How does a person get a job working with Abraham Lincoln’s official papers?

“Providence,” says Dr. Daniel Stowell, offering a Lincolnesque answer.

Stowell has been working with the Papers of Abraham Lincoln since 1996, where he is now director and editor of an audacious plan to scan and transcribe all documents written by or to Abraham Lincoln during his lifetime (1809-1865). We meet with Stowell in his office on the top floor of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill. The library and museum have been a busy place this year, with a full calendar of events celebrating the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth.

When we arrive, Daniel has arranged for us to visit what he calls “the holy of holies,” a vault containing about 1,600 documents in Lincoln’s own hand. We are ushered past the welcome desk into a spy-movie maze of security measures. Daniel introduces us to Dr. James Cornelius, curator for the Lincoln Collection, who takes us to a private elevator. Waving a pass card through an electronic reader, he invites us to visit part of the library that the public never sees. The elevator doors open to a subbasement, where we are directly confronted by another locked door, which opens to reveal . . . a large bank vault with a combination lock.

“Three people know the combination to this safe,” says Dr. Cornelius as he leans over and twirls the dial. “One of us always needs to be here when the building is open.” When he also mentions that the three archivists who know the combination are never allowed to travel on the same airplane, I look at him closely, but I can’t tell if he is kidding me or not. At any rate, security is a big deal here. The vault is earthquake proof, fireproof, and quite chilly-held to 64 degrees and 43 percent humidity.

Neatly arranged in rows and rows of acid-free boxes and folders, the documents lie in state, offering unquestioned answers to the next generation of researchers. “There’s no need for a scholar to touch these documents,” Stowell says, explaining that each document has been scanned, transcribed, and entered into a computer database.

Here the beauty of the project becomes apparent. Scholars are not content to merely read the letters that Lincoln wrote. They also want to see the earlier letters that necessitated Lincoln’s response. And they want to know the full historical context of where Lincoln was and what he was doing when he responded.

Stowell’s plan is to construct a gigantic relational database where all of these facts can be entered and cross-indexed. Making matters even more complex, the 1,600 Lincoln papers held in the chilly vault are only the tip of the paper iceberg. Staff members have traveled to more than 400 locations around the country, scanning and transcribing documents owned by other institutions and individual collectors. Having scanned 50,000 documents and cross-indexed them with a million notes, Stowell estimates the project could double or triple in size before it is finished.

In addition to the six staff members who work in Springfield, there are four other researchers who work full time in the Library of Congress and the National Archives, searching for more Lincoln-related documents. “We’re looking for tens of thousands of documents among a collection of millions and millions of documents,” says Daniel. “It’s like that archive scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

“We probably never will find the Secret War Diary of Abraham Lincoln,” he says, believing that the process of cataloging and indexing is more fruitful than pinning hopes on a single undiscovered Lincoln treasure. “The cumulative effect of all these documents will be greater than the sum of their parts.”

Dr. Stowell describes the ambitious project as his life’s work, saying, “I’ll work here until they carry me out.”

Soon after moving to Springfield 12 years ago, Dr. Stowell and his family joined Berean Baptist Church, where Richard Ahlgrim is pastor. Stowell, who pays tribute to his parents for his Baptist upbringing, studied law at the University of Georgia before eventually earning a PhD from the University of Florida. He combined his early interests in law and documentary editing by working on The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln, a comprehensive collection of Lincoln’s legal papers published in 2000. Although Daniel Stowell has a last name recognized by many Baptists in the north, he is no relation to former
GARBC National Representative Joseph Stowell. But Daniel shares a keen interest in Baptist history, having published articles in Baptist History and Heritage and the Journal of Religion.

Recalling Dr. Stowell’s earlier comment about “providence” leading him to this project, I begin to note how he describes his unusual and interesting job in Biblical terms. Dr. Stowell explains that there are five extant copies of the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln’s own hand. But oddly, no two of these copies are identical, so scholars must use textual criticism to determine Lincoln’s original words. Here is where this sort of work can be controversial. The words “under God” do not appear in two copies of Lincoln’s famous speech. Did he really say it? Modern scholars have studied a mountain of resources to answer the question, including at least three news reporters who telegraphed the words on the day of Lincoln’s speech-with “under God” included.

After the documents are scanned and studied, editors begin the task of transcribing Lincoln’s spindly handwriting as they type, proofread, correct, and proofread again. The Lincoln scholars are meticulous scribes, working hard to avoid any errors when copying the text. Once the words are in the database, an editor extracts Lincoln’s words and assigns them a blue font-yes, a “blue letter” edition for the words of Lincoln. (“I picked the color on purpose,” Daniel says. “For obvious reasons, I wanted to avoid the color red!”)

Stowell’s office looks like a preacher’s study-except the shelves are filled with commentaries on Abraham Lincoln. After 150 years of Lincoln research, it may seem as if “there is nothing new under the sun” and “of the making of books there is no end.” But research continues unabated, fueled by new insights from the growing database.

Dr. Stowell acknowledges that a good deal of ink has been spilled regarding Abraham Lincoln’s spiritual life and the possibility that he was a professing follower of Jesus Christ. Historians tend to speak carefully and offer answers to this question within a wide range of perspectives, says Stowell. “But theologically, for me, this question can only be answered with a yes or no. For me, I believe the answer is no.”

Noting that some have called Lincoln the greatest public theologian of the 19th century, Stowell says, “Lincoln matured substantially-spiritually-in the 1860s. There are indications that he became more interested in religion after the deaths of his sons Eddy and Willie.” But Stowell also points out “a lot of evidence indicates he was often a scoffer of religion.”

Stowell believes Lincoln came to embrace a concept of God that at least acknowledged His providence. “It is clear that Lincoln believed God had a plan-that God was in control of history.” And Lincoln knew his Bible well, and quoted it with more significance than a mere literary allusion. “I always tell people that ‘a house divided’ is not a Lincoln quote, it’s Jesus.”

And in the end, it is the matter of Jesus Christ that has caused Stowell to answer the question of Lincoln’s personal faith with a no.

“Why do I answer this way? Because Lincoln said very little about Jesus Christ,” Stowell says. As it turns out, the question serves as the perfect test for the growing database of Lincoln papers.

“Let’s do a quick search on that,” Daniel says as he spins in his chair and begins typing “Jesus” into the search window at his computer. Scanning a database of more than 50,000 Lincoln documents, Stowell finds four references to “Jesus” in blue letters. But the references are fleeting-such as a brief mention of “The Society of Jesus” (Jesuits).

Stowell then calls up a famous Lincoln letter, “Reply to Loyal Colored People of Baltimore upon Presentation of a Bible,” and reads the text from his monitor. Lincoln writes that the Bible is “the best gift God had given to man” and “all the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book.”

Here Stowell inserts a sardonic comment. “Interesting. But where is the work of Jesus Christ?” The often-quoted letter about Lincoln’s spiritual beliefs emphasizes only the moral instruction of the Bible. “But for it we could not know right from wrong,” according to Lincoln.

At this point in the conversation, Stowell offers a bit of literary criticism, an insight into the best way to interpret Lincoln’s words. “You can pour all sorts of meaning into Lincoln’s quotes-and for 150 years people have. But here he had a clear opportunity to give a testimony and he passed on it. Believe me. No one is more disappointed than me to say that.”

“Lincoln was killed-martyred-on Easter Sunday. But-and this sounds crass-Christianity ended up using him for marketing purposes.”

Daniel Stowell sees this as part of a larger trend, with any number of marginalized groups seeing themselves as part of Lincoln’s history. “Lincoln is trotted out as a poster child for everything,” Stowell says. “Everything from Marfan syndrome, homosexual rights, women’s rights, environmentalism, farmers, labor unions. He is infinitely malleable.” In the end, Stowell believes his work, done rightly, will reveal more of the true Lincoln, rather than society’s projection of themselves onto Lincoln.

Kevin Mungons is managing editor of the Baptist Bulletin. Darrell Goemaat is director of photography.

If you own the missing Gettsyburg Address

That copy of the Gettysburg Address you found up in the attic? It’s not real, says Daniel Stowell, director of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln.

“We routinely have people calling us, saying they have a Gettysburg Address,” Stowell says, describing the caller’s happiness in finding what appears to be a very old document printed on brown, crinkly paper. But Lincoln rarely wrote on parchment paper-in fact, the U.S. government printed facsimiles of the famous speech and then distributed them with immigration papers. By the thousands. The envelopes of those reproductions were stamped with the words, “Enclosed Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in his own handwriting on genuine aged parchment paper. It Looks Old and Feels Old!”

On a limited-access level underneath the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois, Dr. Daniel Stowell examines a letter written by the 16th president to Major General George Meade during the Civil War. The letter appeals to the general not to shoot a soldier for desertion who may be under 16. The underground vault behind Stowell contains about 1,600 documents all written in Lincoln’s own hand.

On a limited-access level underneath the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill., Dr. Daniel Stowell examines a letter written by the 16th president to Major General George Meade during the Civil War. The letter appeals to the general grant clemency to a soldier who may be under 16. The underground vault behind Stowell contains about 1,600 documents all written in Lincoln’s own hand.

Funding for the Papers of Abraham Lincoln

“If we have good funding, our project has ambitious goals, but not crazy,” says Dr. Daniel Stowell, describing a 2013 goal to publish all of Lincoln’s papers up to his election in 1860. The final phase of the project, publishing the papers during Lincoln’s presidential years, should be complete by 2016. As a result, Stowell spends part of his time raising funds from a variety of sources:

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

Center for State Policy and Leadership at the University of Illinois Springfield

Abraham Lincoln Association

National Endowment for the Humanities

Private gifts

With every Lincoln letter in the collection scanned in a digital file, Dr. Daniel Stowell simply accesses any document he wants to review in a large database from his desktop computer. Stowell and his staff have traveled to more than 400 locations around the country to scan and transcribe all known documents written by and to Lincoln during his lifetime.