LINCOLNIANA By FRANK J. WILLIAMS, LITERARY EDITOR
Following is a partial listing of people, places, and events that appeared in the Spring 2004 issue of the Lincoln Herald.
THE SPOKEN WORD AND LINCOLN GROUP ACTIVITIES
Ralph Gary has made a number of speeches to groups in Fort Worth, Texas, on "Lincoln as the Father of the Nation during April, including the Service Corps of Retired Executives, Retired Teachers of Tarrant County Community Colleges, and Trinity Terrace Community Center.
Frank Williams presented "Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties" to the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia on April 20.
Edward Steers, Jr. spoke at the West Virginia Community Education Outreach Service Regional Meeting in Berkeley Springs, WV on April 17. His topic was "Abraham Lincoln, An American Icon." On May 25 Steers spoke to the Worman's Mill (MD) Library Book Club about his book Blood on the Moon and at the Morgan County, WV Fair on July 31 where he presented "Abraham Lincoln's Place in American Culture."
Wayne C. Temple spoke on June 6 at Pittsfield Illinois's Lincoln Days 2004 about "The Taste is in My Mouth a Little..."
Pete Brown's HistoryAmerica Tours, with historian guide John C. Waugh, is sponsoring Lincoln Country: A Journey to Greatness aboard the Delta Queen from September 18 to 23 and September 23 to 28. Stops will include Alton, Grafton, Beardstown, Havana, Peoria and Ottawa, Illinois, (1-800-628-8542).
INTERNATIONAL LEGACY
For the 25th anniversary of the artist Norman Rockwell the Latin American Nation of Dominica released a sheet of four stamps. The Souvenir sheet shows a section of Rockwell's painting of America's sixteenth president done in 1962 titled, "Lincoln for the Defense."
John M. Taylor's "Bermuda Consul Takes on Blockade Runners" appeared in the May 22 Washington Times.
ARTS
Harold Holzer and Frank Williams presented Ulysses S. Grant: Seen and Heard at the bi-annual meeting of the Ulysses S. Grant Association in Washington on April 23. Holzer and actor Richard dreyfuss, as Grant, presented this at "The Egg," The Performing Arts Center, before a select crowd of 950 in Albany, New York on April 26. The event was for the benefit of the New York State Archives.
Brian Lamb, President and CEO of C-SPAN, discussed the presidential assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and William McKinley with Ed Steers, Ken Ackerman, and Eric Rauchway on C-SPAN 2 on Saturday June 12 at 10:00 p.m. and again on Sunday, June 13 at 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
The History Channel on June 20 broadcast Investigating History: Lincoln, Man or Myth which examined whether Lincoln actually wrote the Bixby letter and whether Lincoln was a racist. Harold Holzer, Joseph George, and Frank Williams appeared on the program.
EXHIBITS
The Surratt House has prepared an exhibit, Getting Out the Vote: The Political Scene in the 1800s that will run through November 28. This special exhibit of political memorabilia from the 19th century was drawn from the private collection of Steve Ackerman.
Hildene, the home of Robert Todd Lincoln, in Manchester, Vermont, opened its exhibit, Vermont and the North Shire in the Civil War: The Common Experience of Uncommon Valour on June 1
COLLECTIONS
Daniel Weinberg of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Chicago has restored one of four known Black Hawk War discharges signed by "A. Lincoln," as Captain.
Sarah Antonacci wrote about further delay in the completion of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL because of a recently discovered problem with the builder's vapor barrier that will cost $500,000 to repair ("New Problem Delays Library") the State Journal-Register, May 4.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN ONLINE
The U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission met in the Lyndon Baines Johnson room of the U.S. Capitol on June 7 to review its interim report due the Congress pursuant to the enabling legislation that created the Commission. The interim report was submitted to Congress on June 24 outlining plans and activities for the celebration of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth in 2009. Copies of the report can be found at the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial web site www.lincolnbicentennial.gov.
On May 17, History News Network published Jason Emerson's "It's About Time Lincoln Got a Presidential Library." [http://hnn.us/articles/printfriendly/4897.html]
AWARDS AND PRIZES
The Platt Family Lincoln Forum Scholarship has announced the theme for this year's $1,000 award. The assignment is to compare Lincoln's 1864 campaign with other wartime elections. The deadline for submissions is July 31 (thelincolnforum.org). A "blurb" about the scholarship appeared in the April 12 Newsweek.
The winning 2003 Platt Family Lincoln Forum Essay Contest by John Bellochio of Seton hall university was distributed to all members of The Lincoln Forum with the May Lincoln Forum Bulletin.
AUCTIONS
The Ninth Annual Lincolniana and Civil War Auction by the Rail Splitter was held on June 10.
BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS
Joseph R. Fornieri is the editor of The Language of Liberty: The Political Speeches and Writings of Abraham Lincoln (Eagle Publishing).
Tony Wolk is the author of Abraham Lincoln: A Novel Life (Oooligan Press, Portland State University, Portland, OR).
Geoffrey Perret, author of Lincoln's War: The Untold Story of America's Greatest President as Commander-in-Chief (Random House), demonstrates how the Chief Executive's powerful role as Commander-in-Chief - now all but taken for granted - was in Lincoln's era unprecedented and all but revolutionary.
Lincoln's War by Geoffrey Perret (Random House) and Lincoln at Cooper Union by Harold Holzer (Simon & Schuster) were the Summer editors' choice of the History Book Club.
BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS OF RELATED INTEREST
Allan Peskin is the author of Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms (Kent State University Press).
William D. Bader and Roy M. Mersky compiled The First One Hundred Eight Justices (William S. Hein & Co., Inc.).
Richard R. Duncan is the author of Lee's Endangered Left: The Civil War in Western Virginia, Spring of 1864 (LSUP).
REVIEWS OF LINCOLN RELATED BOOKS
Richard J. Carwardine, Lincoln, rev. by Michael Riccards, the Washington Times (April 10, 2004).
William G. Harris, Lincoln's Last Months, rev. by Allen Guelzo, The Civil War News (June 2004).
William D. Pederson and Frank J. Williams, Editors, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln: Competing Perspectives on Two Great Presidencies, rev. by Mackubin Thomas Owens, Civil War Book Review (Summer 2004).
PERIODICALS
Tom O'Brien wrote "Douglas Shines at Lincoln Statue Unveiling." The author describes the Emancipation Statue, unveiled on April 14, 1876, in Lincoln Park, Washington. Frederick Douglas was the keynote speaker, addressing why it took Lincoln so long to embrace emancipation and the separate issue of equal rights.
The Lincoln-Douglas Society of Freeport, IL is producing a new semiannual newsletter entitled The Stump. Its first issue was published in may (2236 Chelsie Avenue, Freeport, IL 61032).
"The Challenge of democracy" by Douglas N. Paal was published in the Summer Sino-American Relations as "Proceedings of the Lincoln Society of Taipei."
PEOPLE
Former Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia President, Steve Carson, now serves as Archivist for this Lincoln Group.
The April 16 Chronicle of Higher Education contained an interview with William C. Harris, author of Lincoln's Last Months. Harris believes that Lincoln was not "a very good administrator ... He let the department heads carry on, except for the war effort."
Gettysburg College on May 12, announced the appointment of Allan Guelzo as the Associate Director of the Civil War Institute. He was also appointed the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era Studies program and directs "The Gettysburg Semester," which brings students from across the country to Gettysburg College.
Wayne C. Temple was an honored guest at the U.S.S. Springfield "Namesake Cruise" Recognition on May 30.
LINCOLN IN POPULAR CULTURE
Richard J. Carwardine wrote "Lincoln Through British Eyes" for the April 14 Wall Street Journal. To Carwardine, a fellow Englishman, Lord Charnwood's Abraham Lincoln that appeared in 1960, "helped many of his contemporaries ... admire Lincoln's simpleminded defense of the Union and, even more important, his showing that democracy could work as a philosophy and a political system." Carwardine does not believe that Lincoln was a passive figure - "Fatalistic, yes; passive, no. We should not take too literally Lincoln's so-called confession in 1864 'that events have controlled me.' The pre-war Lincoln, who was adept at political management and who brilliantly positioned himself to win his party's nomination in 1860, and the wartime President ... suggest an ambitious, enterprising, determined and active figure.'"
NECROLOGY
Doug Pokorski, veteran Illinois State Journal-Register reporter who covered Abraham Lincoln in Springfield died suddenly, of a heart attack, on April 30. He was 53. His Lincoln reporting was respected by Lincoln scholars, historians, and academics as fair and objective.
A memorial to the late Richard Sokup, who interpreted Stephen A. Douglas alongside George Buss as Abraham Lincoln, appeared in the Spring The Stump - a publication of the Lincoln-Douglas Society.
Edward Wagenknecht, editor and biographer died on May 24. He was 104. His many works included an anthology Abraham Lincoln: His Life, Work, and Character as Shown in Biography, Fiction, Poetry and Drama.
ASSASSINATION
John Wilkes Booth Escape route Tours were held April 17 & 24 and May 22. Others are scheduled for September 11 & 25. Contact Surratt House, 301-868-1121 for complete details about these 12-hour bus tours over the escape route of Lincoln's assassin.
The May Surratt Courier contained an article about J. Summerfield Staples who served as President Lincoln's substitute in the Civil War. Even though there was a statute exempting the President from serving, there was nothing to prevent the President from sending forth a substitute to fight in his place. [Editor's note: Staples correct designation is "Representative Recruit," not "substitute.
WORKS IN PROGRESS
Elizabeth Smith Brownstein has completed her manuscript, Abraham Lincoln's Soldiers' Home which will be published by Wiley in 2005.
Ralph Gary has completed his manuscript, Following In the Footsteps of the Presidents. Mayhaven will publish it.
Tom Goodrich has completed a book The Darkest Dawn - Lincoln, Booth and the Great American Tragedy (to be published by Indiana University Press) on the Lincoln assassination that focuses on the reactions of people around the country.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I want to thank Harold Holzer, Tom Lapsley, William D. Pederson, John Y.Simon, Dennis E. Stark, Joseph Fornieri, Wayne C. Temple, Steve Carson, and David Warren for providing information for this column. I welcome news concerning Abraham Lincoln. Please contact me at 300 Switch Road, Hope Valley, RI 02823;fax (401)539-7272;e-mail:alincoln @courts.state.ri.us.
I welcome news concerning Abraham Lincoln for consideration in the next article. PLEASE WRITE TO ME AT:
FRANK J. WILLIAMS
300 SWITCH ROAD
HOPE VALLEY, RI 02832
fax: (401) 539-7979
email: alincoln@courts.state.ri.us
HOME • CURRENT ISSUE • ARCHIVES • ABOUT US • LINKS • SUBSCRIBE