Pleasantville Foundation Sells Abraham Lincoln Memorabilia To Yale

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. -- The Pleasantville-based Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation, which, for five generations, has collected Abraham Lincoln and other Civil War era photographs and mementos recently sold a large portion of its collection to Yale University.

President Abraham Lincoln, Washington, D.C., November 8, 1963. Photograph by Alexander Gardner.
Photo Credit: *Courtesy of The Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation*

Jeanne Muchnick

04/08/2015 4:30 a.m.

"Our family and the Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation have preserved the collection for more than a century," said Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., executive director of the foundation. "The Beinecke Library will now broaden access to students and scholars and preserve it for centuries to come."

The collection, according to a recent New York Times article, features more than 73,000 items including 57,000 prints, as well as thousands of books, pamphlets, maps, theater broadsides and personal artifacts.

Kurnhardt's brothers and father created the HBO documentary, "Living with Lincoln," which airs April 13 at 9 p.m.

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