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Where to find the printed Dresden Edition and the surviving Ingersoll papers. Eleven institutions — six physical, five online.
My working list. Each entry links the institution's catalog page; the holdings line says what's specifically Ingersoll-relevant. Entries marked verified with a date were last checked then; the rest are standing-order knowledge and worth phoning ahead about. Corrections to /contact/.
Washington, D.C., USA
Collection: General Collection; Brady-Handy Photograph Collection
Multiple printings of the Dresden Edition (1900, 1902, 1909). Ingersoll-related photographic plates in the Brady-Handy Collection, Prints & Photographs Division (LC-BH832-31186 is the most-reproduced portrait). The General Collection holds first editions of several lectures as standalone pamphlets.
Notes: The LCNAF authority record for Ingersoll is n79084141. Catalog searches under his name surface both the Dresden volumes and a wide assortment of pamphlet printings.
Dresden, New York, USA
The house in which Ingersoll was born, August 11, 1833. Family artifacts, period furnishings, and a small but focused collection of original printings of the lectures. Onsite reading room.
Notes: Operated by The Council for Secular Humanism. Hours seasonal; check the site before traveling.
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Dresden Edition complete set in the Modern Manuscripts holdings. Selected correspondence in the C. P. Farrell papers, including letters between Farrell and Ingersoll family members coordinating the posthumous edition.
Notes: Reading room access is open to qualified readers; no appointment required for the printed Dresden volumes. Manuscript correspondence requires advance request.
Urbana, Illinois, USA
Ingersoll family papers and correspondence; Ingersoll's Peoria, Illinois years are documented in the local-history collection alongside the family archive.
Notes: Peoria was Ingersoll's home base from 1857 until his move East. Local-history holdings cover the early lecture career.
Ithaca, New York, USA
Selected Dresden printings; correspondence in the Andrew Dickson White collection (White, Cornell's first president, was a friend and political ally of Ingersoll's).
New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Dresden Edition complete set; selected pamphlet printings in the Yale Collection of American Literature.
Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Comprehensive holdings of nineteenth-century American imprints, including multiple Ingersoll lecture pamphlets and broadsides advertising lyceum-circuit appearances.
Notes: Particularly strong on lyceum-tour ephemera (advertising broadsides, ticket stubs, programs).
New York, New York, USA
Substantial Ingersoll-related correspondence in several Gilded Age political collections. The C. P. Farrell publishing records and the Dresden Publishing Company business papers (when surviving) are part of the holdings.
Online (consortium)
Full-text scans of the complete Dresden Edition (multiple printings) contributed by partner libraries — primarily University of Michigan, University of California, and Cornell. Useful for verifying our transcription against the printed page.
Online (San Francisco, CA)
Public-domain scans of the Dresden Edition, plus standalone lecture pamphlets, period photographs, and even audio readings (LibriVox volunteers have recorded several of the lectures).
Online (volunteer)
Plain-text versions of the most popular lectures and complete-volume releases of several Dresden volumes. The Gutenberg text is volunteer-transcribed; this site's text is independently transcribed and verified, so the two are useful as a cross-check.
If you've consulted Ingersoll material at an institution not listed here, or if a holding has moved, write the editor through the contact form. Verified additions land here under the institution's name with a date stamp.
The data behind this page lives at src/_data/manuscripts.js in the public repository; pull requests welcome.