The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) first began operations on March 4, 1861, the same day as President Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration. The GPO set up shop in a printing plant originally built by Cornelius Wendell, a longtime contract printer for Congress. Located at the corner of North Capitol and H Streets NW, the facility was the largest printing plant in Washington and one of the largest in the U.S. at that time.
The first head of the GPO was John D. Defrees, an Illinois newspaper publisher, politician, and friend of President Lincoln. With the outbreak of the Civil War, the GPO grew rapidly to keep pace with military and civilian printing needs. In 1864, GPO employees participated more directly in the war when Company F of the Interior Department Regiment, comprised of GPO printers and pressmen, marched into Northwest Washington to help repel Confederate forces under General Jubal Early.
Lincoln and His Printers : GPO in the Civil War is a brochure published by the GPO to accompany an exhibit of the same name. It is a short history of the GPO during the Civil War years, and includes pictures of some of the people, buildings, and documents (including the Emancipation Proclamation) that were most important during the early years of the GPO. Click on the title above to view the full-text online, or visit the
Nebraska Library Commission to find this and many other state and federal documents.
The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) first began operations on March 4, 1861, the same day as President Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration. The GPO set up shop in a printing plant originally built by Cornelius Wendell, a longtime contract printer for Congress. Located at the corner of North Capitol and H Streets NW, the facility was the largest printing plant in Washington and one of the largest in the U.S. at that time.
The first head of the GPO was John D. Defrees, an Illinois newspaper publisher, politician, and friend of President Lincoln. With the outbreak of the Civil War, the GPO grew rapidly to keep pace with military and civilian printing needs. In 1864, GPO employees participated more directly in the war when Company F of the Interior Department Regiment, comprised of GPO printers and pressmen, marched into Northwest Washington to help repel Confederate forces under General Jubal Early.
Lincoln and His Printers : GPO in the Civil War is a brochure published by the GPO to accompany an exhibit of the same name. It is a short history of the GPO during the Civil War years, and includes pictures of some of the people, buildings, and documents (including the Emancipation Proclamation) that were most important during the early years of the GPO. Click on the title above to view the full-text online, or visit the Nebraska Library Commission to find this and many other state and federal documents.
