SPRINGFIELD – The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is wrapping up a six-year project to preserve 271 charters from a Civil War veterans group that began in Illinois and grew to national prominence. The work allows the once-fragile documents to be opened and read, giving scholars information about the early history of posts across the state.
The Grand Army of the Republic began in Decatur and Springfield in 1866. It established local posts that provided camaraderie, political power and resources to veterans of the Civil War. With nearly 400,000 members at its peak, the GAR built significant political influence that it used to advocate for military pensions, veterans homes and the establishment of Memorial Day.
Each new GAR post received a charter from state headquarters, listing its name, number, location and date. The charters often featured military-themed artwork, a foil seal, the G.A.R. membership badge and a certification signed by the Illinois commander. The charters also contain lists of founding members.
As time went on, posts eventually closed as fewer and fewer Civil War veterans remained. Their charters were often tightly folded and transferred to the GAR headquarters for safekeeping. By 2019, the folded charters had grown so fragile that opening them would destroy the documents.
To conserve them, library experts carefully humidified the paper until it was flexible enough to unfold without breaking. Loose pieces, especially those with print or writing on them, were reattached, using methods that can be reversed if better conservation techniques become available in the future.
“This project was sometimes daunting, as many tiny pieces had to be reattached to the documents with tweezers. Luckily, head conservator Bonnie Parr and I both enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles, and completing a charter was very satisfying,” said Ginny Lee, an ALPLM conservator.
Illinois had about 800 GAR posts total. The 271 charters in the ALPLM collection come from across the state. The counties with the largest number of charters were Cook County with 23, Fulton County with 11, Vermilion County with 10, McLean County with nine, Sangamon County with eight and Macoupin County with seven.
Some of the ALPLM charters are from the 11 Illinois posts that were exclusively composed of African American veterans and the 48 posts that were integrated.
These documents will be made available to researchers at the presidential library, and the ALPLM plans to eventually digitize the entire collection of charters to make them accessible to offsite researchers.
The ALPLM’s chief of acquisitions, Dr. Ian Hunt, said: “GAR posts helped in the founding of soldiers’ homes. They were advocates for veterans to receive their pensions and other benefits owed to them. They supported widows and orphans. They became a powerful political force, and many of these charters have the names of men who would go on to become extremely prominent within their own communities.”
The Illinois State Historical Library received the records in 1976 from the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Association of Cook County, the successor to the GAR Illinois headquarters. In 2004, the historical library and its collections became part of the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The ALPLM launched its conservation work on the charters in 2019.
Restoring G.A.R. charters help researchers uncover Civil War, community, and family histories, including overlooked stories. These documents also support honoring veterans by preserving the personal stories of those who fought to save the Union and end slavery.
The mission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is to inspire civic engagement through the diverse lens of Illinois history and share with the world the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. We pursue this mission througha combination of rigorous scholarship and high-tech showmanship built on the bedrock of the ALPLM’s unparalleled collection of historical materials – roughly 13 million items from all eras of Illinois history.
For more information, visit www.PresidentLincoln.illinois.gov. You can follow the ALPLM on Facebook, X/Twitter and Instagram.
