The digitized content of the Harlan Hoyt Horner and Henrietta Calhoun Horner Papers consists of bound scrapbooks compiled by Henrietta Calhoun Horner. These scrapbooks focus on articles and scholarship related to Abraham Lincoln, and their pages include newspaper and magazine clippings, book reviews, and other ephemera with Lincoln as the subject.

Harlan Hoyt Horner and Henrietta Calhoun Horner graduated from the University of Illinois in 1901. As avid Lincoln scholars, the Horners aspired to collect every title listed in James Jay Monaghan’s Lincoln Bibliography, 1839-1939 and amassed a large personal collection of Lincoln-related texts. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of their graduation, in 1951, the Horners donated their extensive personal library of Lincoln-related books and research and created an endowment to support its continued preservation and growth. This donation became the nucleus of the Lincoln Room, the predecessor to the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections. Along with the Horner personal library, the donation included 26 volumes of Lincoln scrapbooks, created by Henrietta Calhoun Horner prior to 1953. The materials within the scrapbook are derived from many different newspapers and other publications dated between 1932 and 1953.

The digitized content contains a series of scrapbooks compiled by Henrietta Calhoun Horner documenting Abraham Lincoln’s life and legacy. Scrapbook pages feature political cartoons, interviews providing recollections of Lincoln throughout his life and career, announcements and reviews of Lincoln biographies, and other works detailing his life. Each scrapbook contains its own index, handwritten by Henrietta Calhoun Horner.

The Illinois History and Lincoln Collections unit at the University of Illinois Library manages the physical items of the Harlan Hoyt Horner and Henrietta Calhoun Horner Papers (MS 1200). The collection was partially digitized in 2025. For more information, contact an archivist at ihlc@library.illinois.edu.