Lincoln Activities

"Lincoln Viewed and Used" was the theme of the 12th Annual Symposium of the Abraham Lincoln Association in Springfield, Illinois, on February 12. Professor Herman Hattaway delivered his "Presidential Use of Lincoln's Military Example" (published in this volume under the title "Lincoln's Presidential Example in Dealing with the Military"), and Roy P. Basler, editor of The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln and retired chief of the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress, delivered his "Lincoln and American Writers." Professor Hattaway explored the precedent set by Lincoln for later commanders in chief, viewing his military ideas as "practical." Dr. Basler spent much of his effort on the plethora of fiction about Lincoln, which he believes has not measured up to other areas of Lincoln scholarship. He pointed to Gore Vidal's Lincoln as an example. Strong, pithy comments were given by Professor Charles B. Strozier following the papers. Professor John Hope Franklin delivered the banquet address, "The Use and Misuse of the Lincoln Legacy." According to Professor Franklin, Abraham Lincoln's views have been distorted and used as propaganda for almost every conceivable position — from white racist to feminist, anti-communist and capitalist. The 13th Annual Symposium is scheduled for February 12, 1986, with papers by Thomas F. Schwartz, recently appointed curator of the Lincoln Collection at the Illinois State Historical Library, on Justin Butterfield, Lincoln and Illinos Whiggery; and Joel Silbey, professor of American history, Cornell University, who will discuss Lincoln and the Whig Party in the 1850s. The featured speaker for the banquet will be New York Governor Mario M. Cuomo. Volume six of the Papers of the Abraham Lincoln Association was distributed to the membership in January. The index to the first six volumes will be available in January 1986.

The Lincoln Group of Boston presented, with the Libraries of Brown University, William Safire on February 9, who delivered his "The Real Lincoln." These were poignant questions that journalist Safire would have put to Mr. Lincoln if they could have Page  [End Page 43] engaged in an interview. On April 20, "President Lincoln's First Vice: Hannibal Hamlin of Maine" was delivered by Professor H. Draper Hunt. Harold Holzer presented "The Image of the Great Emancipator in the Graphic Arts." Mark E. Neely, Jr., gave his "The Perils of Running the Blockade" on October 5; Jennifer B. Lee discussed Lincoln collector, Charles Woodberry McClellan; and Professor Herman Belz presented his "Abraham Lincoln and the History of American Political Thought" on November 16. An updated bibliography of new additions to the Lincoln collection at Bridgewater State College, which is the home of the Lincoln Group of Boston Archives, was presented to the members at the April meeting.

The Watchorn Lincoln dinner and reception, sponsored by the Lincoln Memorial Shrine of the A. K. Smiley Public Library, Redlands, California, was held on February 12 and featured Andrew Rolle, who spoke on "Lincoln as Biographical Study." Paul J. Beaver, curator of the Lincoln Museum of Lincoln College, will present the keynote address on February 12, 1986. Professor Gabor S. Boritt was the guest speaker on November 19, 1984, before the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania. The Lincoln Group of Florida, newly formed under the aegis of Gary Planck, Esq., held its first meeting on March 2 in Winter Park, Florida, and featured Mark E. Neely, Jr., as the first speaker to appear before this group. Professor Gabor S. Boritt delivered the annual address, on February 12, before the Lincoln Club of Delaware. The annual Lincoln day observance by the Lincoln Commission of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Washington, featured Ambassador L. Bruce Laingen.

The Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia celebrated its 50th anniversary with a reception at Ford's Theatre on November 25. The annual Lincoln day dinner of this group featured Mark E. Neely, Jr., who delivered his "The Lincoln Image: Abraham Lincoln and the Popular Print." Laurie Verge, president of the Surratt Society, spoke on "Mary Surratt and the Lincoln Assassination" on April 16. This author delivered his "Lincoln and the Politics of Ethics" on May 21, and Lloyd Ostendorf, distinguished Lincoln illustrator and expert on Lincoln photographs, delivered the first George H. Landes, Jr., memorial lecture on November 18. Mr. Landes, who died in 1984, was the former editor of the Lincolnian and past president of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia. Mr. S. L. Carson presented his "Lincoln's Humor and How it Helped Win the Civil War" on October 15. Page  [End Page 44]

Mark E. Neely, Jr., discussed Mrs. Lincoln's sanity at the February 26 meeting of the Lincoln Group of New York. Daniel Weinberg, proprietor of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Chicago, presented an illustrated talk, "Tattlings of a Collecting Voyeur" on October 26. Richard Sloan, president of the Lincoln Group of New York, presented his multimedia program, "Abraham Lincoln and the Lincoln Assassination as Portrayed in the Theatre Arts," at Ford's Theatre on April 15. This hardworking student of Lincoln continues to assist Paul J. Beaver in his contributions to the Lincoln Newsletter of Lincoln College. Professor W. E. Treadway delivered his "A Greek Tragedy With Variations" at the January 3 meeting of the Lincoln Club of Topeka. He presented three different scenarios as to what would have occurred if Lincoln had not died on April 15, 1865. Mr. David Leitch discussed the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in 1861 at the March 7 meeting, and Mary Rowland reviewed George Forgie's Patricide and the House Divided at the September 5 meeting. The October 3 meeting featured Art Loux, who discussed the "Telegraph Services After Lincoln's Assassination."

Professor Edward Noyes presented "Wisconsin Reaction to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation With Especial Reference to Journalistic Opinion" at the 1985 annual meeting of the Lincoln Fellowship of Wisconsin on April 14. The fellowship distrubuted to its members the bulletin of the 41st annual meeting held on April 15, 1984, which contained Professor Frank L. Klement's "Seven Who Witnessed Lincoln's Gettysburg Address." On June 1, Jennifer B. Lee, John Hay Library curator of Printed Books, presented her "Lincoln Manuscripts in The John Hay Library" before a joint meeting of the Friends of the Library of Brown University and the Manuscript Society. The Friends and Brown University also presented Professor John L. Thomas on October 19, who delivered his "Abraham Lincoln and American Political Culture" on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the John Hay Library. This author delivered the annual talk at the joint meeting of the Civil War Round Table of South Central Connecticut, the American History Round Table of South Central Connecticut and the Abraham Lincoln Association of South Central Connecticut on June 10. The title of the talk was "Lincoln and the Politics of Ethics." The 24th Annual Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture at Gettysburg College was delivered by Eugene D. Genovese on November 19. His topic was "Slavery Page  [End Page 45] Ordained of God, Southern Slaveholders' View of Biblical History and Modern Politics."

The Civil War Round Table (Chicago) presented Professor Herman Hattaway at its February 8 meeting. Professor Hattaway delivered his "How the North Won." Paul J. Beaver spoke on "Lincoln's Political Rise in Central Illinois" at the June 14 meeting. This round table has announced the availability in cassette of Harold Hyman's lecture "Has the Lincoln Conspiracy Theme Been Exhausted?" which he delivered on October 13, 1978, and William B. Hesseltine's "Lincoln and Reconstruction," which was delivered on February 6, 1959. Orders should be placed with Pat Sumner, 403 Hatlen, Mt. Prospect, Illinois, 60056. The cost of each tape is $9.00 including shipping. Dr. John K. Lattimer presented his "A Doctor Looks at Abraham Lincoln" before the Civil War Round Table of New York on February 13. Professor Robert W. Johannsen, James G. Randall Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Illinois, delivered the fall 1984, Pettyjohn Distinguished Lecture at Washington State University. In his paper "The Tribe of Abraham Lincoln in Washington Territory," Professor Johannsen discussed Lincoln's political liability in Washington Territory, where he outraged local Republicans by appointing his old Illinois friends to the patronage positions of the territory. Alan T. Nolan Esq., gave his lecture "Ex Parte Milligan: A Curb on Executive and Military Power" before the Indiana Historical Society on January 27. This lecture was the second in the series Indiana and the United States Constitution. Attorney Nolan, already known for his military history entitled The Iron Brigade, discussed the political context of the Milligan case, which was probably the most famous case from Indiana to ever reach the United States Supreme Court.

The Eighth Annual R. Gerald McMurtry Lecture sponsored by the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, Fort Wayne, was held on May 9, with a presentation of "How Lincoln Won the War With Metaphors" by James M. McPherson. Copies of this lecture are now in print and are available from the library. Distinguished historian and president of Texas A & M, Frank E. Vandiver, will deliver the Ninth Annual R. Gerald McMurtry Lecture on May 1, 1986. Page  [End Page 46]

Conferences

The John F. Kennedy Library, Dorchester, Massachusetts, along with the Dorchester Historical Society, presented "An Evening With Congressman A. Lincoln" on February 19. Professor Stephen B. Oates presented the main address and William F. Hanna discussed the 1848 visit of Abraham Lincoln to Massachusetts when he campaigned on behalf of Zachary Taylor. Through the organizational efforts of Harold Holzer, a symposium entitled " Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation," cosponsored by the New York State Library and the New York State Museum, was presented in Albany on February 23. Participants at the conference included LaWanda Cox, Gabor S. Boritt, Harold Holzer, Mark E. Neely, Jr., Joseph T. Reidy, Robert Engs and this author. The symposium was presented in conjunction with the exhibit of one of the nation's greatest treasures owned by the state of New York, the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln on September 22, 1862.

The Friends of the Library of Brown University and the Lincoln Group of Boston presented a symposium at Ford's Theatre on April 13 entitled "Abraham Lincoln and the American Political Tradition." This author presented "Collecting Lincoln: What's Left to Collect?" Jennifer B. Lee gave "Treasurers in the McLellan Lincoln Collection at Brown University," and a multi-image presentation, entitled "Lincoln Dollars and Cents: The Commercialization of Abraham Lincoln," was given by Richard and Kellie Gutman. A conference on the Civil War in Missouri, sponsored by the Missouri Historical Society, was presented May 31-June 1 in Forest Park, Missouri. The keynote speaker was Professor William E. Parrish. The Civil War Institute of Gettysburg College, under the direction of Gabor S. Boritt, was held from June 30 through July 6, and featured John W. Schildt's "Lincoln at Antietam," James M. McPherson's "Antietam in Perspective: The Civil War to the August of 1862" and a tour of Antietam Battlefield with William Frassanito.

The 1985 Lincoln Seminar at Springfield and New Salem, directed by Lee Moorehead, was held July 26–28. Presentations, in addition to the tour, included Wayne Temple's "What Springfield was like in the Time of Lincoln," and David H. Blight's "Lincoln, Slavery and the Civil War." The 11th Annual Congress of Civil War Round Tables, under the leadership of National Chairman Jerry L. Russell, was held October 3–6 in Freder- Page  [End Page 47] icksburg, Virginia. Also in Fredericksburg, Virginia Country Magazine presented a living Civil War seminar entitled Battle of Chancellorsville from October 31 to November 3.

The 51st annual meeting of the Southern Historical Association was held at Houston November 13–16. A session entitled "New Perspectives on the Civil War" was held on November 14, and featured James M. McPherson as presiding officer, with papers by Earl J. Hess entitled "Encountering the Civil War Experience: The Civilian Perspective," Reid Mitchell's "The Landscape of War: The Union Soldier vs. the South," with comments by Phillip S. Paludan and Harriet E. Amos. The First Annual West Coast Civil War Conference, sponsored by Civil War Round Table Associates and the Lincoln Shrine, was held November 22–23. Larry Burgess, director of the Lincoln Shrine, discussed "North/South: Treasures in The Lincoln Memorial Shrine." Grady McWhiney and Mark E. Neely, Jr., discussed Jefferson Davis and Lincoln. William C. ("Jack") Davis was moderator.

Editorials

Michael Kilian pitted Mr. Lincoln against modern-day Republicanism in his column which appeared in the Daily News (N.Y.) on September 3, by having President Lincoln respond to questions in view of President Reagan's acclamation that the South African government had "... eliminated the segregation we once had in our country." To make his point about the stepped-up repression of the South African government, journalist William Safire, in his column of August 11, cited President Lincoln's policy of "gradual, compensated emancipation and colonization" as an analogy to the dilemma of the South African leaders. "Like Abraham Lincoln in 1861, many of us have been looking for a middle way, balancing all interests, missing the undertow that presages a thunderous wave of change [in South Africa]."

On February 11, Mr. Safire discussed "Why We Celebrate Lincoln" and told of how "one stubborn man" made all of the difference. Because of this determination, Lincoln prevented "peaceful separation by the South." Mr. Safire hit home in his comment, which many people believe to be the major concern of our society today — majority vs. minority rule — when he stated, "We are a democracy, and the last best hope of earth, because we Page  [End Page 48] have enshrined majority rule. That is the difference Lincoln made. That is why we celebrate his birthday." Professor Michael Kammen (New York Times, February 2) bemoaned the trendiness of history today and the concentration on the recent past, rather than the more distant. He cites a 1985 historical calendar which does not mention the birth of Abraham Lincoln; rather, February 12 is remembered as the date, in 1955, when the United States agreed to train South Vietnamese troops. Lincoln becomes passé as "instant" history takes over.

Lars-Erik Nelson in the Daily News (N.Y.) on January 18 talks of Lincoln's First Inaugural where the president stated "Whenever they [the people] shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember and overthrow it." Mr. Nelson then goes on to state that the then-public support for Bernhard Goetz, the subway attacker or defender, depending on your point of view, indicates that the people have grown weary of the existing government and the people's support of Goetz is a support of action by revolution.

In a much tamer vein, the Scripps-Howard Service presented comments by Professor John Y. Simon, editor of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, who pointed out that current presidents do not engage in the same quality or "frank" correspondence as we had from Abraham Lincoln or Ulysses S. Grant. The past presidents, like Lincoln and Grant, were clearly the better writers. Tom Wicker, in his column for the New York Times on February 12, hoped that Lincoln's birthday would be a time to remove ourselves from the threat of "sectionalism and divisiveness" over the current president's budget reduction proposals.

In a splendid graduation convocation address at the University of Chicago in June, Professor J. David Greenstone discussed Abraham Lincoln as "our greatest politician." He specifically mentioned Lincoln's self-education and the discipline of a person who wished to learn. To Lincoln, education was a process that continued indefinitely.

John Leo, in his column "Learning to Live With the Blues," which appeared in Time on June 18, discussed Mr. Lincoln's melancholy and why it is not uncommon to find people today suffering from similar depression, not necessarily requiring institutionalization, therapy or drugs. Page  [End Page 49]

Awards

Provoking a great deal of discussion and some controversy, Gore Vidal, author of Lincoln, received the prestigious Barondess Lincoln Award for 1985 from the Civil War Round Table of New York. The Civil War Round Table granted Special Mention Awards to this author and Gabor S. Boritt for organizing the Lincoln conferences held in 1984 to commemorate Lincoln's 175th birthday. These were respectively "Lincoln and the American Political Tradition" held at Brown University June 7–9, and "Lincoln-175" conducted at Gettysburg College September 14–16. The 1985 Nevins-Freeman Award went to the well-deserving John Y. Simon, who serves as executive director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association, Carbondale, Illinois. A publication by the Civil War Round Table (Chicago), sponsor of the award, was printed for distribution on the occasion of the completion of the first 10 years of the Nevins-Freeman Award. This author and Gabor Boritt received the first Harold Awards presented by Harold Holzer through his annual Lincoln article appearing in the Antique Trader. Harlington Wood, Jr., judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and president of the Abraham Lincoln Association; and Lincoln scholar, Professor Richard N. Current, received honorary degrees from Lincoln College, Lincoln, Illinois. Frank E. Vandiver, president of Texas A & M, received the 1985 T. Harry Williams Award from the Baton Rouge Civil War Round Table. Dr. Vandiver also serves as chief advisory editor for The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Wayne C. Temple, chief deputy director of the Illinois State Archives and former editor of the Lincoln Herald, received a Certificate of Excellence for his By Square and Compasses: The Building of Lincoln's Home from the Illinois State Historical Society. This year's Boy Scout Pilgrimage Award issued by the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum featured sculptor James Earl Fraser's "The Statesman." Georgianne Lindemann received the 1985 Civil War Times Illustrated Author's Prize for her "Monarch of the Skies," the story of "Old Abe" the live eagle mascot of the Eighth Wisconsin Infantry.

The "Convoluted Award" goes to the state of New York, which, in adopting a bill to make the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, birthday a holiday, formally dispensed with Lincoln's birthday in order to make up for closing state offices on Reverend King's Birthday. Designating February 12 as a "floating holiday" means that state offices will be open on Lincoln's birth- Page  [End Page 50] day, but that workers can take a holiday on any other day of their choice.

The Lincoln Home National Historic Site

The National Park Service continues its active program to encourage attendance at Lincoln's Springfield home and the visitor's center. Programs during the year included Judith Winkelmann's presentation "Finding Mrs. Lincoln: A Dramatized Interview With Mary Lincoln's Older Sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Todd Edwards" on December 2, 1984, and November 17, 1985; "The Real Lincoln? A Dramatized Interview With Lincoln's Law Partner and Biographer, William H. Herndon" conducted by Lincoln home historian George Painter on December 9, 1984; a birthday reception for the public in honor of Mr. Lincoln's 176th birthday on February 10; "Remembering Mr. Lincoln" also on February 10 featuring actor R. Frederick Klein; "Discover Lincoln Memorial Garden and Nature Center" on August 11; an evening tour of the Lincoln home neighborhood by lantern light on July 26, August 23 and September 27; an exhibition of prints entitled "The Gettysburg Address" during the month of July at the visitors' center; a slide presentation on the history of the Lincoln Tomb on July 21; "Face to Face With Billy Yank: A Dramatized Interview With a Civil War Soldier" on August 16; a slide presentation entitled "The Reconstruction of Lincoln's New Salem" on August 30; Wayne Temple's presentation "Lincoln's Connections With the Illinois and Michigan Canal" on October 27; and Robert W. Johannsen's paper entitled "America's Decisive Moment: Lincoln and the Election of 1860" on November 3.

Exhibits

"The Lincoln Image: Abraham Lincoln and the Popular Print," which was prepared in part to commemorate the 175th anniversary of Lincoln's birth and to accompany the book of the same name by Harold Holzer, Gabor S. Boritt and Mark E. Neely, Jr., continues to draw crowds. From February 4 to March 8, the exhibition was displayed in the Great Hall of the Indiana Library and Historical Building, Indianapolis. From March 19 to May 31, the exhibit appeared at the Newberry Library, Chicago. Page  [End Page 51] Messrs. Holzer, Boritt and Neely presented their paper "The Lincoln Image" on opening night. From June through August, 86,000 people saw the exhibit at the Lincoln Boyhood Home in Indiana. The Minnesota Historical Society hosted the exhibit during the latter part of the year. From May through November 1985, the Illinois State Historical Library and Illinois State Historical Society presented an exhibit at the State of Illinois Center, Chicago, entitled "Lincoln and the Family." A poster of the exhibit may still be available from the Illinois State Historical Library.

The Indiana Historical Society presented its exhibit "To Save the Union: Indiana Regiments in the Civil War" from February 8 to June 1. "U.S. Grant: The Man and the Image" ran from July 23 to November 11 at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. It will then be displayed at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, Austin, Texas, from January 10 to May 4, 1986. James G. Barber prepared a handsome exhibit catalog which includes an excellent essay by Professor John Y. Simon. The catalog is available from the Museum Shop, National Portrait Gallery, F Street at Eighth, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20560.

A grant has been made to permit an extension to the library of the University of Hartford so that the splendid DeWitt Collection of Presidential Americana, in storage since 1972, can be displayed. Edmund B. Sullivan is the director and curator of the collection, and will oversee construction and exhibition of the memorabilia. In honor of Black History Month and Lincoln's birthday, the state of New York displayed Abraham Lincoln's Preliminary Proclamation of Emancipation, which he wrote in his own hand and issued on September 22, 1862.

The Georgetown University Library opened its exhibition "This One Mad Act" on April 14 with a lecture by John K. Lattimer entitled "The Lincoln Assassination: A Reappraisal." The Harvard-Yale Glee Club Concert held in November 1984, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, featured the poem "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight" set to music composed by Ferro Heath of Yale. An exhibit entitled "Lost Cause" opened at the restored White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, on June 2. Page  [End Page 52]

The Arts

Malcolm Forbes opened for the public a new mini-museum at Fifth Avenue and 12th Street headquarters of Forbes Magazine. Called the Forbes Magazine Galleries, it includes the eclectic collections of Mr. Forbes which range from a flotilla of toy boats to toy soldiers, Faberge eggs and his ever-growing collection of Lincolniana. Despite not making the Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles in 1984, a portion of Robert Wilson's gigantic opera, the CIVIL warS, played at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to mixed reviews. Even in the shortened three-hour version, the audience was carried from the Blue-Gray imagery of the American Civil War, to dancing polar and brown bears, to the life and rages of Frederick the Great of Prussia. The re-edited version by D.W. Griffiths of his The Birth of a Nation is now available from Kartes Video. Also available in video (from Film Classic Exchange, P.O.Box 77568, Dockweiler Station, Los Angeles, California, 90007) is the Edison film The Life of Lincoln starring Frank McGlynn. The Forbes estate in Milton, Massachusetts (apparently no relation to the magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes) houses an exact replica of the purported Abraham Lincoln birth cabin. Mary Bowditch Forbes commissioned the reproduction of the cabin. It also has a Lincoln collection which has long been neglected. The trustees are presently looking for ways of conserving and exhibiting this collection.

Actor Robb Dimmick continues to portray Mr. Lincoln in his A. Lincoln Portrait, which was created to celebrate the 175th anniversary, before school and civic audiences in Rhode Island. He presented his program at the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, on February 12. After most performances, a discussion leader emphasizes one particular aspect of Lincoln's life and career and encourages questions and discussion from the audience.

With the renovation and rehabilitation of the Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, only one permanent display exists. These are the items in Mr. Lincoln's pocket when he was assassinated on April 14. Who cannot be moved by the pair of gold-rimmed spectacles with one of the bows mended by the president with twine? The president also carried with him on that fateful night nine complimentary newspaper clippings, a Confederate five-dollar bill (presumably as a souvenier) and a huge Irish linen handkerchief with "A. Lincoln" embroidered in red cross-stitch. Page  [End Page 53]

Syndicated editorial cartoonist Ohman of the Oregonian carried Lincoln in his cartoon "If Abe Lincoln Were President Today ...," indicating that today's public would not be so enamored of our 16th president — his looks, stage presence, voice and positions on issues. This is clearly another case of applying current standards to historical figures. Cartoonist Jim Dobbins of the Union Leader (Manchester, New Hampshire) continues to be the only editorial artist to remember to feature Lincoln each February 12.

From Springfield, Illinois, the "hometown," comes a report from the National Park Service that 500,000 visitors stroll through Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln's home each year. As a result, a two-year renovation project has commenced to assist the 146-year-old home in withstanding the traffic. Lincoln bought the home in 1844 for $1,500.00 when he was 35 years old.

David A. Warren, recreator of Lincoln related furniture and furnishings, announced that he and his company, David A. Warren Creative Features, Suite 1317, Six No. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60602, are now reproducing furniture originally made by Thomas Lincoln. Mr. Warren is also producing plans for a 1/12 scale miniature doll house of the Lincoln home. The fall catalog from Smithsonian highlights dolls from one of the most popular exhibits in the Smithsonian, the First Ladies' Hall. Featured is Mary Todd Lincoln.

Auctions

Sotheby's auctioned historic autographs and manuscripts from the collection of Elsie O. Sang on March 27. Included were Mary Todd Lincoln documents which Mrs. Sang received from her late husband, Phillip D.Sang, whose collection was auctioned over a period of three years by Sotheby's for about 3.2 million dollars. A photograph of President Lincoln and his son Tad, and signed by Mr. Lincoln, sold for $104,500.00, eclipsing a previous high for a signed Lincoln photograph of $13,000.00 auctioned the preceding fall. The King V. Hostik Collection of American Autographs and Manuscripts was auctioned by Leslie Hindman in Chicago on April 20. Highlights of the sale included the syringe used by Lincoln's personal physician, Dr. Robert King Stone, on the president's deathbed. A general store ledger containing Abraham Lincoln's account was also sold. Riba-Mobley Auctions, Inc., conducted three major auctions during the year, which con- Page  [End Page 54] tained much Lincolniana (February 23, June 15 and October 26). Swann Galleries, Inc., of New York City, conducted the auction of William Kaland's collection of Lincolniana on May 23. George Landes' collection of LIincolniana, Virginiana and Civil War books was sold at auction on October 17 by Waverly Auctions of Bethesda, Maryland. Sotheby's conducted an auction on October 31 which featured another signed Lincoln photograph and a printed version of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by the president. One of these went for $297,000.00 last year when Malcolm Forbes outbid H. Ross Perot for it.

Periodicals

The New York Times reported, on February 12, the discovery at Hildene in Manchester, Vermont, of some 20,000 onion skin pages of letters bound in letter books kept by Robert Todd Lincoln. These unpublished letters came to light as a result of the efforts of James Hickey, former curator of the Lincoln Collection at the Illinois State Historical Library. The Lincoln Group of Boston has recommended the publication of its Newsletter with the first issue published in October. A much needed bibliography of Civil War and Lincoln articles is now the subject of the Civil War Monitor (Box 1862, Centreville, Virginia, 22020). Appearing six times a year, this publication is devoted to listing all Civil War studies with a full citation for each article, including author, title, magazine and illustrations. It also provides a capsule synopsis of the work and an evaluation of the sources on whcih it is based. This excellent contribution does what Civil War History did during the years 1959 and 1978.

The 1984–85 winter issue of Sculpture Review featured editor Theodora Morgan's "A. Lincoln — Most Sculptured American." The summer issue featured articles about Lincoln sculptors, "The Shattered Dream of George Grey Bernard" (whose Lincoln stands in Lytle Park, Cincinnati) and "Gennito — Crazy Like a Genius" (his Lincoln sculpture, "Lincoln the Rail-splitter," stands in Jersey City, New Jersey).

The peripatetic Harold Holzer had his 12th consecutive Lincoln birthday cover feature appear in the Antique Trader on February 13, 1985, entitled "Memorial Pictures of Lincoln and Washington." In this article Mr. Holzer highlighted some of the significant events during the 175th anniversary year. Incidents of The War Magazine has commenced publication (P.O. Box 765, Gettys- Page  [End Page 55] burg, Pennsylvania, 17325). This illustrated periodical is devoted to the study of Civil War photography. The July–August issue of the Family Handyman featured "The Lincoln Series," a series of three complete furniture plans for furniture handcrafted by Thomas Lincoln; the September issue featured plans of the Thomas Lincoln corner cupboard. The November issue of Home Mechanics printed the plans for the Lincoln Home. George L. Painter's "Restoring the Lincoln Home Interior: An Interdisciplinary Approach" appeared in the December 1984 issue of CRM Bulletin, a National Park Service Technical bulletin. John Hope Franklin's "Lincoln's Evolving View of Freedom," presented at a joint meeting of the Lincoln Group of Boston and Friends of the Library , Brown University, was published by the Brown Alumni Monthly in February.

The Lincoln Times (P.O. Box 1092, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46206) is now in its second year of publication. The November–December 1984 issue featured articles on Gettysburg and Lincoln's Gettysburg declaration. The January–February issue featured the second inauguration of President Lincoln. The March–April issue discussed Davis's inauguaration as president of the Confederate States of America.

William Hanna, in his "A Gettysburg Myth Exploded" (May issue of Civil War Times Illustrated), proves that the Barlow-Gordon incident, where Confederate General Gordon allegedly offered Union General Barlow water and treatment, never did occur. The September issue featured Richard Pindell's excellent portrait of Edmund Ruffin, "The Unrepentant Rebel."

Lloyd Ostendorf, foremost expert on Lincoln photographs, was featured in Modern Maturity in its December 1984-January 1985 issue. The autumn 1984 issue of Illinois Historical Journal (formerly Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society) featured Harold Holzer's " 'Tokens of Respect and Heartfelt Thanks': How Abraham Lincoln Coped With Presidential Gifts." James T. Hickey's "Robert Todd Lincoln and His Father's Grave Robbers; or, Left in the Lurch by the Secret Service" was in the winter issue. Harold Holzer's "Parlor Album — Lincoln's Ubiquitous Carte De Visite" appeared in the October 26, 1984, issue of Antiques and the Arts Weekly.

The September 1984 issue of Civil War History contained Robert J. Chandler's "Crushing Dissent: The Pacific Coast Tests Lincoln's Policy of Suppression, 1862," Mark J. Stegmaier's "Intensifying the Sectional Conflict: William Seward v. James Hammond in the Lecompton Debate of 1858," and Howard C. Page  [End Page 56] Westwood's "The Cause and Consequence of the Union Black Soldier's Mutiny and Execution." Peyton McCrary's "The Party of Revolution: Republican Ideas About Politics and Social Change, 1862–1867" was featured in the December 1984 issue. The March issue contained William C. Harris's "The Southern Unionist Critique of the Civil War" and Donald K. Pickens' "The Republican Synthesis in Thaddeus Stevens." Herman Belz's "Twentieth-Century American Historians and the Old South: A Review Essay" and "Secession and Southern Banks" by Larry Schweikart appeared in the June issue. Sarah Booth Conroy's "The Ghost of Mr. Lincoln — Mementos of That Terrible Day Keep His Spirit Alive" appeared in the Style section of the Washington Post on April 14.

Dr. James W. Milgram's "Abraham Lincoln Illustrated Envelopes and Letter Paper, 1860–1865" was featured in the July issue of the American Philatelist. Mapline, published by the Newberry Library, Chicago, featured the Brown University copy of the painted photograph of "Lincoln and His Secretaries" in its September 1984 issue. George L. Painter's "Restoring the Historic Scene at Lincoln Home" appeared in the September and October issues of Historico, which is published by the Sangamon County Historical Society. Mr. Painter's "Birth of a Legend: Lincoln's Assassination and Funeral" appeared in the May issue.

This author's annual article on Lincoln for Hobbies magazine appeared in the February issue. Gary R. Planck's "Lincoln News Digest" continues to make each issue of Lincoln Herald interesting. The winter 1984 issue of Lincoln Herald contained Waldo W. Braden's " 'Kindly Let Me Be Silent': A Reluctant Lincoln," W. Emerson Reck's "The Tragedy of Major Rathbone," Kenneth A. Bernard's "Some Observations on Lincon Anniversaries" and Raymond Borchers' "President Lincoln's Car." The spring issue contained William J. McGill's "Rail-splitter on the Boards: The Lincoln Drama," Patricia Ann Owens' "Lincoln and the Adams Family," as well as Harold Holzer's "Print of the Edition" featuring the first full-length, print portrait of Lincoln by John L. Magee. Waldo W. Braden's "The Lasting Qualities of the Gettysburg Address" and Robert B. Howard's "Abraham Lincoln, Governor William H. Bissell and Perjury: The Illinois Campaign of 1856" appeared in the summer issue.

Lincoln Lore included "Lincoln's Deathbed' (January 1984), "Wilkes Booth II" (February 1984), "The Confederacy and the Election of 1864" (March 1984) and "Lincoln and the Blockade: An Overview" (April and May 1984). James O. Hall's "First Page  [End Page 57] War Department Telegram About Lincoln's Assassination" appeared in the March–April issue of the Lincolnian, the newsletter of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia, as did Frank Hebblethwaite's "Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth — A Comparison Talk." "Abraham Lincoln and the Stereograph" appeared in the July–August issue. The September–October issue featured an excerpt of this author's talk delivered at the May meeting, "Abraham Lincoln: The Making of a Constitutional Lawyer."

The February issue of Illinois History contained articles on Lincoln by Illinois school children, including "Dear Spud" by Mark Drespling, "Sarah's Book Agent" by Anna McAlister, "An Election Record" by Paul Brix, "Mary, the First Lady" by Juliana McInnis, "The Great Debates" by Chris Terry, "Freeport's Historical Debate" by Don Shriver, "The Debate Comes to Galesburg" by Mark Conner, "Lincoln's First Vice-President" by Kristy Stevenson," "Mr. Lincoln's Gun" by Carissa Gizelle Climoco, "Lincoln and the Draft" by Ian Brown, "A. Lincoln Appointed Emily Bushnell" by Michelle Bianchi, "The Hallowed Ground" by Mark Moeller and "Thomas Lincoln's Goosenest Prairie Home" by Tom Vance.

The May issue of the Journal of Southern History contained the very useful "Southern History in Periodicals, 1984: A Selected Bibliography." The June–July issue of Timeline, the beautiful publication of the Ohio Historical Society, contained Stephen B. Oates's "Biography is High Adventure," a discussion on his writing biography from a "humanist" point of view. Wayne C. Temple's J. G. Randall — Dean of the Lincoln Scholars" appeared in the June issue of Illinois Libraries. Dr. Temple is particularly knowledgeable about Professor Randall as he worked for him as research assistant.

"History Civil War Descendants," featuring the last surviving descendant of Lincoln, Robert Todd Beckwith, appeared in the April issue of Life. Sandra Martin's "Lincoln's Other Home — A Springfieldian Finds an Old Friend in Washington, D.C." was in the February 7 issue of Illinois Times. Travel Host featured, in its February 3 issue, "Lincoln's Hometown." Charles Wilkes, known for his role as the skipper who seized the Trent, was featured in Donald Dale Jackson's "Around the World With Wilkes and His 'Scientifics' " published in the November issue of Smithsonian. Page  [End Page 58]

Books

The special issue of Books at Brown, containing the workshop papers delivered at the conference "Lincoln and the American Political Tradition — A Symposium on Lincoln's Role in American Culture," June 7–9, 1984, along with the papers delivered by John Hope Franklin and William Safire, and an updated history of the McLellan Lincoln Collection at Brown, is now available and can be ordered by writing to Samuel A. Streit, Assistant University Librarian for Special Collections, Brown University, Box A, Providence, Rhode Island, 02912.

While it was a bleak year for the number of Lincoln-related books, Harold Holzer, Gabor S. Boritt and Mark E. Neely, Jr., authored a most useful supplement to their The Lincoln Image ... entitled Changing the Lincoln Image (The Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, Fort Wayne). This is a successful attempt to "... improve upon" the authors' earlier work. Much of the narrative was delivered at Brown University before a joint meeting of the Lincoln Group of Boston and Friends of the Libraries on October 13, 1984. It is an attractive book with many illustrations, some in color, of Lincoln prints, engravings and lithographs. Gore Vidal's novel Lincoln was issued in an edition of one million paperback copies by Ballantine Books and remained on the New York Times best seller list (paperbacks) for several weeks.

Lloyd Ostendorf, through Morningside Bookshop (258 Oak Street, Dayton, Ohio, 45410), published a new edition of his classic (with Charles Hamilton) Lincoln in Photographs, An Album of Every Known Pose, featuring eight new photographs of Lincoln which did not apear in the first edition. For the collector, James W. Milgram authored Abraham Lincoln Illustrated Envelopes and Letter Paper, 1860–1865 (Northbrook Publishing Company, 1800 South Lane, Northbrook, Illinois 60062). Edmund Sullivan and Roger Fischer's long-awaited American Political Ribbons and Ribbon Badges was published by Quarterman Publications (Box 156, Lincoln, Massachusetts, 01773). Everlasting in the Hearts of Our Countrymen by Joan Chaconas (9102 Cheltenham Drive, Brandywine, Maryland, 20613) and Ed Steers is an excellent pamphlet featuring the Lincoln connections and sites in Washington. Wayne C. Temple (1121 So. 4th Street, Springfield, Illinois, 62703) published his By Square and Compasses: The Building of Lincoln's Home and published a new edition of his Lincoln and the Burners at New Salem. Gettysburg College published James M. McPherson's excellent 23rd Page  [End Page 59] Annual Fortenbaugh Lecture, Lincoln and the Strategy of Unconditional Surrender.

C. C. Goen authored the first comprehensive treatment of the role of churches in the events that led to the Civil War in his Broken Churches, Broken Nation (Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia, 31207). Robert W. Johannsen explored the effects of the Mexican War on the popular imagination of America in his To the Halls of the Montezumas — The Mexican War in the American Imagination. Frank Freidel reviewed this excellent volume in the New York Times Book Review section calling it "... a presentation of the longest and most frustrating war in America's history (other than the Vietnam War) as contemporary Americans, combatants and civilians, perceived it."

Louisiana State University (LSU) Press published Frank L. Klement's excellent Dark Lanterns — Secret Political Societies, Conspiracies and Treason Trials in the Civil War. A second edition of Stephen Oates's biography of John Brown To Purge This Land With Blood ... appeared from the University of Massachusetts Press (Amherst, Massachusetts, 01004). And from the Library of Congress came Paul Finkelman's Slavery in the Courtroom: An Annotated Bibliography of American Cases. This book analyzes more than 80 pamphlets in the Library of Congress collections that relate to cases of slaves in free jurisdictions, fugitive slaves, abolitionists in the North and South, slave revolts and the African slave trade.

The Claremont Institute (480 No. Indian Hill Blvd. Claremont, California, 91711) published Don E. Fehrenbacher's The Federal Government and Slavery, and Rivercity Publishers (Rivercity, Massachusetts, 01337) published Illinois — Its History and Legacy by Roger D. Bridges and Rodney O. Davis, which contains John Y. Simon's "Lincoln, Slavery and Slave Relations." David Brion Davis's Slavery and Human Progress was published by Oxford. As reviewer M. I. Finley stated, this book "...is about the rhetoric on both sides of the debate, of pro- and anti-slavery arguments."

Volume 5 of The Papers of Jefferson Davis which covers the years 1853–1855 — a period in which Davis served as secretary of war under President Pierce — was published by LSU. Volume 8 of The Papers of Henry Clay, covering the period March 5, 1829-December 31, 1836, was published by the University of Kentucky Press. During that period, Senator Clay, assuming leadership of the anti-Jackson forces, mounted a spirited campaign for the presidency, advocating a recharter of the national bank, high protective tariffs and internal improvements — all of which would influence the young Lincoln. The final campaign of Page  [End Page 60] the Civil War, Grant's correspondence with Sherman and the assassination of Lincoln are all included in the publication of volumes 13 and 14 of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, edited by John Y. Simon (Southern Illinois University Press).

Touched by Fire, a two-part project of the National Historical Society, edited by William C. ("Jack") Davis, acts as a supplement to the wonderful Image of War series and presents a thousand photograhs of the war, many of them never before published. Also of interest is Dover's publication of Old Washington, D.C., in Early Photographs 1846–1932. Edward Park's Treasures of the Smithsonian (Smithsonian) features many beautiful illustrations, some of them relating to Lincoln treasures in the possession of the Smithsonian Institution. The National Portrait Gallery published, through the University of Nebraska Press, Indian Peace Medals in American History by Francis Paul Prucha to accompany the exhibit of these artifacts presented by many administrations, including Lincoln's, to Native Americans.

The University of Georgia Press published W. Buck Yearns' The Confederate Governors. Bogg & Laurence Publishing Co. (1007 Kane Concourse, Bay Harbor Islands, Florida, 33154) published a new edition of The Dietz Confederate States Catalog and Handbook, a comprehensive treatment of Confederate stamps and postal history. The Abraham Lincoln Book Shop issued its Catalog 110, Americana, Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.

In The Workshop of Democracy (Knopf), the second volume of his history of the United States, James MacGregor Burns takes the reader from the Emancipation Proclamation to the Great Depression. The author begins by vividly recreating President Lincoln's presentation at Gettysburg. From Oxford University Press came John Tebbel and Sarah H. Miles Watts' The Press and the Presidency From George Washington to Ronald Reagan and, in paperback, The Private Mary Chestnut — The Unpublished Civil War Diaries, edited by C. Vann Woodward. Also from Oxford are David Brion Davis's Slavery and Human Progress and Paul F. Boller, Jr.'s, Presidential Campaigns. The University of South Carolina Press has published William Earle Goghegan's Sail and Steam: Naval Vessels of the Confederacy, William N. Still, Jr.'s, Iron Afloat: The Story of the Confederate Armor Clads and A Woman Doctor's Civil War: Esther Hill Hawke's Diary, edited by Gerald Schwartz.

James C. Barner's book about Georgia's antebellum capitol, Milledgeville, has been published by Mercer University Press. Papers by Richard E. Beringer, Herman Hattaway, Archer Jones and Willian N. Still, Jr., appear in Why the South Lost the Civil War Page  [End Page 61] (The University of Georgia Press). From this press also came Clarence L. Mohr's On the Threshhold of Freedom — Masters and Slaves in Civil War Georgia. Waldo E. Martin, Jr.'s, The Mind of Frederick K. Douglass, was published by the University of North Carolina Press. The third edition of The Great Republic: A History of the American People by Bernard Bailyn, David Brion Davis, John L. Thomas, Robert Dallek, David Herbert Donald and Gordon S. Wood was published by D. C. Heath in both cloth and paper editions.

LSU Press published Zachary Taylor, Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest by K. Jack Bauer and a paperback edition of T. Harry Williams' The History of American Wars From 1745 to 1918. Stephen Z. Starrs brings to a conclusion his The Union Cavalry in the Civil War series with Volume III: The War in the West, 1861–1865 also published by LSU. The University of Alabama Press presented the well received Larry J. Daniel's Cannoneers in Gray — The Field Artillery of the Army of Tennessee, 1861–1865, Warren F. Spencer's The Confederate Navy in Europe and a paperback edition of Attack and Die — Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern Heritage by Grady McWhiney and Perry D. Jamieson.

James Reston, Jr.'s, disquieting Sherman's March and Vietnam (Macmillan) was reviewed by Stephen W. Sears (Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam) in the New York Times Book Review. Excerpted in the New Yorker, Mr. Reston argues that General Sherman's infamous march in the Civil War foreshadowed America's "total war" concept in Vietnam, causing bitter aftermaths of each war. Also about the long march, with lessons from a study of the personal and military conduct of the enlisted men in the Union Army, is The March to the Sea and Beyond: Sherman's Troops in the Savannah and Carolinas Campaigns, a History Book Club selection in August, by Joseph T. Glatthaar (New York University). Burke Davis, "chronicler of the Confederacy," tells the story of the Confederate leaders after Appomatox in his The Long Surrender (Random House). It was a History Book Club selection for October.

Virginius Dabney, the grandson of a Confederate veteran and biographer of Stonewall Jackson, covered the 1932 reunion (the last sizeable one) of Confederate veterans. His The Last Review — The Confederate Reunion, Richmond 1932 was published with The Last Parade by Douglas Southall Freeman in a single volume by Algonquin Books, P.O. Box 2225, Chapel Hill, N.C., and was reviewed by Tom Wicker (Unto This Hour) in September 9 issue of the New York Times Book Review section. The U.S. Army Page  [End Page 62] Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, has published a revised edition (by Louise Arnold) of its bibliography, Era of the Civil War, 1820–1876 (Superintendent of Documents). The Illinois State Historical Society has republished the WPA Guide to Illinois by the Federal Writers Project which, as one may expect, has many Lincoln references.

The National Historical Society (Box 987, Hicksville, New York, 11802) is offering once again the 128-volume set War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies at the rate of five books a month. Those interested in reprints of books about Lincoln which have long been out of print should consider obtaining catalogs from Kraus Reprint and Periodicals, Route 100, Milwood, New York; Peter Smith Publisher, Inc., 6 Lexington Avenue, Magnolia, Massachusetts, 01930; Octagon Books, 19 Union Square, W., New York, 10003; Da Capo Press, Inc., 233 Spring Street, New York, 10013; and Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road, W., Westport, Connecticut, 06881.

Roy C. Colton's The Civil War in the Western Territories, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah was published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Frank W. Hoogerwerf's Confederate Sheet Music Imprints was published as Monograph No. 21 by the Institute for Studies in American Music, Brooklyn College, The City University of New York, Brooklyn, 11210.

For fiction, also de minimus in number, are John Calvin Batchelor's American Falls (Norton) about the battles between the United States Secret Service and the Confederate Secret Service, a spy vs. spy thriller, and John Jake's Love and War (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich). This is the second volume of Mr. Jakes's North and South Trilogy; the first was North and South. Both will be television miniseries.

Ulysses S. Grant Centenary

In addition to the publication of the final Civil War papers of Ulysses S. Grant and the exhibition "U. S. Grant: The Man and the Image" at the National Portrait Gallery, the centennial of General Grant's death was commemorated in other appropriate ways — all under the urging and leadership of Professor John Y. Simon. Professor Simon delivered his "Ulysses S. Grant 100 Years Later" at the National Archives Building on July 22. The Ulysses S. Grant Association and the Commandery of the District of Columbia of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the Page  [End Page 63] United States, in cooperation with the United States Capitol Historical Society, held a ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda on July 23. The secretary of the Army had his own ceremony on July 23 at the General U. S. Grant Memorial. Ceremonies at Galena, Illinois, where Grant lived, and Mt. McGregor, New York, where he died, were also held.

The Civil War Round Table of Chicago will present its Third Annual Assembly with the theme "Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, The Civil War Years" on March 15, 1986. Speakers will include Thomas Arliskas, Edwin C. Bearss, Robert K. Krick, Marshall Krolick, John Y. Simon, Richard J. Sommers, Wiley Sword and Gordon Whitney.

Lance Morrow's essay "Who is Buried in Grant's Tomb?" (Time, September 16) is a splendid review of the general and where he stands in our pantheon of heros.

Reviews

Alan T. Nolan reviewed Gene Smith's Lee and Grant: A Dual Biography in the June issue of Indiana Magazine of History, which also contained John A. Houff's review of volume 11 of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. The September issue contained John W. Rowell's review of James Lee McDonough's Chattanooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy.

Richard M. McMurry reviewed Five Tragic Hours: The Battle of Franklin by James Lee McDonough and Thomas L. Connelly in the November 1984 issue of the Journal of Southern History. William L. Van DeBurg's Slavery & Race in American Popular Culture was reviewed in the February issue by Kent Blaser. Daniel W. Crofts reviewed Walter L. Buenger's Secession and the Union in Texas in the same issue. The August issue contained Warren W. Hassler, Jr.'s, review of volumes 11 and 12 of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant and Charles F. Bryan, Jr.'s review of Chattanooga....

William K. Scarborough reviewed William J. Cooper, Jr.'s, Liberty and Slavery: Southern Politics to 1860; James A. Ramage reviewed volume 5 of The Image of War: 1861–1865 The South Besieged; James Russell Harris reviewed Five Tragic Hours ...; and Hugh Davis Graham reviewed William Hanchett's The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies in the September 1984 issue of the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. Frank L. Byrne reviewed Richard N. Current's Speaking of Abraham Lincoln: The Man and His Meaning for Our Times and Lowell H. Harrison reviewed The Lincoln Image: Abraham Page  [End Page 64] Lincoln and the Popular Print by Harold Holzer, Gabor Boritt and Mark E. Neely, Jr., in the autumn 1984 issue. Robert P. Hay reviewed Boiler's Presidential Campaigns and William H. Harrison reviewed volumes 11 and 12 of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant in the winter 1985 issue, which also contained Victor B. Howard's review of Essays on Lincoln's Faith in Politics by Hans Morganthau and David Hein.

Richard N. Current's review of William Hanchett's The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies, L. Moody Simms, Jr.'s, review of Eric Foner's Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and its Legacy and William Anderson's review of Herman Hattaway and Archer Jones's How the North Won: A Military History of the Civil War appeared in the autumn 1984 issue of the Illinois Historical Journal. Philip S. Paludan reviewed Richard N. Current's Speaking of Abraham Lincoln ... in the winter issue. Robert W. Johannsen's review of The Lincoln Image ... and William Hanchett's review of Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr.'s, A New Birth of Freedom: Lincoln at Gettysburg appeared in the spring 1985 issue.

Roger A. Fischer's review of The Lincoln Image ..., Steve Davis' review of Five Tragic Hours: The Battle of Franklin and Walter D. Kamphoefner's review of A German in the Yankee Fatherland: The Civil War Letters of Henry A. Kircher appeared in the September 1984 issue of Civil War History. David T. Courtwright's review of Gore Vidal's Lincoln and Donald E. Reynolds' review of Walter L. Buenger's Secession and the Union in Texas appeared in the December issue. Joseph G. Dawson, III's review of Chattanooga ..., Major L. Wilson's review of Martin Van Buren and the American Political System by Donald B. Coles, Allan G. Bogue's review of The Civil War Party System: The Case of Massachusetts, 1848–1876 by Dale Baum and David R. Wrone's review of John K. Lattimer's Lincoln and Kennedy: Medical and Ballistic Comparisons of Their Assassinations appeared in the March issue. The June issue contained Frank L. Byrne's review of Grant and Lee: The Virginia Campaigns, 1864–1865 by William A. Frassanito, Mark E. Neely Jr.'s, review of The End of an Era: Volume VI of the Image of War, 1861–1865 edited by William C. Davis and Larry Gara's review of Richard N. Current's Speaking of Abraham Lincoln ...: Ronald D. Rietveld reviewed Professor Oates's Lincoln: The Man Behind the Myths and Ray Fischer reviewed James W. Milgram's Abraham Lincoln Illustrated Envelopes and Letter Paper, 1860–1865 in the September issue of Civil War History.

William F. Hanna reviewed Andy Van Meter's Always My Friend: A History of the State Journal-Register in Springfield, and Mi- Page  [End Page 65] chael W. Kauffman reviewed William F. Hanchett's The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies in the summer 1984 issue of the Lincoln Herald. Gary R. Planck reviewed Cassette Tape Recordings of Richard Blake as Abe Lincoln and William F. Hanna's Abraham Among the Yankees: Abraham Lincoln's 1848 Visit to Massachusetts in the fall issue. William F. Hanna reviewed Gore Vidal's Lincoln, Thomas R. Turner reviewed Richard N. Current's Speaking of Abraham Lincoln ... , and Gary R. Planck reviewed Mark E. Neely, Jr.'s, Escape From the Frontier: Lincoln's Peculiar Relationship With Indiana in the winter 1984 issue. Gary R. Planck reviewed George Tice's Lincoln and Thomas R. Turner reviewed Stephen B. Oates's Abraham Lincoln: The Man Behind the Myths in the summer 1985 issue of Lincoln Herald.

People and Things

The Associated Press on February 12 carried a feature story about Lincoln scholar and Hungarian exile Gabor S. Boritt of Gettysburg College. He was also the subject of a profile in the March–April issue of the Lincoln Times. The indefatigable Jerry Russell, founder of Civil War Round Table Associates, was the subject of a profile in the May–June issue of the Lincoln Times.

S. L. "Steve" Carson was elected president of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia. Edmond W. Bastek became editor of that group's publication, the Lincolnian. He succeeded Edward Steers, Jr., who was instrumental in reviving this fine newsletter.

The Equinox House in Manchester, Vermont, whose guests included Mary Todd Lincoln and Robert Todd Lincoln, has been restored and is now open to the public. Other guests included William Howard Taft, Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt and Benjamin Harrison. It is less than a mile from Hildene, Robert Todd Lincoln's home.

Thomas Schwartz became the new Lincoln curator at the Illinois State Historical Library, succeeding James T. Hickey, who held the position for 27 years. William Beard also joined the staff of the Illinois State Historical Library to conduct research for the Lincoln Legals project. Olive Foster retired as state historian and Michael Devine was appointed her successor. The Illiniois State Historical Library is now a part of the newly created Illinois Historical Preservation Agency. The Journal of the Illinois State Histori- Page  [End Page 66] cal Society changed its name to the Illinois Historical Journal beginning with the autumn 1984 issue.

William S. McFeely, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01002, author of Grant — A Biography, asks for letters or diaries that might shed light on Frederick Douglass and his first wife, Anna Murray Douglass, for a biography that he is writing. Stephen W. Sears, 9 South Huckleberry Drive, Norwalk, Connecticut, 06850, who is working on a volume of the Civil War correspondence of General George B. McClellan, would appreciate receiving any information about letters — personal as well as official — concerning this former commander of the Army of the Potomac.

Necrology

Carl Haverlin, a pioneer in radio broadcasting and longtime president of Broadcast Music, Inc., who had a lifelong interest in Lincoln, died on August 26. During the sesquicentennial, he was responsible for the issuance, as a public service by Broadcast Music, Inc., of short radio scripts, "The Abraham Lincoln Story 1809–1959."

Actress Ruth Gordon, who pissed away on August 27, is remembered for giving a very sympathetic portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940).

The very talented Orson Welles, who died on October 10, made a 78 rpm recording of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the impact of which is still remembered.

Constance Head, scholar of the assassination, died from cancer.

Works in Progress

The Lincoln Legals project, cosponsored by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and the Abraham Lincoln Association, is underway. Outside consultants have been retained and an advisory committee has been formed. These include Judge Harlington Wood, Jr., chairman, Charles Bane, John R. Chapin, Richard N. Current, John Heinz, James T. Hickey, Robert W. Johannsen, Mark E. Neely, Jr., Ralph Newman, Senator Paul Simon, Sally Schanbacher, Judge John B. Hannum and this author. While I think the estimate may be high, there may be 75,000 legal documents pertaining to Lincoln's involvement in possibly Page  [End Page 67] 3,000 cases to consider in this project. Originally estimated to take five years, I anticipate it will take longer.

The papers delivered at the conference "Lincoln and the American Political Tradition — A Symposium on Lincoln's Role in American Political Culture" published by the University of Massachusetts Press will be available in the spring 1986. The papers delivered at Gettysburg College on the occasion of the conference "Lincoln — 175" are expected to be published by the University of Ilinois Press in the fall 1986. Don Fehrenbacher's Lincoln essays will be published by Stanford University Press in the fall 1986.

"The European Image of Abraham Lincoln" by Harold Holzer, Gabor S. Boritt and Mark E. Neely, Jr., will be published in 1987 by Winterthur Portfolio. Their sequel to their The Lincoln Image ... entitled The Confederate Image: Prints of the Lost Cause will be published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1987. An exhibition of Confederate prints will be prepared by the authors and will begin its national tour at Gettysburg College at the time of the book's publication. The Friends of Hildene, who have so successfully restored the home of Robert Todd Lincoln in Manchester, Vermont, will present a symposium July 24–26, 1986, on the Lincoln family, with papers by Mark E. Neely, Jr., James T. Hickey and Stephen B. Oates. Those interested in attending should write to Mr. David C. Sheldon, Executive Director, Friends of Hildene, Inc., Box 377, Manchester, Vermont, 05254.

The University of South Carolina Press has announced a series entitled American Military History which will be edited by Thomas L. Connelly. The first book of the series, by Emory Thomas, will be Travels to Hallowed Ground due in the spring 1986. Other volumes will include Soliders Blue and Gray by James I. Robertson, War in Society by R. Donald Higginbotham, Jefferson Davis and His Generals by Grady McWhiney and The Civil War in Film by Edward D. Campbell. Robert W. Johannsen is at work on a biography of James K. Polk which will bring together recent scholarship on the Jackson period. It will be published by LSU as part of their Southern Biography Series.

The United States Postal Service has announced that plans for 1986 will include the issuance of stamps for each deceased United States president. Page  [End Page 68]

Acknowledgment: Success of this annual article depends on contributions of information which go into its making. For that, the author wishes to thank all of those who have kept him informed during the year. Special thanks go to George M. Craig, secretary-treasurer of the Civil War Round Table of New York, Inc.; the Lincoln Group of New York; Mark E. Neely, Jr., director of the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum; and author and publicist Harold Holzer.

Editor's Note: Mr. Williams would welcome any news concerning Abraham Lincoln to be considered for publication in the next issue of the Papers ... You may write to him at R.F.D. Hope Valley Road, Hope Valley, Rhode Island, 02832. Page  [End Page 69]

Ambrotype by S. G. Alschuler, Urbana, Illinois, probably taken April 25, 1858
Ambrotype by S. G. Alschuler, Urbana, Illinois, probably taken April 25, 1858Page  [End Page 70]