Document Type
Finding Aid
Collection Number
MSS-008.001
Publication Date
2-1-2016
Last Revision Date
3-16-2017
Description
Richard Friend Lufkin was a professional civil engineer and head of the Richard Lufkin Company (engineers, draftsmen, artists, and cartographers). He was an Abraham Lincoln scholar and published a number of writings and illustrated maps revolving around Lincoln and his time spent in New England. He was also a popular speaker around New England on Lincoln related topics. In 1957 he traveled to Rome for the purpose of giving a presentation about Lincoln, in Italian, resulting in an honorary membership in the Society of Romans.
Lufkin was a longtime member of the Lincoln Group of Boston. He served as the organization’s treasurer from the early 1950s until his death in 1963. Papers he presented at group conferences include: “A Report on the Auction of the Gettysburg Address,” November, 1949; “How Lincoln was Instrumental in the Writing of a History of Paraguay,” November 1954; “Visiting Lincoln Memorial University and Some Civil War Battlefields,” October 1956; “A New Approach to the Gettysburg Address, from the Magazine, Mad,” November 1959; “ ‘Here I Have Lived’: Lincoln’s Last Days in Springfield,” November 1960; and “ ‘We Cannot Escape history.’ Some Reflections on Lincoln’s Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862,” November 1962. He presented and published papers on a number of other Lincoln related areas as well. The Lincoln Herald published his five set series, “Mr. Lincoln’s Light from Under a Bushel.” He was the assistant editor of the Lincoln Herald from 1954-1958.
This collection is a part of the Lincoln Group of Boston Collection. The majority of material revolves around the lectures given by Richard F. Lufkin with an emphasis on Abraham Lincoln in New England. Other early members of the Lincoln Group of Boston are represented.