Robert Skirvin Abraham Lincoln Philately Collection, 1958-2009 | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

Scope and Contents:

This collection contains several envelopes and stamps from 1966 that are featured on first day covers, meaning they were mailed on the first day the envelope or stamp was issued. Also included is a photomosaic stamp sheet from the West African nation of Togo (undated) and a Gambian mint stamp sheet commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln (2009). A pamphlet, Healy's Lincoln No. 1, by Katharine McCook Knox (1959), is also included, and contains four stamps from the 1950s on the inside back cover. Knox, an art historian who specialized in presidential portraits, rediscovered a portrait of Lincoln painted by G.P.A. Healy and convinced the U.S. Postal Service to feature it on a stamp commemorating the Lincoln Sesquicentennial celebration in 1959.

Biographical/Historical Context:

Robert M. Skirvin, a professor emeritus of crop sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, compiled this collection.

Acquisition Source: Robert M. Skirvin donated this collection to the Library in 2021.