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 The donation was formally presented Tuesday, Masters’ birthday.
It represents a major expansion of the ALPLM’s holdings related to
the prairie poets – Masters, Carl Sandburg and Vachel Lindsay.
“We’re best known for our Lincoln collection, of course, but the
presidential library also contains millions of items documenting 200
years of Illinois history,” said Alan Lowe, executive director of
the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. “We’re honored
to improve our Illinois collection with the addition of these papers
and photos from an important Illinois author.”
Masters Home and Museum President Kathy Olesen and board member
Bobbie Lipsky said the collection is being donated because the
presidential library can ensure it is preserved and shared with more
people. Other Masters documents and artifacts remain at the museum,
located at the corner of 8th and Jackson in Petersburg, Ill.
 “This is only the beginning of a new partnership between the Masters
House Museum and the ALPLM that will continue as new items arrive,”
Olesen and Lipsky said.
Masters grew up in Petersburg and Lewistown in central Illinois. The
people and places he knew there became fodder for “Spoon River
Anthology,” which used fictional epitaphs to tell the often dark
stories of a small town.
Masters published many other volumes of poetry and essays, as well
as several biographies. One biography, “Lincoln: The Man,” was
harshly critical of the 16th president.
“Given his central Illinois roots, I trust that Mr. Masters would be
thrilled by having this collection of papers housed at what was once
the Illinois State Historical Library. He admired the institution
and donated several personal items in his lifetime,” said Ian Hunt,
the presidential library’s chief of acquisitions and research.
One of those earlier donations, a death mask of Masters’ father,
will be included in a new ALPLM exhibit this fall. The historical
library, which began documenting the state’s heritage in 1889,
became a part of the Lincoln Presidential Library in 2004.
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The new donation includes hundreds of items: an 1834 letter by Masters’
grandfather, pictures of his family, complaints about his declining finances and
much more. ALPLM staff will catalog the contents over the next few months,
giving scholars a better sense of what information awaits their study.
One such scholar is Jason Stacy, a history professor at Southern Illinois
University Edwardsville, who is beginning a research project on Masters and the
Midwest.
“This is a major acquisition for the ALPLM, coming as it does on the heels of
the 100th anniversary of the publication of ‘Spoon River Anthology.’ Lately,
there has been renewed interested in Midwestern history and culture,” Stacy
said. “This collection will encourage scholars to revisit Edgar Lee Masters as a
Midwestern poet whose work was profoundly shaped by the region Lincoln loved."
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, a division of the Illinois
Historic Preservation Agency, holds an unparalleled collection of Lincoln
documents, photographs, artifacts and art. It uses that collection, modern
technology and traditional story-telling to connect visitors to the 16th
president. Learn more at
www.PresidentLincoln.illinois.gov.
[Shanta Thoele
Executive Secretary
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library]
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-Lincoln-IL/2801474193)
