Robert Heltzel Jr.

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- John Carroll University has received several large financial gifts for its Forever Carroll Campaign, but a donation by a Civil War buff is priceless.

Documents signed by Abraham Lincoln, photographs of the president and rare books related to Lincoln and the Civil War were given to the university by Robert Heltzel Jr., retired owner and president of Kenilworth Steel.

Heltzel and his wife, Heidi, also donated $1 million to establish the Heltzel Endowed Professorship in Economics.

The university announced the gifts Tuesday, the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Among the 60 items at the university’s library are an original photograph of Lincoln, often called the “Gettysburg Portrait,” because it was taken on Nov. 8, 1863, 11 days before he delivered the address.

Also on display is one of a handful of cloth-covered books of "Edward Everett's Oration at Gettysburg," published by Everett, the featured speaker that day.

Everett, who included the Gettysburg Address in his book, spoke for more than two hours at the dedication ceremony of the Gettysburg National Cemetery before Lincoln gave his brief address.

Heltzel, a 1970 John Carroll graduate, quietly began donating items from his extensive Civil War collection to the university several years ago, said Charles Zarobila, curator of special collections at the library.

Zarobila said he didn’t know what to expect when he was invited to Heltzel’s northeast Ohio home to see what he had been told was some Lincoln memorabilia.

“I was very impressed,” he said. “He had been collecting for a long, long time – probably decades.”

Heltzel, a member of the university’s board of directors, initially donated 10 items and gave more as time went by, said Zarobila, who hasn’t seen the entire collection.

About three weeks ago when Heltzel came to John Carroll to have his photograph taken, he mentioned he may want to show him a few more things, Zarobila said.

“I said ‘Of course,’” he said.

Zarobila said an appraiser hired to evaluate the collection spoke to other collectors and institutions and said several items are rare.

They include the last volume of a 24-volume “Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln,” which is a scrapbook filled with original Civil War letters and documents from officers and others in the war.

A sea letter signed by Lincoln on Nov. 2, 1863 gave permission for a whaler to sail to the Pacific Ocean. The sea letter, written in French, Spanish, English and Dutch, offered proof of nationality and some protection to a vessel in foreign waters.

Zarobila is digitally preserving the items and several are on the library's online Carroll Collected. Several items are on view on the second floor of Grasselli Library. Others can be viewed by contacting Zarobila at 216-397-4231.