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Frank and Virginia Williams of Rhode Island gift extraordinary Lincoln and Civil War Collection to 幺力视频

Frank and Virginia Williams of Rhode Island gift extraordinary Lincoln and Civil War Collection to 幺力视频

Contact: Allison Matthews

Former Rhode Island Chief Justice Frank J. Williams, a nationally known Abraham Lincoln authority, along with his wife Mrs. Virginia Williams, will donate an unparalleled private Abraham Lincoln and Civil War collection the couple has amassed over the past 50 years to 幺力视频.

STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜n unparalleled private Lincoln and Civil War collection amassed over the past 50 years by former Rhode Island Chief Justice鈥攁nd nationally known Abraham Lincoln authority鈥擣rank J. Williams will be donated to 幺力视频.

MSU President Mark E. Keenum and Judge Williams today [June 20] announced the extraordinary gift that Keenum said will transform MSU into one of the nation鈥檚 leading destinations for scholars and students of the American Civil War.聽

Williams, the longtime president of the Ulysses S. Grant Association, was previously instrumental in relocating that group and its own archives鈥攏ow the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library鈥攖o MSU nine years ago. By donating his extraordinary Lincoln collection, Williams has also helped elevate MSU into a presidential research center of national prominence.

Considered the nation鈥檚 largest privately owned holding of Lincoln research and display material, as well as the country鈥檚 most comprehensive privately owned Lincoln and Civil War library, the Frank J. and Virginia Williams Collection boasts rare historical memorabilia; priceless artifacts; original, signed documents; ephemera; books published over a span of 150 years; and both original one-of-a-kind, and early mass-produced, artwork relating to Lincoln and the Civil War era.聽

The collection, which Judge and Mrs. Williams will officially gift to the 幺力视频 Libraries, has been valued at nearly $3 million.

Committing themselves to providing perpetual support to maintain, study and publicly display highlights from the collection, the Williamses have also offered a promised gift of $500,000 for the creation of the Frank J. and Virginia Williams Research Fund鈥攁n endowment to 幺力视频 to curate the material in the years to come. 聽

Additionally, the Williamses have pledged to fund a new, annual Frank and Virginia Williams Lecture in Lincoln and Civil War Studies at 幺力视频. And in an extraordinary gesture, they will continue to make acquisitions to add to the collection at MSU.

鈥滅哿κ悠 is immensely proud to receive the Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana, a truly unique and comprehensive collection that provides unprecedented insight into the life and times of our 16th president and the Civil War era,鈥 Keenum said. 鈥淲ith this incredibly generous donation and their guiding hand in bringing what has become the U.S. Grant Presidential Library to our campus, the Williamses have made MSU one of the nation鈥檚 foremost repositories for research into this pivotal period in our nation鈥檚 history.鈥

Williams said, 鈥淎s a longtime supporter of the Ulysses S. Grant Association鈥攚hich I am so proud to say is now permanently housed at MSU鈥擨 believe the college is the perfect repository for the material that my wife and I have spent a lifetime gathering, preserving, studying and making available on request to research scholars among our countless friends in the Lincoln world.聽 MSU鈥檚 commitment to the study of Grant, the Civil War鈥攁nd, now, Abraham Lincoln鈥攊n the heart of the Deep South takes us a giant step forward in our ever-challenging quest for civility, common purpose and national unity.聽

鈥淲hen we brought Grant to Mississippi, some doubters scoffed that neither Civil War scholars nor a Southern campus would welcome the change. But the reverse has been true. I feel privileged to have the opportunity now to invite Grant鈥檚 commander-in-chief to join his most famous general on a campus that is so manifestly committed to scholarship, research and interpretation of this historical period and its greatest figures,鈥 he said.

Williams has notched a long and acclaimed career in Lincoln studies and organizational leadership. He has served as president of the Lincoln Group of Boston, the Abraham Lincoln Association, and for the past 21 years, as founding chairman of The Lincoln Forum, a national organization that hosts an annual November symposium at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. As president of the Grant Association, Williams spearheaded the successful negotiation to bring the Grant papers to MSU in 2008 from their former home at Southern Illinois University. In 2012, the Ulysses S. Grant Association designated the holdings at MSU as the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library.

The Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana comprises more than 17,000 items, including artifacts, photographs, statues, paintings, popular prints, broadsides, philately, collectibles and miniatures, as well as numismatics. Nearly 100 original manuscripts and the entire, legendary Claude Simmons collection, which consists of a dozen bankers鈥 boxes of Lincoln-related materials and scrapbooks, also is included.聽 In addition, the gift includes some 12,000 published volumes (many of them exceptionally rare), separated into two collections: the Lincoln Book and Pamphlet Collection and the Civil War/Collateral Book and Pamphlet Collection, comprehensively covering historical writing on the Civil War era from 1860 to the present, and including nearly every title ever published on Lincoln.

Williams, 76, said he began his Lincolniana collection as a sixth-grade student in his native Rhode Island. 鈥淚 used my lunch money鈥攁ll 25 cents a day鈥攖o buy used Lincoln books. That鈥檚 how I started collecting,鈥 Williams said. 鈥淲ith the encouragement and help of Virginia, this passion has never abated.鈥

His early interest in Lincoln, sparked by daily exposure to a portrait of the 16th president hanging in his Rhode Island classroom, evolved into a deep admiration of the 19th century鈥檚 most prominent historical figure and also inspired Williams to follow in Lincoln鈥檚 footsteps and pursue a career in law. 聽Lincoln鈥檚 legacy remains inspirational, he said, 鈥渂ecause of his exemplary character, his strong leadership in crisis, his unwavering political courage, and the fact that he trusted his own judgment, even after he made mistakes, which we all do.聽 Lincoln continues to be ranked by historians as our greatest-ever president, and he should continue to be studied and appreciated in the future.鈥

Asked to name his best-loved Lincoln artifact, Williams emphasized that while he has been able over time to acquire more and more precious items, 鈥渋t鈥檚 really difficult to put a finger on one particular favorite, when you are entrusted with, and love, so many of them.鈥

He said that among his most treasured pieces are a first edition, first printing of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates, signed by Lincoln as President in 1863, as well as a full-length Lincoln portrait by James Montgomery Flagg, creator of the iconic Uncle Sam 鈥淚 Want You鈥 military recruiting posters for both World Wars. Also among the most prized items is an early copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, printed in miniature for distribution by Union soldiers in the South. Williams said that although many copies were printed during the Civil War, very few have survived. Single copies are valued at up to $20,000. Among the statuary to be donated are superb early casts of the Lincoln busts from life by Leonard Wells Volk (1860) and Thomas Dow Jones (1861).聽

Williams is a graduate of Boston University and Boston University Law School, and earned a Master of Taxation degree from Bryant University. A longtime jurist in the Rhode Island court system, he served on the state鈥檚 Superior Court beginning in 1995 before ascending to the Supreme Court bench in 2001, serving as chief justice until his retirement in 2009. A veteran of the U.S. Army, he served three years in Germany and one year in Vietnam, for which he was highly decorated by both the U.S. and the Republic of Vietnam. He was appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review, the military appeals court responsible for adjudicating detainment cases in Guantanamo, and served as its Chief Judge from 2007 to 2009.

Virginia Williams is a Texas native and graduate of North Texas State University. She served as a teacher overseas for the U.S. Department of Defense, and met her husband during their mutual time in military service. She was a kindergarten teacher in the Cranston, Rhode Island, public schools for nearly three decades, and has been deeply involved with The Lincoln Forum since its inception.

Frank J. Williams is also an acclaimed author whose books include 鈥淭he Emancipation Proclamation: Three Views鈥 (with Edna Greene Medford and Harold Holzer; Louisiana State University Press, 2006); 鈥淛udging Lincoln鈥 (Southern Illinois University Press, 2007); and, with William D. Pederson and featuring a chapter by MSU Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History John F. Marszalek, 鈥淟incoln Lessons: Reflections on America鈥檚 Greatest Leaders鈥 (Southern Illinois University Press, 2009). His most recent book is 鈥淟incoln as Hero鈥 (Southern Illinois University Press, 2012), and he is currently at work on a companion volume, 鈥淕rant as Hero.

A popular lecturer, Williams not only speaks semi-annually at The Lincoln Forum, but appears as well at Civil War Round Tables, Lincoln Groups, college campuses, and other organizations, writes often for magazines and newspapers, and teaches at both the Roger Williams School of Law and the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

In 2006, MSU鈥檚 Pre-Law Society awarded Williams its prestigious Distinguished Jurist Award, and in 2011, Williams gave 幺力视频鈥檚 fall commencement address. He told graduates that young leaders of America, 鈥渁re charged with an important duty 鈥 the preservation of democracy.鈥澛 He is also the winner of the Illinois Order of Lincoln, that state鈥檚 highest honor, presented during the bicentennial year of 2009. Williams served as well on both the national U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (appointed by then-Mississippi Senator Trent Lott in his role as Senate Majority Leader), and as a board member of its successor organization, the Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation.聽

At MSU, the Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana will be housed in the new $10 million addition to Mitchell Memorial Library, scheduled to open later this year.聽 More than 100 items from the collection will be showcased in a nearly 1,200-square-foot gallery, organized around themes such as family, politics, the law, the presidency, the Civil War, slavery, assassination, and Lincoln in popular culture. The new space will be designated as the gallery for 鈥淭he Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana.鈥澛 The library addition will also house the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, the Ulysses S. Grant Association, and the Congressional and Political Research Center.

鈥淭he 幺力视频 Library is indebted to Frank and Virginia Williams for entrusting this unique and precious collection of Lincolniana to our care,鈥 said MSU Dean of Libraries Frances Coleman.聽 鈥淥ur goal is to display its great treasures on a rotating basis while making the entire archive available to researchers throughout the world by cataloging each piece, digitizing the unique materials, and developing a website for the collection.鈥

John Marszalek, who in addition to being an MSU professor emeritus serves as executive director and managing editor for the Ulysses S. Grant Association and the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, said Williams is one of the nation鈥檚 leading Lincoln scholars and his collection is the best private collection in the nation.

Marszalek emphasized, 鈥淭his donation of this priceless material to MSU, when linked to our marvelous Ulysses S. Grant collection, will make MSU and the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library a true national center for the study of the American Civil War.鈥

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