Cornell University Library is celebrating the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth with events and a new exhibition opening Oct. 20 in Carl A. Kroch Library.

"The Lincoln Presidency: Last Full Measure of Devotion" will be on display through April 16, 2010. The exhibition features a selection of Lincoln and Civil War-era treasures from the library's collections including letters, photographs, memorabilia and original manuscripts, notably a copy of the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln's hand and manuscripts of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, signed by Lincoln and members of Congress to officially abolish slavery; and Civil War scrapbooks compiled by Cornell co-founder Andrew Dickson White. Additional items are gifts from Gail '56 and Stephen Rudin and on loan from Stephan M. Loewentheil, J.D. '75.

Cornell's copy of the Gettysburg Address -- written by Lincoln in response to a request from historian George Bancroft, who was seeking to raise funds for Union soldiers -- is one of five known manuscript copies in existence of the famous speech and the only one held by a private institution. It was later owned by Cornell chemistry professor Wilder Bancroft and was donated to Cornell in 1949 by Nicholas H. Noyes (Class of 1906) and Marguerite Lilly Noyes, as part of a historical Americana collection that included the signed 13th Amendment, Lincoln letters and other documents.

The original copy of the Gettysburg Address will be on display for the exhibition's first week, and a facsimile will be shown thereafter.

White, Cornell's first president and a historian, kept extensive scrapbooks of wartime memorabilia and ephemera.

"A.D. White was highly aware of the fact that Cornell was being founded at the time of the Civil War, so he collected everything he could find on the war for the benefit of students and future historians," said Katherine Reagan, the Ernest L. Stern Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, at a Literary Luncheon in September.

White's scrapbooks are labeled "Rebellion Miscellany" and include hospital slipper patterns, men's paper shirt collars, Confederate currency, war bonds, news reports of various battles, and a pocket-sized copy of the Emancipation Proclamation in pamphlet form, which was carried by both black and white soldiers.

"Items that are often thrown away can create an important archive for future historians to use, if preserved in a library," Reagan said.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James M. McPherson will give an opening lecture, "Stretching the Constitution: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief," Oct. 20 at 4:45 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. An opening reception will follow from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections' Samuel L. Hirshland Gallery, Kroch Library Level 2B.

"Music For Lincoln," Oct. 22 at 5:30 p.m. at the A.D. White House, features pianist Emily Green, Ph.D. '09, and baritone Tyler Herman '09 performing music from Lincoln's era and a new piece by Joseph Gregorio '01, with an integrated lecture by Margaret Washington, professor of history.

All events are free and open. Gallery hours during the exhibition's opening week are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 20-23 and Monday, Oct. 26; and 1-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24. For information, visit http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/lincoln/.

The exhibition is made possible by a grant from the Nicholas H. Noyes Jr. Memorial Foundation. The lecture is funded by a gift from Gail and Stephen Rudin.