The editors are deeply grateful to the individuals and institutions whose contributions and guidance were indispensable to the development of this collection and its magnificent presentation on these pages.
At the Library of Congress, we sincerely thank Aimee Hess, W. Ralph Eubanks, and Abigail Colodner of the Publishing Office. Helena Zinkham, Phil Michel, Sarah Duke, and Barbara O. Natanson and her staff helped immensely, as did scanners Dominic Sergi and Ronnie Hawkins. We are also thankful to the organizers of the exhibition that inspired this book: Kimberli Curry, Cheryl Ann Regan, and above all the institution’s peerless expert on the Library’s Lincoln collection, John R. Sellers.
Many individual staff aides, advisors, and counselors across the country helped facilitate our document commentaries. We want to express our debt in particular to: Gerald Rafshoon, Lauren Gay, Skip Rutherford, Bruce Lindsay, Hannah Richert, David Goldberg, Jean Becker, Tim Goeglein, Kevin Sullivan, Kristie Macosko, Pat Souders, Molly Rowley, Gloria Loomis, Marc Liepis, Rosemary Shields, Lori Glazer, Kraig Smith, Mary Porcelli, and James Cornelius.
The support of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission to the Library of Congress exhibition has been crucial, and we acknowledge Harold Holzer’s cochairmen, Senator Richard Durbin and Congressman Ray LaHood, and executive director Eileen Mackevich, as well as Jennifer Rosenfeld, David Early, and the rest of the ALBC staff.
Thanks also go to our colleagues at Washington College and The Metropolitan Museum of Art for their support. And loving gratitude to our family and friends. Joshua Wolf Shenk would especially like to thank Richard L. Shenk for his strength and grace through his own fiery trial, and to his many caregivers at the University of Louisville Hospital, the University of Cincinnati Hospital, the Drake Center, and the Craig Hospital.
To our inimitable contributors, who summoned their own literary vision to engage with Lincoln’s, we offer our admiration and profound appreciation.
Finally, we express special thanks to Martha Kaplan, for her help in arranging the project, and the team at Bantam Dell for bringing it to fruition, including designer Liney Li, Jessica Waters, Glen Edelstein, Kelly Chian, Maggie Hart, and above all our tireless and talented editor, John J. Flicker.
—H.H. and J.W.S.