Hesburgh Libraries

Exhibit Overview

Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. This 1864 steel engraving by James W. Watts was adapted from a drawing, Reading the Proclamation of Emancipation in the Slaves' Cabin, by New York City artist Henry Walker Herrick. Very few pictorial depictions of the proclamation were made before Lincoln's assassination in 1865 and this is the only contemporary image that offers an interpretation of how it might have been received by the people it was intended to free.

The print was acquired by Rare Books and Special Collections in 2017. More information can be found here.

This exhibit is curated by Rachel Bohlmann, American History Librarian.