Wilson, Douglas L., ed; Davis, Rodney O., ed. 'Register of Informants' in 'Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements About Abraham Lincoln' . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998. [format: book], [genre: history]. Permission: University of Illinois Press
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=herndon737.html

AL's secretary and biographer, Hay was raised in Warsaw, Illinois, and studied at Brown University. In Springfield to read law with his uncle, Milton Hay, he renewed an earlier friendship with John G. Nicolay and first met AL. When Nicolay was chosen the president-elect's secretary, Hay was named his assistant. In the White House, Hay screened visitors, read mail, prepared a daily news summary, and acted as a messenger. He also kept a diary, now an important source on the workings of AL's administration. In March 1865 Hay was appointed secretary of legation in Paris, later serving in various foreign posts. In the early 1870s, with the blessing and cooperation of Robert Todd Lincoln, Hay and Nicolay began collaborating on a massive biography of AL. (ALE; DAB)