

List of online catalog headings about the collection,

Biographical note:

Paul M. Angle (1900-1975), historian and author, was secretary of the Abraham Lincoln Association (1925-1932), staff member of the Illinois State Historical Society (1932-1945), and director of the Chicago Historical Society (1945-1965), which also became known as Chicago History Museum in 2006. Angle was an Abraham Lincoln scholar and wrote several books on Lincoln and Illinois history, including The Lincoln Reader (1947), Bloody Williamson: A Chapter in American Lawlessness (1952), and 'Here I Have Lived': A History of Lincoln's Springfield, 1821-1865 (1971).

Summary description of the collection:

Correspondence relating to Angle's investigation of purported Abraham Lincoln-Ann Rutledge letters and his proof that they were forgeries. The forged letters, allegedly written in New Salem, Illinois, in the 1830s, were incorporated by Wilma Frances Minor into a manuscript called "Lincoln the Lover" and published in the Atlantic Monthly (v. 142, no. 6, Dec., 1928; v. 143, nos. 1 & 2, Jan. & Feb., 1929). A diary kept by Matilda Cameron, cousin to Ann Rutledge, and memoranda by one Sally Calhoun, also were owned by Mrs. Wilma Frances Minor, a journalist, of San Diego, California. Topics of the Angle collection are a variety of methods of historical criticism. Correspondents include Oliver Roger Barrett, William Eleazar Barton, Worthington Chauncey Ford, Ferris Greenslet, Helen Nicolay, Joseph Benjamin Oakleaf, Milo M. Quaife, Ellery Sedgwick, Ida Minerva Tarbell, William Henry Townsend, Louis Austin Warren, Edward Weeks, and Marjorie Brown Wright.

Three installments of the Minor articles were published before the Atlantic Monthly editors were persuaded that the quoted material was not genuine. Mrs. Minor withdrew the manuscript and wrote that she had acted in good faith. The Atlantic Monthly made an extensive search for the forger, but never revealed the result of the investigation according to Mr. Angle.

The publication of "Lincoln the Lover" created a minor furor among Lincoln scholars and collectors, and many of them jumped into the fray. Some of the correspondents in the Angle collection are listed below (Carl Sandburg, who "authenticated" the documents, is not represented.)

Oliver R. Barrett (lawyer & collector)

William E. Barton (minister & authority on Lincoln)

Worthington D. Ford (Massachusetts Historical Society)

Ferris Greenslet (Houghton Mifflin Co.

Helen Nicolay (author)

Joseph Benjamin Oakleaf (Lincoln collector & bibliographer)

Milo M. Quaife (historian)

Ellery Sedgwick (editor, Atlantic Monthly):

Ida M. Tarbell (author)

William H. Townsend (lawyer & author)

Louis A. Warren (Lincoln Historical Research Foundation)

Edward Weeks (Atlantic Monthly)

Marjorie Brown Wright (Huntington Library)

Mr. Angle's article, "The Minor Collection: A Criticism," published in the Atlantic Monthly (v. 143, no. 4, Apr. 1929) has been used in textbooks as an example of historical detection.

Description of some material related to the collection:

Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include a separate collection with the title: "Lincoln the lover [being a collection of manuscripts supposed to have been recently discovered, on Lincoln's love affair with Ann Rutledge] : three numbers of Atlantic Monthly December, 1928, January and February, 1929," containing the three articles by Wilma Frances Minor plus Angle's "The Minor Collection: A Criticism," published in the Atlantic Monthly (v. 143, no. 4, Apr. 1929). The call number is E457.3 .M66.

A published commentary on the investigation is The Minor affair : an adventure in forgery and detection / Don E. Fehrenbacher (The second annual R. Gerald McMurtry lecture delivered at the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, Fort Wayne, Ind., 1979). The call number is E457.3 .F3 1979.

There are several other manuscript collections containing Paul Angle's writings in the collection of Chicago History Museum.

List of online catalog headings about the collection:

The following headings were placed in the online catalog.

Subjects:

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Friends and associates.

Minor, Wilma Frances. Lincoln the lover.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Sources.

Rutledge, Ann, -1835.

Minor, Wilma Frances.

Angle, Paul M. (Paul McClelland), 1900-1975--Archives.

Atlantic monthly.

Forgery of manuscripts--United States--20th century.

New Salem (Menard County, Ill.)--History.

Illinois--Intellectual life--20th century.

Form/genre:

Correspondence.

Added entries:

Barton, William Eleazar, 1861-1930.

Barrett, Oliver R. (Oliver Roger), 1873-1950.

Ford, Worthington Chauncey, 1858-1941.

Greenslet, Ferris, 1875-1959.

Nicolay, Helen, 1866-1954.

Oakleaf, Joseph Benjamin, 1858-1930.

Quaife, Milo Milton, 1880-1959.

Sedgwick, Ellery, 1872-1960.

Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva), 1857-1944.

Townsend, William H. (William Henry), 1890-1964.

Warren, Louis Austin, 1885-1983.

Weeks, Edward, 1898-1989.

Wright, Marjorie Brown.

United States--Illinois.

List of old headings used in the Manuscripts Card Catalog:

1. Forgery of Manuscripts

2. Lincoln, Abraham, Pres. U.S., 1809-1865. Forgeries

3. Rutledge, Ann. d. 1855. Forgeries

4. Minor, Wilma Frances

5. Atlantic Monthly

Analytics

I. Barrett, Oliver Roger, 1873-1950

II. Barton, William Eleazer, 1861-1930

III. Ford, Worthington Chauncey, 1858-1941

IV. Greenslet, Ferris, 1875-1959

V. Nicolay, Helen, 1866-

VI. Oakleaf, Joseph Benjamin, 1858-1930

VII. Quaife, Milo Milton, 1880-1959

VIII. Sedgwick, Ellery, 1872-

IX. Tarbell, Ida Minerva, 1857-1944

X. Townsend, William Henry, 1890-

XI. Warren, Louis Austin, 1885-

XII. Weeks, Edward Augustus, 1898-

XIII. Wright, Marjorie Brown