The Lincoln Club of Delaware was founded in 1929 as an informal gathering of Lincoln admirers who met yearly for a dinner program celebrating the anniversary of Lincoln's birthday. In 1938, Lincoln Club founding member Frank G. Tallman gave his extensive collection of over 2,000 items related to Lincoln to the public library, and a committee of the Lincoln Club was formed to catalog and care for the collection. Tallman's collection included books, pamphlets, photographs, art, artifacts, and historical documents. The Lincoln Club cared for the Tallman collection at the Wilmington Institute Free Library where it was housed until 1972. In that year, the Club donated the collection to the University of Delaware and relocated the collection to the University's Goodstay Center in Wilmington. In 1998, the collection was transferred to the University of Delaware campus for better security and improved access for research and exhibitions.
Grier, Albert O.H. and Harold Brayman. A History of the Lincoln Club of Delaware . [Wilmington?]: Lincoln Club of Delaware, 1970.
From the guide to the Abraham Lincoln collection, 1841-1996, 1862-1868, 1920-1977, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)
