The original manuscript was written on stationary paper from the Breevoort House, a hotel around the corner from Spafford's law firm in Chicago. Spafford had some sheets with him while crossing the Atlantic and it was on this he penned the words to the famous hymn.

This manuscript along with many other important records and photographs from the American Colony, Jerusalem, were given to the Library of Congress. The penned manuscript, which survived years of travel and moving around, was finally held together with many bits of scotch tape and looked in poor shape, a hundred years later. In 1993, it was professionally scanned in Jerusalem by Kosinski Studio and the garish tape stains painstakingly edited while preserving the authentic appearance of antiquity. 

Navigate between the slides to view the comparison.

A reproduction of this valuable record is available as beautiful quality Giclée prints in a presentation folder with lyrics or matted ready for framing.