The John E. Boos Collection is a collection of books of that contain letters, newspaper clippings, pamphlets and other ephemera pertaining to the Civil War, more specifically Abraham Lincoln and the legacy he has left. The letters are of special interest to historians, as they come from people who lived during the Civil War and may have encountered Lincoln. Over the span of several decades, John E. Boos contacted thousands of people who lived during the Civil War, asking for their written memories of the time, or any specific points of interest about Lincoln.

The collection is arranged chronologically by publication date, starting with 1917 the latest being 1968. Each book documents different aspects of the war’s legacy, ranging from newspaper clippings that mention Lincoln’s name to memories of Confederate soldiers’ experiences. “The manuscript was put together in the first couple of decades of the twentieth century when some of those who had seen Lincoln were still alive. John E. Boos was an avid autograph collector, a devotee of Abraham Lincoln and the soldiers who fought in the Civil War. His text for the book does not give a complete transcript of each item he collected, but does talk about the items and provides some context for the items” (Amazon.com). The typical format of these books is a brief typed biographical sketch of the letter writers, followed by the physical letter and a typed version to accompany it.

Some notable components of the John E. Boos Collection include commentary on Lincoln’s oratorical style, opinions on Ulysses S. Grant as a general, and encounters with Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy.

A significant number of these letters come from New York; Boos lived in Albany.