Document Type
Finding Aid
Collection Number
MSS-008.003
Publication Date
2-17-2016
Last Revision Date
3-16-2017
Description
Judge Elwin L. Page was a charter member of the Lincoln Group of Boston in 1938, as well as a member of the Group’s first executive committee. In 1952 he became the second president of the organization, and in 1960 acquired president emeritus status. Page was born in 1876 and was a lifelong resident of Concord, NH. He was an Associate Justice of the Superior Courts of New Hampshire, a member of the state’s 1930 and 1948 Constitutional Conventions, a member of the bar for over seventy years, and a practicing lawyer into his nineties. He published three books in his lifetime: Abraham Lincoln in New Hampshire, George Washington in New Hampshire, and Judicial Beginnings in New Hampshire. Between 1938 and 1966 Page appeared on the Lincoln Group’s meeting programs 19 different times for presentations. Some of these included: “Trailing Lincoln in New Hampshire,” April 1938; “Abraham Lincoln and the Constitutional Division of Powers,” 1942; “The Effie Afton Case,” c. 1956; “Eighty Days without the Congress,” April 1961; and “The Lincoln Grandchildren,” April 1966. He passed away in 1974.
The Page collection was first acquired by Howard and Carolyn Oedel before being deposited at Bridgewater State University. It is a part of the Lincoln Group of Boston Collection. The collection is arranged in 3 series. Series 1 focuses on the papers and presentations done by Page. Series 2 focuses on the portion of Page’s collection that directly concerns the Lincoln Group of Boston, such as his correspondence with other members, and ephemera and mailings about the organization. Series 3 is comprised of papers and written material created by other people. Some of these were presented at Lincoln Group meetings.
The published pamphlets that were part of the Page collection have been individually cataloged and are held separate from this collection. Some of these are published speeches and pamphlets that Page used for research include: “Speech of Hon. Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, at the Cooper Institute, N.Y. City, February 27, 1860”; “Civil Rights. Speech of Hon. Robert B. Elliott of South Carolina in the House of Representatives, January 6, 1874”; “Speech of Hon. Orin Fowler of Massachusetts,” March 31, 1852; and “Outlines of the Life and Public Services, Civil and Military, of William Henry Harrison,” 1840.