Sandburg's Downstairs Study

This study served as an office where Sandburg worked on correspondence and manuscripts, either with the assistance of a secretary or his daughters Margaret and Helga.  The room was usually piled high with filing boxes and books.  The books lining the shelves were loosely organized according to subjects and projects. 

Sandburg read the many letters sent to him daily; mail from his publisher, fellow poets, school children reading and studying his poetry, U.S. Senators, Supreme Court Justices, and even mail from various Presidents of the United States that he had befriended over the years.

A prominent feature of this room is the table constructed from timbers that supported the roof of the White House during Lincoln’s presidency.  The lumber was salvaged from a renovation project at the White House by carpenter George Severin, He used the wood to construct the table as a gift for Carl Sandburg in honor of his Pulitzer prize-winning biography of Abraham Lincoln.

Click below for an audio clip from Sandburg's address to Congress on the occasion of Abraham Lincoln's 150th birthday in 1959.