I meant to post a link to this a while back, but back in July the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum announced that Abraham Lincoln’s writing had been found on papers carried by the Donner Party. Apparently James Reed, one of the organizers of the Donner Party, lived in Springfield Illinois and served with Lincoln in the Black Hawk War. Reed carried the muster rolls, which include a coupe of lines in Lincoln’s hand, with him en route to California. More info can be found at CNN and a hat-tip to the Abraham Lincoln Blog for putting me on to this story. To bring this back to the Rosenbach, you can check out the Rosenbach’s Lincoln holdings on our Manuscripts Online site and find out more about the Donner Party in our current Westward Ho! exhibit. Now all we need is to find a long-lost photo of Lincoln in a cowboy hat…
