The collection consists of the letters and papers of Joseph Benjamin Oakleaf, the majority of which relates to Lincolniana. There are a few letters to and from his son, Josephus Leroy Oakleaf, 1880-1958, lawyer. In 1948 a group of tributes, June 5-28, 1930, to Oakleaf at the time of his death were added to the collection by Albert Henry Griffith, 1871-1948, Lincoln collector of Fisk, Wisconsin. Included is also material on the Rock Island bridge case; a diary on the World's Columbian Exposition, 1893; photographs; many speeches; Lincoln bibliography published in 1925, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, The Torch Press; the manuscript for a book Abraham Lincoln, A Man of Vision; David B. Sear's appointment as postmaster of Moline, Illinois, 1844; several plats; and some printed matter. Some of the mss. in this collection are in an oversize folder.

Among the correspondents are William Abbatt, Charles Adkins, Emanuel Philip Adler, Charles Wesley Alexander, John Clayton Allen, Leon Menard Allen, Gustav Albert Andreen, Paul McClelland Angle, Samuel John Arthur, George Coats Ashmun, Smith Dykins Atkins, Irving Addison Bacheller, Edward Frey Bartholomew, William Eleazar Barton, David Henry Bauslin, James Adam Bede, Mrs. Jacob Hoke Beidler, Albert Lincoln Berger, Johann Heinrich Andreas Hermann Albrecht, graf von Bernstorff, Albert Jeremiah Beveridge, Clark Prescott Bissett, William Keeney Bixby, Francis Grant Blair, Leslie Edgar Bliss, Stanhope English Blunt, James Wills Bollinger, Cephas Brainerd, Harold Frederick Brigham, Elbert H. Brock, Robert Bruce, John Edgar Burton, John George Butler, John Levi Cable, Willis Greenleaf Calderwood, Joseph Gurney Cannon, Clark Ezra Carr, Edwin Hamlin Carr, John Ridgely Carter, Orrin Nelson Carter, David Laurence Chambers, Benjamin Chester Chapin, Ervin S. Chapman, Burnett Mitchell Chiperfield, Norton Parker Chipman, Thomas Curtis Clark, J.M. Coburn, Sherwin Cody, Robert Joseph Collier, Myers Young Cooper, Benjamin Sprague Cowen, Shelby Moore Cullom, Joseph Oscar Cunningham, Jasper Tucker Darling, John McCan Davis, George Parmly Day, Charles Samuel Deneen, David Miller DeWitt, Daniel Kilham Dodge, Jonathan Prentiss Dolliver, King Dykeman, Louis Lincoln Emmerson, Heman Gerson Enelow, Louis William Fairfield, Clinton Pinckney Farrell, Herbert Wells Fay, Daniel Fish, Stuyvesant Fish, Rudolph Forster, Alfred Fowler, James Willis Gleed, Wells Goodykoontz, John Rogers Gore, William Johnson Graham, Ulysses Simpson Grant, William Raymond Green, Mrs. Eleanor (Gridley) Gridley, Anthony Jerome Griffin, Albert Henry Griffith, John Augustus William Haas, George Philip Hambrecht, John Pryor Hand, William Torrey Harris, John Henry Hauberg, Ira Haworth, Logan Hay, Franklin Harvey Head, David Watters Henry, Frederick Augustus Henry, Frank Irving Herriott, Emanuel Hertz, Frederick Trevor Hill, John Wesley Hill, Charles Dewey Hilles, Nathaniel Dana Carlile Hodges, Jesse Holdom, Frederick Lionel Holmes, Albert Jarvis Hopkins, Henry Horner, Albert Corey Howell, George Holmes Howison, Mrs. Vinnie (Ream) Hoxie, Elbert Hubbard, 1865-1915, Elbert Hubbard, 1882- , Edwin Holt Hughes, Aaron Bascom Hunt, William James Hutchins, John Albertson Ingham, Stuart W. Jackson, Edward J. Jacob, Janet Jennings, Judson Toll Jennings, Charles Webster Jewett, John Albert Johnson, Henry Craig Jones, James Keeley, Theodore Kharas, Luther Melanchthon Kuhns, George T. Lambert, William Harrison Lambert, Otto Lange, James Wideman Lee, T. Aaron Levy, Lloyd Downs Lewis, Lincolniana Publishers, Harlow Lindley, Fred Lockley, George Browning Lockwood, William Loeb, Frank Orren Lowden, Henry Ernst Luhrs, Henry Darius Lyman, Robert Wesley McBride, James Thompson McCleary, James McKinney, Charles Woodberry McLellan, Hugh McLellan, Mrs. Lucy (Foster) Madison, Isaac Markens, George Washington Martin, Frederick Hill Meserve, James Jay Monaghan, Charles Moore, Charles Washington Moores, Henry M. Nevius, Daniel Newhall, Joseph Fort Newton, William Allen Northcott, Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, Elbridge Woodman Palmer, Cartiano Salvatore Paolo, Frederico Alfonso Pezet, William Pickens, Herbert Gleason Porter, George Haven Putnam, Herbert Putnam, Emilius Oviatt Randall, Henry Bascom Rankin, Henry Riggs Rathbone, Mrs. Nellie Rice, George Warren Richards, John Thomas Richards, Lawrence Richey, Lauren William Ripley, Frederick Ray Risdon, Theodore Granville Risley, Arthur Raymond Robinson, Charles Henry Robinson, William August Rodenberg, Azariah Smith Root, Alonzo Rothschild, Constance Mayfield Rourke, Addison Peale Russell, Charles Edward Russell, Isaac Franklin Russell, Mildred Lewis Rutherford, Otto L. Schmidt, Paul Selby, George Clarke Sellery, Gustavus Adolphys Shallberg, Benjamin Franklin Shambaugh, Morris Sheppard, James Schoolcraft Sherman, Thomas Benton Shoaff, Samuel Morgan Shortridge, Samuel John Skevington, John Merlin Powis Smith, Payson Smith, James Speed, Ernest Linwood Staples, John William Starr, Merritt Starr, Mason Brayman Starring, Walter Barlow Stevens, Judd Stewart, William Leroy Stidger, Alexander Sullivan, William Sulzer, Gee Lynn Sumner, William Ashley Sunday, Leonard Swett, Mrs. Helen (Herron) Taft, Joseph Taggert, Ida Minerva Tarbell, Clyde Howard Tavenner, Howard Singleton Taylor, Mrs. Dorothy (Lamon) Teillard, John Thomson, Caleb Benjamin Tillinghast, William Henry Townsend, Hal W. Trovillion, Winfred Porter Truesdell, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Byron Elbert Veach, Thomas Edward Wagstaff, Bernhardt Wall, Mrs. Jane Wall, Louis Austin Warren, Booker Taliaferro Washington, Mrs. Jessie (Palmer) Weber, Jesse William Weik, Oliver P. Wharton, Paul S. Whitcomb, Charles Thomas White, Horace White, Brand Whitlock, George Robert Wilson, Rufus Rockwell Wilson, Edwin Hamlin Woodruff, William Lowndes Yancey, Richard Yates, George Helm Yeaman and George Anthony Zeller. The following speeches in the collection were published: Abraham Lincoln, Meade, Lee, and Gettysburg. Peoria, Illinois, Done into print by E. J. Jacob, 1929; Hobbies; an address on the Collection of Lincoln Literature. Rock Island, Illinois, Augustana Book Concern, 1923.

See also Cecil Kash Byrd, Famous Lincoln collections. The Indiana-Oakleaf collection reprinted from Abraham Lincoln Quarterly, December 1942 for the dedication of the Lincoln room in the Indiana University Main Library February 13, 1943. (Lilly Z8505 .B995).

The collection also includes a speech by Josephus Leroy Oakleaf made at the dedication of the Lincoln Room in the Lilly Library, as well as printed materials (bookplates, clippings, etc.) and photographs. These materials were donated by Oakleaf's granddaughter in 2003.