Abraham Lincoln and John Hay

Brown University holds one of the foremost collections of Lincolniana, comprising 30,000+ items in various media of materials by and about the 16th president, and about the historical and political context of his life and career. The nucleus of the collection was acquired for Brown in 1923 when John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (Class of 1897) purchased the Hugh McLellan Collection, then one of the leading Lincolniana collections in the world.  

Mr. Rockefeller also outfitted a special room to house the collection in Brown’s new library building, named for Lincoln’s secretary and biographer John Hay (Class of 1858) and at the time regarded as Brown’s most illustrious graduate. In the ensuing years, further acquisitions have expanded the collection to more than five times its original size, and the original Lincoln Room expanded into adjacent space.