Lincolniana in 1987

Lincoln Group Activities

Governor James R. Thompson of Illinois, the fourth sitting governor to address the Abraham Lincoln Association in its seventy-nine-year history, spoke at the annual banquet on February 12 in Springfield. The governor discussed the relevance for today of Lincoln's Lyceum Address. Lincoln thought that people of his generation were operating outside the institutions of government as an unruly mob, and Thompson stated, "I feel my generation takes these institutions for granted."

Earlier in the day, the 83d Lincoln Day luncheon of the Illinois Republican Party heard Vice-President George Bush. A handsome pamphlet which, among other items, included "Outstanding Lincoln Events through the Years," was distributed.

Governor Thompson, on February 11, accepted for the Illinois State Historical Library forty-two rare historic documents detailing the sale and purchase of Abraham Lincoln's Springfield home. A donation of $250,000 from the Bally Corporation (Robert E. Mullane, chairman of the board and president) made it possible for the library to buy the documents, which were purchased from Ralph G. Newman. A press packet featuring photographs of the sales agreement between the Reverend Charles Dresser and A. Lincoln was distributed.

The Afro-American scholar and collector Randolph Linsly Simpson delivered the address at the February 9 meeting of the Abraham Lincoln Association of South Central Connecticut.

Wayne C. Temple, elder of the First Presbyterian Church, Spring-field, presented a short history of the Lincoln connections with the church on January 12, when the church greeted Governor Thompson.

The annual Abraham Lincoln service of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church (New York) featured Hampson A. Sisler's organ prelude, "Abe Lincoln Turns to Prayer," on February 15.

The New York Avenue Presbyterian Church of Washington conducted its annual Lincoln Day observance on February 8 with an Page  [End Page 63] address by Congresswoman Constance A. Merolla, "Abraham Lincoln: The Myth, the Man, the Symbol of Union."

The Civil War Library and Museum of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion held a Lincoln Day reception on Saturday, February 14, at its headquarters in Philadelphia.

Frank Klement delivered his "Lincoln's Democratic Critics and Civil War Propaganda" at the November 12 meeting of the Civil War Round Table of New York. John Hubbell presented his "Lincoln and the Secession Crisis" at the February meeting of the Cuyahoga Valley, Ohio Civil War Round Table. On February 20, Ralph G. Newman delivered "Robert Todd Lincoln in the Civil War" before the Civil War Round Table (Chicago). Mark E. Neely, Jr., delivered the annual address entitled "Lincoln and the Constitution" before the joint meeting of the Civil War Round Table, the American History Round Table, and the Abraham Lincoln Association of South Central Connecticut on June 8.

Richard N. Current delivered his "A Retrospective Look at Stephen A. Douglas" at the 174th anniversary of the birth of Senator Douglas on April 25 in a ceremony at the Douglas tomb in South Chicago.

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and the Illinois State Historical Society issued its annual report for 1985–86 in February. In its review, mention was made of the reception for Illinois author and Lincoln student, Bob Howard, the opening of the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices state historic site in downtown Springfield, Governor Mario Cuomo's keynote address at the banquet of the Abraham Lincoln Association on February 12, 1986, and the commencement of the Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln Project.

Wayne C. Temple, chief deputy director of the Illinois State Archives, presented his "The Illinois and Michigan Canal" for the Morgan County Historical Society on September 24, 1986. The industrious Temple spoke on the Lincoln chronology before the National Commandery of the American Legion in Springfield on February 12. On February 13, he spoke at the Mt. Carmel Grimke Literary Association. On February 17, the Sangamon County Historical Society of Springfield heard him speak on "Lincoln's Connections with the Illinois and Michigan Canal," and on February 20, he appeared before the thirtieth annual conference of the Illinois Registered Land Surveyors' Association in Rockford. On April 12, Temple presented his "Dr. A. G. Henry, Personal Physician to the Lincolns" before the Lincoln Fellowship of Wisconsin (Milwaukee).

James Gilreath, associate librarian of the Rare Book Room of the Page  [End Page 64] Library of Congress, delivered the address at the 122nd annual dinner of the Lincoln Association of Jersey City on February 12.

The Kentucky Historical Society is proposing to construct a Kentucky history center to be opened in time for the celebration of Kentucky's bicentennial in 1992.

The Lincoln Club of Topeka heard Tim Daniel, who presented on September 3 "The Effie Afton Case: 'Let the Plaintiff show that they have managed their boat with reasonable care and skill.'"

The annual Lincoln dinner of the Lincoln Club of Delaware was held in Wilmington on February 12 and featured William F. Stapp, curator of photographs for the National Portrait Gallery, Washington.

Charles Glatfelter, past president of the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania, delivered the main address at the annual observance of Lincoln's Gettysburg declaration held on November 19, 1986.

Jean Baker delivered her "Mary Todd Lincoln: Biography as Social History," and Mark E. Neely, Jr., and Harold Holzer presented "The European Image of Lincoln" at the February 7 meeting of the Lincoln Group of Boston. At its April 11 meeting, Hans L. Trefousse delivered his "Lincoln and Johnson: A Comparison" and Jean Stonehouse and Jordan Fiore discussed "Mr. Lincoln's Bridgewater Connections."

The Lincoln Group of Boston began its fiftieth anniversary year on October 17 with "The Confederate Image: Prints of the Lost Cause," a slide lecture presented by Mark E. Neely, Jr., and Harold Holzer, and the opening of the exhibit The Confederate Image at Brown University. David Hein gave his "Hans J. Morgenthau's View of Lincoln," and Thomas Turner his "The Mythical Lincoln" at the November 21 meeting.

The Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia heard James Gilreath present his paper accompanied by slides on "The Library of Congress and the Emancipation of Abraham Lincoln" on January 20; the annual Lincoln Day banquet was held on February 12 with E. B. Smith delivering his "The Crisis of Fort Sumter: A Lincoln Success or Failure?"; Clark Evans, senior reference librarian in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress, presented "Abraham Lincoln in the Silent Film" at the March 17 meeting; Terry Alford delivered "The Silken Net: Plots to Abduct Lincoln during the Civil War" at the group's April 21 meeting; and James McPherson delivered his "Lincoln and Slavery" on May 19. Herman Belz delivered "Did Lincoln Destroy the Constitution in Order to Save It?" at the September 15 meeting.

The third annual meeting of the Lincoln Group of Florida took Page  [End Page 65] place February 14, with Harold Holzer speaking on "The European Image of Abraham Lincoln."

Thomas J. Dyba, executive vice-president of Illinois Benedictine College, announced in February the formation of the Lincoln Group of Illinois. The first meeting was June 6 at Illinois Benedictine College, and the seventy-five members heard George Painter, historian of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, deliver his "Herndon and Lincoln: A Continuing Partnership."

James Gilreath gave a slide presentation of the Library of Congress's vast Lincoln collections at the November 13, 1986, meeting of the Lincoln Group of New York. On February 4, James McPherson delivered his paper "Lincoln and Liberty" before this group. He discussed the various definitions (including Lincoln's) of "liberty" during the Civil War and how that conflict changed our understanding of the concept of liberty. The April 7 meeting featured a talk by Frank Hebblethwaite about his curatorial responsibilities at Ford's Theatre and "The House Where Lincoln Died." Helen Leale Harpe discussed "From My Grandfather's Seat" about her grandfather, Dr. Charles A. Leale, an eyewitness to the assassination.

Harold Holzer was the speaker at the 55th annual Lincoln dinner of the Lincoln Memorial Association, Redlands, California, on February 12. His talk was "Lincoln from Life," a preview of the book on which he is working.

The Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Society held a reception on June 28 in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Richard D. Mudd, who donated the furnishings of the restored Dr. Samuel A. Mudd home.

John Lloyd's annual address before the Queen City Optimists Club was delivered in Cincinnati on February 20.

The Illinois State Historical Society held its 87th Annual Meeting from April 24 to April 26 at Galesburg and Knox College, the site of one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The Stephen A. Douglas Association commemorated the 126th anniversary of his death on May 30 with an address by Frank E. Vandiver, president of Texas A & M University.

The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana, conducted a 25th anniversary rededication on July 12 and included "A Tribute to Abraham Lincoln" by Mark E. Neely, Jr. From August 1 through August 16, Abraham Lincoln's arithmetic notebook ("Sumbook") was on exhibit there, loaned by the Library of Congress.

The fall tour of the Illinois State Historical Society (October 16–20) brought its members to "Mr. Lincoln's Washington." Page  [End Page 66]

Yu-Tang D. Lew, director of the Institute of Sino-American Relations, Chinese Culture University in Taipei, Taiwan, was instrumental in establishing the Lincoln Society and is planning an international conference there in 1989.

The Lincoln Home National Historic Site

The Lincoln Home Visitors' Center, Springfield, held a "January Thaw" party on January 17. It featured stories, games, and songs conveying the saga of Abraham Lincoln's life from birth through his election to the presidency. On February 7, the actor R. Frederick "Fritz" Klein portrayed Lincoln in "Abraham Lincoln: A Musical Biography," recreating an 1865 political rally in honor of the president.

Ephraim Fischoff gave his "Abraham Lincoln: The Emancipator's Vision of the American Constitution" on February 12.

The Lincoln Home, scheduled for repairs, did not close until May 26 owing to a delay caused by bidding requirements. While structural repairs are undertaken, the Lincoln Home Visitors' Center will remain open. The Illinois State Musuem's exhibition entitled "Pieces of a Private Life: The Lincoln Home Furnishings" opened on May 23, with original Lincoln Home furnishings on display until November 8.

Summer activities at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site included a thirteen-minute film, "A Visit to the Lincoln Home," prepared in anticipation of the closing of the Lincoln Home for repairs; conducted walks—"Following in Mr. Lincoln's Footsteps" — enabling visitors to view the environment that shaped Lincoln as a lawyer, family man, and politician; and a "Twilight Walk" in the evenings that acquainted visitors with Mr. Lincoln's neighbors. Other programs featured a dramatized interview with Lincoln's law partner and biographer, William H. Herndon, and a dramatized interview with Mary Lincoln's older sister, Elizabeth Todd Edwards. "Lincoln the Lawyer in Logan County: Postville and Mt. Pulaski Courthouses" was presented on September 2. On September 1, a dramatic presentation, "An Ordinary Day," was presented; it focused on Lincoln's departure from Springfield, February 11, 1861.

Conferences

With a generous grant from the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Abraham Lincoln Association presented its fourteenth annual Page  [End Page 67]

symposium commemorating the bicentennial of the Constitution (February 12 and 13) with the theme "Lincoln, the Law and the Consitution." Papers were presented by Roger D. Bridges ("Lincoln the Lawyer: A Preliminary Assessment"), Michael Les Benedict ("Federalism and Abraham Lincoln"), Herman Belz ("Political Philosophy, Constitutionalism and Abraham Lincoln"), Mark E. Neely, Jr. ("Lincoln and Arbitrary Arrest: The Fate of Civil Liberties in Times of Total War"), Philip S. Paludan ("Lincoln and the Political Conversation"), and Don E. Fehrenbacher ("Lincoln's Wartime Leadership: The First Hundred Days"). Frank Williams, Harold M. Hyman, Gabor S. Boritt, and Richard N. Current provided comments.

A session entitled "Why the South Lost the Civil War: A Critique" presented by the Society of Civil War Historians took place on November 12, 1986, as part of the 52nd annual meeting of the Southern Historical Association. Jerry L. Russell of the Civil War Round Table Associates presided. There were comments by Norman D. Brown, Thomas L. Connelly, James Michael Hill, and Richard M. McMurry, with responses by Richard E. Berringer, Herman Hattaway, Archer Jones, and William N. Still, Jr.

The seventh annual Illinois History Symposium was December 5–6, 1986, in Springfield. One session dealt with "Interpreting the American Tradition in Illinois: The Civil War Era," and another related to "Slavery and Emancipation." Judge Harlington Wood, Jr., of the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and past president of the Abraham Lincoln Association, delivered the address "'If You Can Keep It'" at the symposium dinner.

The annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Chicago on December 30, 1986, included a session entitled "Fiction and History: The American Civil War." LaWanda Cox chaired, and papers were given by Gabor S. Boritt ("The Sandburg for Our Time: Gore Vidal's Lincoln") and Tom Wicker ("Writing Unto This Hour"). Comments were delivered by David Herbert Donald and William S. McFeely.

The University of Florida and Vanderbilt University School of Law presented "The South and the American Constitutional Tradition" on March 6–7 at the College of Law, University of Florida, Gainesville. Herman Belz of the University of Maryland delivered the principal address, "The South and the American Constitutional Tradition at the Bicentennial." A section on "The Confederate and Reconstruction Experience" featured Donald Nieman's "The Confederate Constitution Revisited" and Michael Les Benedict's "The Page  [End Page 69]

Problem of Constitutionalism in the Reconstruction South." Don E. Fehrenbacher was commentator.

The tenth anniversary R. Gerald McMurtry Lecture of the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum was observed on May 21 with the presentation of John Y. Simon's paper on Lincoln's relationship with his father.

The Virginia Country Civil War Society (P.O. Box 432, Middleburg, VA 22117) sponsored its symposia on Antietam (April 16–19), The Second Manassas (August 6–9), and War on the Mississippi (November 30–December 4).

The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg was held from June 28 to July 4 and featured William C. Davis ("The First Battle at Bull Run"), James M. McPherson ("The Manasass Syndrome: A Study in Civil War Morale"), Catherine Clinton ("Confederate Women"), and Jean Baker ("Mary Todd Lincoln"). The exhibit "The Confederate Image: Prints of the Lost Cause" opened at the Cyclorama, Gettysburg National Military Park, and Ed Bearss led a tour of the battlefield.

The speaker for the 1987 Fortenbaugh Lecture at Gettysburg College on November 19 was Marcus Cunliffe, a distinguished European student of American history who provided a comparison of Washington and Lincoln in his "The Double Images of Lincoln and Washington."

Sponsored by the Illinois State Museum, Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, and Sangamon State University, the second annual Lincoln Colloquium was held in Springfield October 24–25. Papers were presented on October 24 by Wayne Temple ("Dining With Lincoln"), Thomas Schwartz ("Lincoln's Political Principles"), and Harlington Wood, Jr. ("Lincoln and the U.S. Constitution"). On October 25, Jean H. Baker delivered her "Mary Lincoln: Biography as Social History," Lou F. Holden delivered her "The Todd Family of Kentucky and Mary's Early Years," Charles B. Strozier delivered his "Mary and Abraham Lincoln: Portrait of a Marriage," and Betty L. Mitchell delivered her "The Crucial Decade: Robert Todd Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, 1865–1875."

Editorials

American politicians are not the only ones who must "get right with Lincoln." President Corazon Aquino referred to President Lincoln in her inaugural address on September 19, 1986: "Like Abraham Lincoln, I understand that force may be necessary before mercy. Page  [End Page 71] Like Lincoln, I don't relish it. Yet I will do whatever it takes to defend the integrity and freedom of my country."

The cartoonist Fitzsimmons of The Arizona Daily Star (October 2, 1986) featured the "Young Ronald Reagan" as Alan Pinkerton in the composite taken from the Brady photograph at Antietam with Reagan indicating that abolishing slavery is "a little harsh," as they will lose their jobs, an attack on the president's policy concerning South Africa and apartheid.

On Halloween 1986, UPI carried "Spooky America: Tales in the Spirit of Halloween," which discussed our contemporary residents of the White House who have reported hearing the boots of President Lincoln walking the corridors of the Executive Mansion.

Mark Patinkin, respected journalist for The Providence Journal-Bulletin, featured Lincoln in his column of Election Day, November 4, 1986, and how Lincoln would be confronted and confounded by political consultants if they had existed in 1860.

During the bicentennial year of the Constitution, the debate continues on whether the Founding Fathers implicitly or explicitly opposed slavery. Lincoln scholar Harry V. Jaffa writes in the editorial page of the New York Times for Sunday, December 7, 1986, that the Founding Fathers did oppose slavery, contrary to a U.S. District Court judge's letter indicating that the Founding Fathers "expressly rejected Lord Mansfield's view that slavery was incompatible with common law principles of justice."

Jaffa goes on to say that "it was the reassertion of the anti-slavery principles of the Founding Fathers by Abraham Lincoln, in opposition to the extension of slavery, that led to secession and civil war. But the preservation of the Union, the destruction of slavery and the Civil War amendments cannot be understood except in the light of fidelity to the promise of the original Constitution."

"Washington Talk" in the New York Times on December 12, 1986, tells us that President Reagan, too, must "get right with Lincoln" during the Iran-Nicaragua events. A TV spot compares President Reagan to Abraham Lincoln. "In 1862," the narrator recalls, "it was said of Lincoln: 'In Washington, the most striking thing is the absence of personal loyalty to the President. It does not exist. He has no admirers, no enthusiastic supporters.'" Citizens for America now appeals for stronger support for the current president.

Peter T. Harsted, executive director of the Indiana Historical Society, discussed Lincoln, the Northwest Ordinance, and the Constitution of the United States in the January-February issue of the society's newsletter. In it he discussed Lincoln's early study of The Page  [End Page 72] Revised Laws of Indiana (1824), which contained the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the United States Constitution. It was from the Northwest Ordinance that the state of Indiana was created with slavery prohibited. It was the mature Lincoln who explained to an Indianapolis audience on September 19, 1859, that Congress did have the right through the Northwest Ordinance to prohibit the spreading of slavery and did so. He further affirmed this right at the Cooper Institute in New York City on February 27, 1860, wherein he argued the intent of the Founding Fathers was clear in that the central government was supreme and could impose conditions upon the territories and states, including the prohibition of slavery.

Alan K. Ota's "Honest, Now, When's Abe's Birthday?" appeared in The Oregonian on February 3 and discussed the confusion of Lincoln's birthday celebration in the state of Oregon. State employees get to celebrate Lincoln's birthday twice: once on the first Monday of February and then again on Presidents' Day. Last year, former Governor Vic Atiyeh tried to persuade the state employees' unions to give up one holiday — Lincoln's birthday — in return for Martin Luther King's, but the union wouldn't have it. Now they get all three pursuant to contract.

Russell Baker makes us laugh again in his "Sunday Observer" article, "Outdated Candidates," the New York Times Sunday Magazine, February 7, in which he gives his "line on candidates for 1988":

Gabor S. Boritt's splendid survey of Lincoln studies during the last decade appeared in the February 8 issue of the New York Times Book Review under the title "Looking for Lincoln in the 1980's."

Nancy Korman, in her editorial "Lincoln Taught Us Leadership," The Boston Herald (February 12), told her readers how impressed, Page  [End Page 73] as a family-oriented mother, she is with Mr. Lincoln because of his "hard knocks." She considers him an in-house role model for teenagers and their parents because the children of today have suffered very little adversity and very little sense of purpose, unlike Lincoln. For her, her children should be better if they were to adopt Lincoln's determination to succeed. Likewise, the leaders of today "... are not capable of soaring to the heights that Abraham Lincoln achieved."

Columnist Jeff Brody of The State Journal-Register on February 12 answered an equivocal "yes" to his question "Could Lincoln have made it today?" He had the character, but he "probably would be a different candidate" if he were running today.

On February 12, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described in its editorial, "The Two Sides of Lincoln," how Lincoln still receives almost the "unanimous approval of historians." This is due not only to Lincoln's humility and forgiving nature, but also to his compassion and "toughness," what would appear to be two incompatible traits.

Harold Holzer's "'Honest Abe' Never Campaigned to Be President" appeared in "Viewpoints" of Newsday on February 12. In it, Holzer describes the campaigning (or rather lack of it) by presidential nominees in Lincoln's day. Then, the candidate stayed home, preferring the voter to look at his record. Perhaps with the primary circuses of today, some of the candidates ought to stay home and rely on their records.

President Reagan reminisced about his feelings concerning Abraham Lincoln in "Washington Talk" before school children in the February 13 edition of the New York Times. Unfortunately, the president does not know his history, as he indicated that Lincoln's bedroom in the White House was just as it was in Lincoln's day. To the contrary, what is now the Lincoln bedroom—for visiting heads of state—was, more importantly, the Cabinet Room during the Lincoln administration, where more critical activities occurred than sleeping.

The Sun (Westerly, Rhode Island) on February 15 published "Lincoln's Legacy," which described Lincoln as the modern-day example of compassionate justice, an example against modern-day racism and intolerance in our nation.

The Providence Journal on February 16 misstated "Some Facts in Honor of Presidents' Day" when it indicated that Lincoln was defeated after one term in the House of Representatives. As all should know, Lincoln stepped aside—turn about is fair play—to permit another Whig to run, as had been previously arranged. Lincoln did not grow his beard as part of a disguise in order to sneak into Washington before his inaugural in 1861. The beard was grown Page  [End Page 74] some time before that, perhaps in response to the suggestion by little Grace Bedell. Nor did Mr. Lincoln sneak into Washington because of riots against Union troops in Baltimore. The riots came after Fort Sumter in April. His surreptitious arrival in Washington was due directly to an assassination threat against his life that was planned to be carried out in Baltimore.

The bad news is that shortly before the 122nd anniversary of Lincoln's death, five teenagers sprayed the exterior of the tomb of Abraham Lincoln in Oak Ridge Cemetery with racist slogans and graffiti. This wanton, malicious act provoked an outpouring of generosity and civic-mindedness as the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company donated $1,500 to repair the damage; Gold Ring Company, Inc., a structural cleaning firm from Peoria, completed the cleaning process, and many people offered to assist in the repair of the damage caused by this senseless act.

Jim Cooper, Arizona Governor Evan Mecham's education liaison, was quite upset at the version of the Gettysburg Address contained in the Mesa Public Schools fifth grade text book for omitting "under God." Publisher Simon and Schuster, argues that the version of the address used by them was the most authentic and omitted the phrase.

Springfield, the hometown, has for the last year been enmeshed in litigation in which the complainants argue that the voting power of blacks who reside in the capital city have been diluted in that none serve as aldermen because of at-large elections. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois has taken jurisdiction and mandated changes in the method of electing aldermen. Despite the controversy, the judicial and democratic systems are at work to correct what Judge Harold Baker believes to be "less opportunity [for blacks] than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice."

The Arts

Carlton G. Grode has prepared, in a limited edition, a collage of stamps portraying Abraham Lincoln (253 Fifth St., Neenah, WI 54956).

The United States Postal Service, on the 125th anniversary of the publishing of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," honored its author, Julia Ward Howe, with a 14 cent stamp.

Tom Priedeaux's The Last of Mrs. Lincoln, which starred Julie Harris, is now available in video from U.S.A. Home Video.

Two plays about Booker T. Washington appeared. The first, Boogie Page  [End Page 75] Woogie and Booker T. by Wesley Brown, played at New York's New Federal Theatre. A play with music about a confrontation between Booker T. Washington and a number of detractors who challenged his position as the spokesman for blacks in America at the turn of the century, it examines the continuing tragedy of racism. The second play, Cast Me Down, the Tragedy of Booker T. Washington, by J. Howard Holland, was performed at New York's Theatre Four.

Saundra Dunson Franks prepared and starred in the one-woman show, Hats, a Tribute to Harriet Tubman.

The Illinois State Museum presented An Evening with Mary Lincoln on June 6. Genny Brown, drawing from Mary's own letters, presented a 45-minute, one-woman show.

The Malibou Mines production of Cold Harbor opened at the Apple Corps Theatre (336 West 20th St., New York) on March 18 and starred Bill Raymond as Ulysses S. Grant.

A group of nine short pieces by Mikel Rouse, the minimalist composer, entitled "A Lincoln Portrait" was performed by the Mikel Rouse Broken Concert at the Dance Theatre Workshop, Betsy Schonberg's Theatre, New York, on March 16–17. Rouse plans to release these compositions as an album.

Richard Hill, organist, presented an all-Lincoln program at Unity Church of North Easton, Massachusetts, on February 8.

The Granbury Opera House presented the world premiere of John Wilkes Booth, the Myth and the Mummy by Jo Ann Miller and John Sims.

The attendance award for the Lincoln Shrine Boy Scout Pilgrimage on February 12, sponsored by the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, featured Francis Edwin Elwell's statue Lincoln located in East Orange, New Jersey.

New York City is looking for adoptive parents for twenty monuments in much need of repair. Included is Henry Kirke Brown's Abraham Lincoln (1869) located in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, with a replication cost of $40,250.

The New York Times reported on February 21 that more than one hundred artifacts recovered from the sunken first ironclad vessel, the Monitor, will be placed in the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia.

A group of Illinois and Missouri residents is seeking to erect a life-size bronze statue of Lincoln "The Prairie Lawyer" at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Springfield. The sculpture chosen is John Frank's The Prairie Lawyer.

In honor of the sesquicentennial of Lincoln's admission to the bar, Page  [End Page 76] the Edwin M. Knowles China Company has released the first of a series of collectors' plates by Mort Kunstler entitled "The Gettysburg Address." They are available from Strohl's, 118 N. Morgan, Shelbyville, IL 62565.

The Inaugural Committee for Governor James R. Thompson of Illinois commissioned Chicago artist Dan Rupe to design an inaugural lithograph of Abraham Lincoln with the Illinois state capitol in the background. A limited edition, signed and numbered, may still be available from Illinois Inaugural Committee 1987, 18 South Michigan Ave., Suite 1108, Chicago, IL 60603. The menu of the January 11 Inaugural Dinner for Governor Thompson featured on its cover a Wide Awake Banner from the 1860 election.

The Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, Fort Wayne, has commenced issuing a poster each year from its outstanding Lincoln collection. The 1987 poster features a copy of a lithograph of the Emancipation Proclamation. Through the use of skillful penmanship, a portrait of Lincoln emerges from the words.

A beautiful poster was prepared in conjunction with the exhibition The Confederate Image. It features, in color, the meeting between generals Lee and Jackson and is taken from a print in the Anne S. K. Brown Collection at the John Hay Library, Brown University. Copies may still be available from the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, 1300 South Clinton St., Fort Wayne, IN 46801.

In the ABC miniseries Amerika, with all its controversy, Lincoln still loomed large as the Soviet Union attempted to mold the minds of "a beaten people" with images of Lincoln, using him for their own political purposes.

Sally Goodspeed (2318 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218) has published her third book on quilt designs relating to the Lincoln family.

Image Productions and Antietam Publications (819 Fourth St., N. Charleroi, PA 15022) have produced a documentary VHS tape entitled "The Field at Antietam."

Television station KMTF, California, presented Mary Lincoln, a 50-minute show produced by the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences at California State University-Fresno. For information about this program, write to William Monson at the university.

Cable television (Arts and Entertainment network) began a five-part miniseries, "Divided Union," an overview of the War Between the States.

The PBS drama Look Away chronicled the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, who was portrayed by Ellen Burstyn. Page  [End Page 77]

Robert Wilson's long-awaited fifth (and final) act of his gigantic The CIVIL WarS: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on December 14, 1986. Donal Henahan described act five in the New York Times on December 16 as follows:

Leslie Bennett's article "'Civil Wars' Singer Gets into Harness, Literally," that appeared in the New York Times on December 23, describes how opera singer Harlan Foss plays the fifteen-foot Lincoln in Wilson's opera. When he undertook the role, he had many questions and wanted to confront the composer with them. When Foss confronted Wilson, the response he received was, "I have no answers, so don't ask me any questions." Lincoln is depicted as "Christlike imagery [and] that of a savior or prophet."

And more was heard on Wilson's opera from reviewer Frank Rich in his article appearing in the January 8 issue of the New York Times. It was not good. Rich believed that this effort failed and "suggested that the theatre of images can still fall prey to the all-American literary tradition of megalomaniacal overkill."

Plans are underway for a Lloyd Ostendorf Gallery of Lincoln photographs at the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, Fort Wayne.

"Lincoln's Memorial," with research by Mark E. Neely, Jr., and Harold Holzer with Lincoln family photographs never before published, appeared in the July issue of Life. The photographs are part of a treasure trove of some four hundred photographs purchased by the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum; the library plans to publish the complete archives. Mark E. Neely. Jr., Harold Holzer, and Gabor S. Boritt coauthored the seminal work, The Confederate Image: Prints of the Lost Cause (UNC). This major contribution to southern iconography in general, and the Confederacy in particular, examines the lithographs and engravings cherished by south- Page  [End Page 78] erners after the Civil War. Ironically, the Confederate prints were mostly published in the North.

The Lincoln figure by Gutzon Borglum at Mount Rushmore turned fifty years old on July 4, and to commemorate, Marc Valentine draped an 85-by-45-foot United States flag across the figure.

Jim Dobbins's annual Lincoln cartoon appeared in the Manchester Union Leader on February 12, and Lloyd Ostendorf's in the Dayton Daily News and Journal Herald on February 16.

The University Press of New England has published John H. Dreyfhout's The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens in paperback.

Exhibits and Collections

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin presented "The Iconography of Lincoln" from January 26-March 6 at its headquarters in Madison. The exhibit featured photographs, historic prints, and other memorabilia of the sixteenth president.

The exhibit "The Confederate Image: Prints of the Lost Cause" opened at Gettysburg College on March 28 and then traveled across town to the Gettysburg National Military Park with opening ceremonies on July 2. A handsome descriptive brochure was published to accompany the exhibit and is available by writing Gabor S. Boritt at Gettysburg College. Professor Boritt delivered, at the time of the opening, the inaugural lecture for the Robert C. Fluhrer Chair of Civil War Studies, "Abraham Lincoln: The War Opponent as President." The exhibit will also travel to Brown University, the Newberry Library, Chicago, Lincoln National Boyhood Memorial, Indiana, the Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, and Appomattox Court-house National Historical Site.

West Virginia Wesleyan College (Buckhannon, WV 26201) announced that it had received more than 2,000 books, photographs, and documents relating to Abraham Lincoln. This Lincoln collection was compiled by the late Dr. Charles Aubrey Jones, who died in 1974. A former Wesleyan graduate, Jones had served as personal secretary to Ohio U.S. Senator Frank B. Willis and as personal secretary to Ohio Governor Myers Y. Cooper. Jones's interest in Lincoln began when he met Colonel O. H. Oldroyd, who was then the custodian of the house where Lincoln died in Washington.

An exhibit entitled "Lincoln Photographs from the Vroegindewey-Wright Collection" was held at the Illinois State Museum from June 28 to September 6.

To celebrate 125 years of the Great Hall of the Cooper Institute, Page  [End Page 79] New York, "The Great Hall: A History of Protest, Reform and Education" was presented to the public during 1987.

Auctions

Riba-Mobley Auctions held an auction on October 25, 1986, which among many items featured a bronze bust of Lincoln by George E. Bissell ($8,500) and a life-size plaster bust of Lincoln draped with a Roman toga by Volk ($1,500).

At its auction on February 21, 1987, Riba-Mobley attempted to sell a solid gold plate presented to A. Lincoln in 1861; it was withdrawn when bidders failed to reach the "reserve."

The Lincoln manuscript speech on "Discoveries and Inventions" (9 1/4 pages) was sold by Christie's for the sum of $104,500 on May 11. At the same sale, a miniature booklet of the Proclamation of Emancipation, in which it was stated that one million copies were originally printed, was sold for $1,760.

A survey description (not a plat plan) in Lincoln's hand sold for $16,500 at Sotheby's on May 13, 1987. Lincoln's ambiguous and disengaging letter to Mary Owens of May 7, 1837, was sold on October 23 for $77,000; Lincoln's handwritten note on slavery went for $82,500.

The Cases of the Missing Documents

Two events during the year caused great concern in the collecting and archival communities. In the spring, the Associated Press reported that many historical documents, including some in the hand of Lincoln, had been stolen from the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia. Litigation commenced in Boston against Clive E. Driver, a former director of the collection, and Paul C. Richards, a manuscript dealer from Templeton, Massachusetts. I, too, had been victimized for, without knowledge of this event, had purchased one of the Lincoln documents from Richards in 1985. Of course, if Rosenbach proves ownership, this manuscript and others found must and will willingly be returned. In addition to ethical and moral considerations, a purchaser even without knowledge and acting in good faith has no better title than the person who sold it. The complaint alleges that Driver misappropriated the documents and that Richards sold some of them. At his deposition, Richards exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and continues in the manuscript business. However, he is restrained from Page  [End Page 80] selling more of the documents purportedly belonging to the Rosenbach Museum and Library.

The second debacle received more notoriety with the arrest of art historian and portrait painter Charles Merrill Mount a/k/a Sherman Suchow. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, more than two hundred Civil War-era documents, including at least one Lincoln executive order, were found in a safe deposit box used by Mount. The Library of Congress and National Archives are checking their inventories.

Questions abound here: even with diminishing budgets, what controls are in place by libraries and institutions to prevent theft? Are they sufficient? Even so, may some documents slip through? What checking do dealers perform to determine provenance and true ownership? Did Richards know that Driver was the director of the Rosenbach with access to all of the documents, and did he bother to check with the Rosenbach when they were offered to him? Can a collector or purchaser rely on the representations of a "reputable" dealer that the article is genuine, and the seller has good title to it? Such questions must and should be addressed.

Awards

George Painter, historian for the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield and contributor to The Lincoln Chronicle, received the 1986 Regional Director's Award for Outstanding Leadership in Environmental Resources Management for his work as coauthor of the second edition of Seventeen Years at Eighth and Jackson.

The 1986 National Book Critics Circle Award for biography went to Tombee: Portrait of a Cotton Planter by Theodore Rosengarten (Morrow), a book that we recommended in last year's "Lincolniana."

Each year, Indiana University, through its Social Studies Development Center, sponsors a Lincoln Era Essay Contest. The sixth annual award winners for 1987 had their essays published during fall 1987. The topic was Lincoln and the Constitution. Those interested may write to Michele Dietrich, Social Studies Development Center, 2805 E. 10th St., Rm. 110, Bloomington, IN 47405.

The National Park Service at the Lincoln Home presented awards for its essay competition entitled "Lincoln and the Constitution" on February 12. Winner of the first prize was Jonathan Penn. Second prize winner was Kim Turner.

Ralph Geoffrey Newman was named the recipient of the 1987 Page  [End Page 81] Barondess/Lincoln Award presented by the Civil War Round Table of New York.

Mark E. Neely, Jr., and R. Gerald McMurtry, coauthors of The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln, and Charles B. Strozier, producer of the documentary "Mr. Lincoln of Illinois," received Awards of Superior Achievement from the Illinois State Historical Society at its annual meeting on April 25.

Frank J. Williams received a Doctor of Humane Letters (honorarius causa) from Lincoln College, Lincoln, Illinois, on May 9.

Roy Morris, Jr., received the 1987 Author's Prize from Civil War Times Illustrated for his "I Am Dying, Egypt, Dying."

The winners of the Fred Schwengel Lincoln Contest conducted by Northeast Missouri State University were Susan Kimbele, Janeen Kent, and Kristi Hall.

James T. Hickey received the [Chicago] Civil War Round Table's Nevins-Freeman award on September 11.

Periodicals

How many have visited the Lincoln Memorial and noticed the eloquent message engraved behind Mr. Lincoln and wondered who wrote it? H. Wayne Morgan in his "An Epitaph for Mr. Lincoln" appearing in the February-March 1987 issue of American Heritage tells us about the origin of this most fitting inscription and its author, Royal Cortissoz, who for fifty years was the art critic of the New York Tribune.

Harold Holzer's fourteenth annual Lincoln week appearance in the Antique Trader (February 11) was titled "Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation."

The November 1986 issue of Blue and Gray Magazine contained "'Badges of Woe' and 'Testaments of Grief': Image Publishers Respond to the Tragedy of Lincoln's Death" by Harold Holzer, Gabor S. Boritt, and Mark E. Neely, Jr.

The Mary Todd Lincoln House (578 W. Main St., Lexington, KY) has published a new descriptive brochure. Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee, has published a new descriptive brochure about its Lincoln Museum, and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency has updated two brochures: Lincoln's Tomb and The Lincoln Log Cabin.

The March issue of Civil War History contained Frank R. Freemon's "Lincoln Finds a Surgeon General," John C. Inscoe's "Thomas Cling- Page  [End Page 82] man, Mountain Whiggery, and the Southern Cause," Brooks D. Simpson's "Butcher? Racist? An Examination of William S. McFeely's Grant: A Biography," and Thomas F. Schwartz's "Salmon P. Chase Critiques after that First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln." Joseph George, Jr.'s "The North Affair: A Lincoln Administration Military Trial, 1864," appeared in the September issue.

The third issue of Joe Harsh's excellent review of current periodicals, Civil War Monitor, arrived. While covering the period May–August 1984 and despite the lag in publication, it is still the most useful publication of its kind today.

The December 1986 issue of Civil War Times Illustrated contained Charles Woldrop's article about Sam Houston entitled "A Fallen Raven." Roy Morris, Jr.'s article about troubleshooter and Assistant Secretary of War Charles Dana appeared in the January 1987 issue as "A Bird of Evil Omen." The February issue contained Richard Betterly's "Seize Mr. Lincoln" about the Baltimore plot to kidnap Lincoln from his train. James Goldy's "I have done nothing ..." about officers facing death in Libby Prison appeared in the March issue, and in the May issue, Harold Holzer, Gabor Boritt, and Mark Neely, Jr., discussed the prints produced to depict the surrender at Appomattox in their "Lee Surrenders?" The 25th anniversary issue contained a special introduction entitled "The Civil War: Its Heritage," Tom Wicker's "The Scourge of War Past Away," Robert Penn Warren's "To Keep His Memory Green," Richard Pindell's "The Technological Inheritance," Rita Mae Brown's "Southern Men, Southern Women," John E. Stanchak's "This Imperfect Union," plus a section of Civil War photographs, with many in color. September brought "Talking with Lincoln" (about four interviews by Ohio Republican John Jay Janney) edited by Ellen B. Fredericks, and "The Union Government" by Jeffrey West.

"Lost Cause Art: Prints the North Published for the South in Its Hour of Defeat" by Holzer, Boritt, and Neely appeared in the August issue of Americana. The authors' "The Confederate Image" was the lead article in Antiques and the Arts weekly for October 23

Fred L. Reed III's "Lincoln's Features Have Always Attracted an Interest" appeared in the February 11 issue of Coin World.

Steve Fagin published his profile of Frank Williams's interest in Lincoln ("One Man's Homage to Lincoln") in the February 12 issue of The Day (New London).

The February 1 issue of the Friends Journal contained Daniel Bas- Page  [End Page 83] suk's "The Missing Quaker Letter" about the correspondence between Quaker Eliza Gurney and President Lincoln. Also in this issue was Hi Doty's "Abe Was Honest."

The August issue of Historian contained Kenneth B. Shover's "Another Look at the Late Whig Party: The Perspective of the Loyal Whig."

Jonathan Penn's "Lincoln and the Constitution" appeared in the February issue of Historico, the newsletter of the Sangamon County Historical Society (308 East Adams St., Springfield, IL 62701).

The summer 1986 issue of Illinois Historical Journal contained "Lincoln Family Documents in the F. J. Dreer Collection" by Joseph George, Jr. and "The Obscurity of August Mersy: A German-American in the Civil War" by Earl J. Hess. Harold Holzer's comprehensive "Confederate Caricature of Abraham Lincoln" appeared in the spring issue.

The annual February edition of Illinois History, featuring articles about Lincoln by Illinois school children, appeared this year in a new and most handsome format. The lead article was William Beard's "Abraham Lincoln of Illinois." There were articles by David Langan ("Lincoln's Youth"), Alan Back ("Captain Lincoln"), Joey Lane ("Lincoln the Postmaster"), Flynn Falcone ("Lincoln's Legal Partnerships"), Jimmie McMillian ("The Disgraceful Affair"), Kim Mueller ("Traveling the Circuit"), Marla B. Elmore ("People vs. Armstrong"), Laura Bojanowski ("The Political Rivalry of Douglas and Lincoln"), and Rebecca Jenkins ("Lincoln's First Election to the Presidency").

"Lincoln in Love: Stumbling to the Altar with Abe and Mary Todd" by Cinda Ackerman Klickna was the year's annual Lincoln birthday contribution to Illinois Times (February 12–18). The October 1–7 issue featured Mary Todd Lincoln in "The Feminist Mistake: Historians Obliderate Mary Todd Lincoln," by James Krohe, Jr.

The spring issue of Incidents of the War contained Donald C. McCann's "Anna E. Jones: The Spy Who Never Was."

Autograph Press, 2106 Wilshire Blvd., Box 202, Santa Monica, CA 90403, has begun publication of the Journal of the Lincoln Assassination. A one-year subscription is $9.00. The first issue discussed the journal's editorial aims and purposes including a means of communication for those interested in the assassination. Frederick Hatch's "Eyewitness to Assassination" also appeared. The August issue contained Hatch's "Lincoln's Protectors."

Carl N. Degler's "Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis: The South, the North, and the Nation" appeared in the February issue of the Journal of Southern History. The May issue contained the helpful "Southern Page  [End Page 84] History in Periodicals, 1986: A Selected Bibliography" and David Chalmers's comprehensive report of the 52nd annual meeting of the Southern Historical Association. "The Texas Voter and the Crises of the Union, 1859–1861" by Robin E. Baker and Dale Baum appeared in the August issue.

The summer 1986 issue of Lincoln Herald included John K. Lattimer's editorial: "Lincoln Tradebooks and Their Publisher: Some Advice," W. Emerson Reck's "Dr. Abraham Lincoln," and Edwin Schoell's "The Image Makers: Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Press in 1860." The winter 1986 issue contained H. Draper Hunt's address before the Lincoln Group of Boston entitled "President Lincoln's First Vice: Hannibal Hamlin of Maine," Alfred Isacsson's "John H. Surratt: Some New Views and Materials," and Neill Fred Sanders's "Cotton, Lard and Rebels: James Osborn Putnam as Lincoln's LeHavre Consul." "Abraham Lincoln, the Manager, Part II: Dealing with Severe and Unjust Criticism, How Lincoln Did It" by Don Phillips and Ronald Briley's "White Nationalism and Abolitionism: Abraham Lincoln and Charles Sumner" appeared in the spring 1987 issue. The summer issue contained Richard Colby's "Abraham Lincoln of Pennsylvania (1736–1806) and the Bill of Rights," Don Phillips's "Abraham Lincoln, the Manager, Part III: With Malice Toward None," and Waldo W. Braden's "Abraham Lincoln's 'Little Engine': His Political Speaking, 1854–1860, Part II." Gary R. Planck's Lincoln News Digest continues to survey Lincoln activities in each quarterly issue.

The August 1986 issue of Lincoln Lore discussed "Some French Views of the American Civil War." In the September issue Mark E. Neely, Jr., in "Sherman: Time for a New Image?" presents General Sherman as a Victorian gentleman in war contrary to the standard expected today in carrying out total warfare. The October and November issues discussed U.S. Grant and his actions or inactions relating to civil liberties during the war. Also in October, James G. Randall's seminal work, Constitutional Problems under Lincoln, was discussed. The February and March issues were about "Lincoln's Lyceum Speech and the Origins of a Modern Myth." "Lincoln and the Constitution: An Overview" was in the April and May issues.

The spring issue of the Lincoln Newsletter featured Paul Beaver's "The Lincoln Family in Central Illinois During the Deep Snow of 1830–31." Richard Sloan continues to assist in providing and writing items for the newsletter. The summer issue contained Beaver's "Lincoln the Athlete" and Lincoln news and "Notes" by Richard Sloan and Thomas Schwartz.

George McMillan's "Carl Sandburg's Blue Ridge Home" appeared Page  [End Page 85] in the travel section of the Sunday New York Times on September 21, 1986. On October 26, 1986, the New York Times carried Joan Jacobs Brumberg's "How Sexual Politics Led to the Thanksgiving Holiday of 1863," an article about Sarah Josepha Hale, who persuaded President Lincoln to issue the proclamation making Thanks-giving a national observance. The November 9 issue discussed, in the "Stamps" column of the Arts and Entertainment section, the philatelic issues of the Civil War. "Restorers in Massachusetts Give History a Future" appeared in the December 28 issue and describes the efforts of the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, Massachusetts, to repair original manuscripts; included among them was the six-page Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863. The proclamation had originally been laminated and the conservation center had to remove the lamination by immersing it in an organic solvent. Herbert Mitgang told of the treasure trove of Lincoln documents in the Pierpont Morgan Library in the February 12 issue entitled "Morgan Library Trove Sheds Light on Lincoln." Mr. Lincoln also made the sports section in Ira Berkow's "Honest, Abe Had Athletic Ability." Bill Safire has President Lincoln attempting to answer some tough questions in "Lincoln Meets the Press" in the New York Times Magazine on August 23.

The April 1986 issue of the North Carolina Historical Review featured "Lincoln and Wartime Reconstruction in North Carolina, 1861–1863" by William C. Harris. Harris quotes from a previously unknown Lincoln letter in which Abraham Lincoln writes to Edward Stanly on August 4 or 21, 1862, asking Stanly to see Colonel Vance, the newly elected governor of North Carolina, and to visit the president with the results, as Lincoln was desiring congressional elections for "accessible districts" in North Carolina.

Don E. Fehrenbacher's "The New Political History and the Coming of the Civil War" was in the May 1985 issue of Pacific Historical Review.

Judith Stoll's "Abraham Lincoln: He Was a Postmaster, Too" appeared in the March issue of Postmaster's Gazette. In addition to discussing Lincoln's role as New Salem's postmaster, Stoll mentioned the work of sculptor John R. Frank, who did a sculpture depicting Lincoln as postmaster.

Prologue, Journal of the National Archives (Winter 1986) contained Cynthia G. Fox's "Sources in the National Archives for Genealogical Local History Research: Income Tax Records for the Civil War Years," which included some mention of President Lincoln's own tax liability. Page  [End Page 86] Lincoln's liability of 1864—the first year of income tax in the nation's history—in the amount of $1,296.90 was more than the annual salary of most Americans.

The May 1986 issue of Quarterly Journal of Speech contained David Zarefsky's "The Lincoln-Douglas Debates Revisited: The Evolution of Public Argument."

Holly Danks's "Lincoln," which she originally wrote for The Oregonian appeared in the January–February–March issue of The Regimental Observer, edited and published by John and Fran Satterlee, Lambert Lane, Springfield, IL 62704.

"Henry Clay and the Politics of Compromise and Non-Compromise" by Robert Seager II, appeared in the winter issue of The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society.

The Riggs National Corporation, owner of Lincoln's Washington bank, the Riggs National Bank, featured Lincoln and other famous depositors in its 1985 150th anniversary annual report.

William W. Haggard's "Lincoln's Religion" appeared in the autumn 1986 issue of Sino-American Relations (The China Academy). Michael M. Yaki's address, "The Essence of America," delivered at the third annual Gettysburg Address contest, Taipei, Formosa, on November 22, 1986, was published in the spring issue. The summer issue contained an editorial on the U.S. Constitution and Redmond J. Barnett's "Lincoln's Other Speech: Law, Ambition and Passion in a Youthful County." The autumn 1987 issue contained "Lincoln," a poem by Dorothy Wright Brantlingham.

Jay Fitzgerald's article about "Lincoln Detective" James Hickey, retired curator of the Lincoln Collection of the Illinois State Historical Library and chairman of the Board of Trustees of Lincoln College, appeared in The State Journal-Register on February 8.

The October 1986 issue of the Surratt Courier contained John C. Brennan's "New Light Cast on Two 1865 Letters." Brennan's article "Why the Attempt to Assassinate Secretary of State William H. Seward?" appeared in the January issue. The July 1987 issue contained "John T. Ford and Friends" by Edward Steers.

The February issue of Trailer Life contained Julie and Bob Hansen's "Lincoln's Home Town."

Donnie Radcliffe's "Full Course of White House History Follows a Path that Few Have Traveled" was syndicated by the Washington Post and discussed The President's House: A History, the new two-volume publication by the White House Historical Association in cooperation with the National Geographic Society. In it, the authors describe how President Washington built the Executive Mansion, Page  [End Page 87] Abraham Lincoln sanctified it, Teddy Roosevelt modernized it, and Harry Truman saved it.

Books

Don E. Fehrenbacher's Lincoln in Text and Context (Stanford), containing a collection of nineteen essays, was by far the best Lincoln book of the year. Although most essays were previously published, Fehrenbacher has placed them into a cohesive whole with introductory headnotes and some revisions.

Although entitled Freedom: A Novel of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, William Safire's major contribution properly belongs in the Lincoln category. With more than a thousand pages and an "underbook" of sources and reasons for his conclusions, it is, in my opinion, superior to Gore Vidal's Lincoln, as it has more substance, is more historical, has more themes, and discusses the major issues of Lincoln's time that parallel our own, for example, executive power and privilege and conflicts between constitutional guarantees and winning a civil war. Everything is here: high drama, sex (even flagellation), intrigue, courage, and treachery. The book was properly the Book of the Month Club selection for September and an offering of the History Book Club.

Mentioned last year was a new German biography Abraham Lincoln: Eine Biographie first published in East Germany. It is interesting to note, perhaps because of the Ost Politick, that the same edition has now been published in West Germany.

The Book of the Month Club (Camp Hill, PA 17012) reissued in a deluxe boxed edition Benjamin P. Thomas's outstanding one-volume biography Abraham Lincoln.

Bramhall House (225 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003) has republished Lincoln Talks: An Oral Biography, collected, collated, and edited by Emanuel Hertz. Originally published by Viking in 1939, this is a biography "told" by Lincoln's contemporaries. In a sense, it is the first oral history.

Phyllis Brinkley has written The Lincolns: Targets for Controversy (6115 Imperial Dr., Waunakee, WI 53597).

Roger Bruns, Director of Publications for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, has written Abraham Lincoln, which is part of the World Leaders Series published by Chelsea House. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., has written an introduction, "On Leadership," for this fine children's book. Page  [End Page 88]

Zachary Kantz's The Story of the Election of Abraham Lincoln, with illustrations by Ralph Canady, was published by Children's Press.

Wayne C. Temple has written Lincoln's Connections with the Illinois and Michigan Canal, His Return from Congress in '48 and His Invention for Illinois Bell. Weldon Petz delivered the 1986 Clarence M. Burton Memorial Lecture, "Michigan's Monumental Tributes to Abraham Lincoln" before the Historical Society of Michigan, which published it.

Wiliam Hanchett's excellent historiography, The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies, has been published in paperback by the University of Illinois Press.

Richard Kigel is the author of The Frontier Years of Abe Lincoln: In the Words of His Friends and Family. This represents a portrait of the young Lincoln in words spoken and written by those who knew him (Walker and Company, 720 5th Ave., New York, NY 10019). Walker and Company has also published a large print edition of Elton Trueblood's Abraham Lincoln: A Spiritual Biography.

Old Soldier Books of Poolesville, Maryland, has published Torlief S. Holmes's April Tragedy: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Some personal contributions include Daniel Bassuk's Abraham Lincoln and the Quakers (Pendle Hill Publications, Wallingford, PA 19086), Mabel Johnson's One Land—One Nation (Quality Paperbacks, Boring, OR 97009), Freda Postle Koch's Colonel Coggeshall: The Man Who Saved Lincoln (PoKo Press, P.O. Box 14766, Columbus, OH 43214), and W. Emerson Reck's A. Lincoln: His Last Twenty-Four Hours (McFarland, Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640).

Stanley W. McClure has revised the Ford's Theatre pamphlet for the National Park Service. Likewise, Eastern Acorn Press has republished, in pamphlet form, The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Robert H. Fowler, originally published as an issue of Civil War Times Illustrated.

The University of Illinois Press has reprinted Charles B. Strozier's Lincoln's Quest for Union: Public and Private Meanings in paper.

The National Archives has produced a four-booklet set that includes The Emancipation Proclamation, The Bill of Rights, Washington's Inaugural Address of 1789, and The Great Seal of the United States.

A productive year for books about Mrs. Lincoln included the selection of The Insanity File of Mary Todd Lincoln by Mark E. Neely, Jr., and R. Gerald McMurtry as a History Book Club selection. The August selection was Jean H. Baker's Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography (Norton), a thorough analysis with some thoughts and conclusions with which not all will agree. Page  [End Page 89]

The Trials of Mrs. Lincoln by Samuel A. Schreiner (Donald I. Fine) discusses, with narrative, her final years and comes to some conclusions contrary to the latest scholarship; for example, Mrs. Lincoln was railroaded by her son and his friends, leading to her commitment in an asylum.

Paper No. Two, issued by the Center on Violence and Human Survival, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University Page  [End Page 90] of New York, was Charles B. Strozier's Unconditional Surrender and the Rhetoric of Total War: From Truman to Lincoln, a fine piece of comparative history that examines our country's psyche in demanding unconditional surrender—at least at the end of World War II—and how this thought process emerged during the Civil War.

Richard N. Current's second book of essays, Arguing with Historians, containing several Lincoln and reconstruction pieces, has been published by Wesleyan University Press.

Dover has published A. G. Smith's urbane Abraham Lincoln Coloring Book.

The Penkevill Publishing Company (Box 212, Greenwood, FL 32443) has published Lewis A. Lawson's Wheeler's Last Raid.

James I. Robertson's General A. P. Hill: The Story of a Confederate Warrior (Random House) was a History Book Club Selection in May.

William R. Scaife's sequel to his The Campaign for Atlanta entitled Hood's Campaign for Tennessee is now available from the author (P.O. Box 98094, Atlanta, GA 30359).

Jay Luvaas and Colonel Harold W. Nelson edited The U.S. Army War College Guide to the Battle of Gettysburg for South Mountain Press.

Nat Brandt's The Man Who Tried to Burn New York has been published by Syracuse University Press. The book discusses the eight Confederate soldiers who entered New York City incognito bent on creating panic by acts of arson.

Clara Rising's fiction novel of the Civil War, In the Seasons of the Wild Rose, was published by Villard.

The Division of Publications, National Park Service, produced Fort Sumter, Anvil of War. Gerald F. Linderman's Embattled Courage: The Experience of Combat in the American Civil War (Free Press) was an August selection of the History Book Club.

Thornhouse Press (P.O. Box 528, Simi Valley, CA 93062) has published Women of the Civil War: A Book of Collected Diaries and Journals.

Travels to Hallowed Ground: A Historian's Journal to the American Civil War by Emory M. Thomas (University of South Carolina Press) contains stories of ten of the thirty sites designated by the National Park Service as historic sites of the Civil War and reflects Thomas's feelings about these places. They include vignettes about Harper's Ferry, Shiloh, Fort Pulaski, Kennesaw Mountain, Mobile Bay, Petersburg, and Gettysburg.

Robert V. Bruce's long-awaited contribution to The Impact of the Civil War series entitled The Launching of Modern American Science, Page  [End Page 91] 1846–1876 was published by Knopf and is beautifully written, making the reader believe that he or she is present while the events described are unfolding.

Famous for its exclusion of slavery, The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was produced as a bicentennial handbook by the Indiana Historical Society and edited by Robert M. Taylor, Jr.

The Indiana Historical Society published Indiana and the United States Constitution containing the society's lectures in observance of the bicentennial of the Constitution. Included is Alan T. Nolan's "Ex Parte Milligan: A Curb of Executive and Military Power."

Frederick J. Blue's Salmon P. Chase, a Life in Politics was published by the Kent State University Press.

William E. Gienapp's The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852–1856 (Oxford) is "a monumental work of prodigious scholarship" that is also easy to read. It is the most complete description and analysis of the founding of the Republican party.

Greenwood Press published The Line of Duty: Maverick Congressmen and the Development of American Political Culture, 1836–1860 by Johaanna Nicol Shields.

Roger A. Fischer's Tippecanoe and Trinkets, Too: The Material Culture of American Presidential Campaigns, 1828–1924 was published by the University of Illinois Press.

The Library of America series has produced W. E. B. DuBois, with items selected and annotated by Nathan Huggins.

Mercer University Press published James Oscar Farmer, Jr.'s The Metaphysical Confederacy, about one of the South's most distinguished Antebellum theologians, James Henley Thornwell.

The Historical Guide of the United States by the Editors of the American Association for State and Local History (Norton) was a History Book Club Selection for March.

Oxford University Press published Howard Jones's Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law and Diplomacy.

The twentieth annual Walter Prescott Webb Memorial Lectures delivered on March 14, 1985, were published as Essays on the Mexican War and edited by Douglas W. Richmond (Texas A & M). Included are an introduction by Archibald Hanna, Wayne Cutler's "President Folk's New England Tour: North for Union," John S.D. Eisenhower's "Polk and His Generals," Miguel E. Soto's "The Monarchist Conspiracy and the Mexican War," and Douglas W. Richmond's "Andrew Trussel in Mexico: A Soldier's Wartime Impressions, 1847–1848." Page  [End Page 92]

Don Higginbotham's General Washington and the American Military Tradition has been published by the University of Georgia Press (Athens, GA 30602) in which the author discusses how the military is perceived in this country and the continued acceptance of the standards set by General Washington.

The University of North Carolina Press has published Waldo E. Martin, Jr.'s The Mind of Frederick Douglass, H. J. Eckenroad's James Longstreet Lee's War Horse, Richard A. Abbott's The Republican Party in the South, 1855–1877, and John B. Edmund, Jr.'s Francis W. Pickens and the Politics of Destruction.

The important years of 1864 and 1865 (through April 30) were covered in Volume 7 of the Papers of Andrew Johnson (University of Tennessee Press). One reads with sadness the "ignominious" spectacle of Vice-President-Elect Johnson's address in the Senate Chamber on March 4 and fully appreciates the sincerity of his statement upon assuming the presidency on April 15.

Ron Tyler has written a pictorial history of America as seen through the sometimes caustic eye of the artist in The Image of America in Caricature and Cartoon (University of Texas). Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and others are included in the caricatures.

Michael B. Ballad analyzed the last days of the Jefferson Davis presidency in his The Long Shadow (University Press of Massachusetts).

Vanderbilt University Press published John Appleton's North for Union, the journal of a tour to New England made by President Polk in June and July 1847.

John Mack Faragher's Sugar Creek, Life on the Illinois Prairie (Yale) was also a History Book Club Selection.

John Cimprich's Slavery's End in Tennessee, 1861–1865 was published by Alabama Press, and LSU published Interpreting Southern History: Historiographical Essays in Honor of Sanford W. Higginbotham, edited by John B. Boles and Evelyn Thomas Nolen. Included therein are Charles B. Dew's "The Slavery Experience," LaWanda Cox's "From Emancipation to Segregation: National Policy in Southern Blacks," and George C. Rogers, Jr.'s "The South before 1800."

Mercer University Press published Fiction Distorting Fact: Prison Life, Annotated by Jefferson Davis. This book by Edward K. Eckert discusses Jefferson Davis's annotations of Charles G. Halpien's Prison Life of Jefferson Davis, which, although colorful, was an unrealistic rendering of Davis's prison experiences. Page  [End Page 93]

Catalogs

The Abraham Lincoln Book Shop of Chicago issued its Catalogs 112 and 113 on "Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War."

Broadfoot's Bookmark (Wilmington, NC 28405) published its Catalog 164, "The Civil War."

DDS Autographs (Webster, NY) issued its Catalog 9, featuring Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address, which is primarily comments by famous people about the Gettysburg declaration.

Goodspeed's Book Shop (7 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108) has published its Catalog 601, "Printed in the Confederacy."

Gary Vroegindewey (210 Keene, Columbia, MO 65201) has published a handsome catalog of Lincoln and related photographs.

Reviews

Jean Baker, herself a biographer of Mary Todd Lincoln, reviewed The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln by Mark E. Neely, Jr., and R. Gerald McMurtry for the American Historical Review. Eric Foner reviewed the book in the February History Book Club Review.

James L. Morrison, Jr. reviewed Why the South Lost the Civil War by Richard E. Berringer, Herman Hattaway, Archer Jones, and William N. Still, Jr., in the March issue of Civil War History.

The June issue of Civil War History contained James A. Rawley's review of Jack Bauer's Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest, Barton C. Shaw's review of C. Van Woodward's Looking Back: The Perils of Historical Writing, Albert Castel's review of Volume 7 of The Papers of Andrew Johnson, Harriet E. Amos's review of New Perspectives on Race and Slavery in America: Essays in Honor of Kenneth M. Stampp, edited by Robert H. Abzug and Stephen Maizlish, George McJimsey's review of Douglas Fermer's James Gordon Bennett and the New York Herald: A Study of Editorial Opinion in the Civil War Era, 1854–1867, and Willard B. Gatewood, Jr.'s review of The Destruction of Slavery, Volume 1 of Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation. Michael P. Johnson in his essay "Freedom Then" also reviewed this volume for Reviews in American History (June).

Joseph George, Jr., reviewed Frank L. Klement's Dark Lanterns: Secret Political Societies, Conspiracies and Treason Trials in the Civil War in the summer 1986 issue of Illinois Historical Journal.

Janet Sharp Hermann reviewed On the Threshhold of Freedom: Masters and Slaves in Civil War Georgia by Clarence L. Mohr (Uni- Page  [End Page 94] versity of Georgia Press) in the February issue of The Journal of Southern History. Peter Maslowski reviewed Stephen Z. Starr's The Union Cavalry in the Civil War, Volume 3 (LSU), and Grady McWhiney reviewed Robert Garth Scott's Into the Wilderness with the Army of the Potomac (Indiana University) in the same issue. Randall W. Miller reviewed New Perspectives on Race and Slavery in America: Essays in Honor of Kenneth M. Stampp in the August issue and Richard Lowe reviewed The Republican Party in the South, 1855–1877: The First Southern Strategy by Richard H. Abbott.

Linda Levitt Turner reviewed The Insanity File in the winter 1986 issue of Lincoln Herald. Also contained in that issue were reviews of Abraham Lincoln and the American Political Tradition (edited by John L. Thomas) by Ralph J. Roske, Thomas R. Turner's review of Essays on Lincoln's Faith in Politics edited by Thompson (Morgenthau, Hein) and William F. Hanna's review of the new edition of Lincoln in Photographs: An Album of Every Known Pose (Hamilton and Ostendorf).

Mildred Thum reviewed The Insanity File in the winter issue of News from Historic Hildene, and Herbert Mitgang reviewed the book in the March 8 issue of the New York Times Book Review section.

The autumn 1986 issue of The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society contained Michael C. C. Adams's review of the late Stephen Z. Starr's The Union Cavalry in the Civil War: The War in the West, 1861–1865, Volume 3, William L. Van Deburg's review of John David Smith's An Old Creed for the New South: Pro-Slavery Ideology and Historiography, 1865–1918, Robert W. Johannsen's review of Volume 5 (1853–55) of The Papers of Jefferson Davis, edited by Lynda Lasswell Crist and Mary Seaton Dix, and Major L. Wilson's review of K. Jack Bauer's Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest.

Gaines M. Foster reviewed The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln by Mark E. Neely, Jr., and R. Gerald McMurtry in the spring issue of The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. In this issue were also reviews by Tilden Edelstein of New Perspectives on Race and Slavery in America: Essays in Honor of Kenneth M. Stampp and George C. Rable's review of Abraham Lincoln and the American Political Tradition, edited by John L. Thomas. This was also reviewed by Harold Holzer in the summer issue of Presidential Studies Quarterly.

Why the South Lost the Civil War was reviewed by Richard M. McMurry in the winter issue of The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, as was A Master's Due: Essays in Honor of David Herbert Donald with Otto H. Olsen as the reviewer. Page  [End Page 95]

In his essay, "Republicanism and the Whigs," Stephen Maizlish reviewed Thomas Brown's Politics and Statesmanship: Essays on the American Whig Party in the March issue of Reviews in American History. Also in that issue is Jean H. Baker's essay "And All the Past Is Political Culture," in which she reviews Kenneth S. Greenberg's Masters and Statesmen: The Political Culture of American Slavery and Johanna Nicol Shields's The Line of Duty: Maverick Congressmen and the Development of American Political Culture, 1836–1860.

David Warren reviewed The Confederate Image in The New York Times Book Review on August 30.

Bill Safire's Freedom was reviewed by Joel Silbey in the August 17 issue of the New York Times and by William S. McFeely in the August 23 edition of the New York Times Book Review. John Calvin Batchelor reviewed Freedom in Tribune Books (Chicago) on August 9. Harold Holzer reviewed in the same book section The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln by Mark E. Neely, Jr., and R. Gerald McMurtry, The Trials of Mrs. Lincoln by Samuel A. Schreiner, and Jean H. Baker's Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography.

People and Things

Daniel J. Boorstin stepped down as the librarian of Congress on June 15 after serving twelve years. He is the person who uncovered the box of objects that was in Lincoln's pockets on the night of his assassination and had them displayed prominently in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress, which had formerly been reserved for the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

Although 1,200 Boy Scouts were expected for the annual Lincoln birthday pilgrimage in Fort Wayne, more than 1,700 Scouts participated.

The winter issue of The Illinois Benedictine Magazine told of Tom Dyba's effort to create the Lincoln Humanities Scholarship at the college.

An author's query appeared in the January 25 issue of The New York Times Book Review from Eli N. Evans of One Lexington Avenue, Apt. 3-C, New York, NY 10010, requesting information about Judah P. Benjamin for a biography that he is writing about this Confederate attorney general, secretary of war, and secretary of state.

Judge and Mrs. Jerome Harman have created an endowment for the Harman Lincoln Memorial Lecture at Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas. This general gift will enable the university to conduct Page  [End Page 96] an annual lecture on the life and times of President Lincoln. The first lecture will be on February 5, 1988.

"Washington Talk" in the February 5 issue of The New York Times highlighted Senator Mark O. Hatfield's collection of Lincoln photographs, paintings, and memorabilia hanging in his Capitol Hill office.

The results of a membership drive of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia brought this fine group's membership to 190, with 19 life members.

James T. O'Toole has resigned as superintendent of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in August to enter the U.S. Department of Interior's Management Development Program in Washington. The new superintendent of the site is Gentry Davis.

The Chicago magazine Avenue M contained Frank Sullivan's "The Careers of Ralph Newman" in its November 1986 issue.

The Players Club, founded by Edwin Booth, has become a store-house of theatrical treasures. As it approaches its 100th year, the club has begun a fund-raising campaign to restore Booth's quarters to its original splendor. Among the many treasures is the original draft of Booth's proclamation "to the people of the United States" on the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by the actor's brother. The proclamation is an apology on behalf of Booth and his family to the people of the United States, as well as an announcement of his retirement from acting. Americans were glad when he returned to the stage a few years later.

David C. Sheldon, executive director of Friends of Hildene and a member of its staff since March 1978, has resigned from Hildene to pursue business interests in the private sector. The new executive director is Gerrit Kouwenhoven.

John Ford Sollers, Sr., grandson of John Ford, co-owner of Ford's Theatre at the time of President Lincoln's assassination, has given a collection of theater materials to the Library of Congress. They include a collection of playbills, scripts, photographs and letters, some relating to Lincoln's assassination.

Hans L. Trefousse was made Distinguished Professor of History at Brooklyn College, City University of New York; Jordan Fiore, vice-president of the Lincoln Group of Boston, has been honored by the creation of the Jordan Fiore Chair in Social Justice at Bridgewater State College.

The National Park Service is now charging a $1.00 entrance fee at Ford's Theatre, Washington, in an effort to find a way to relieve itself of the budget crunch brought on by the Gramm-Rudman Act. Page  [End Page 97] One should not hastily criticize the NPS, which does good work at our national parks and sites.

Necrology

Josephine Cobb, retired iconographer from the National Archives, died on October 30, 1986. She was a long-time student of Abraham Lincoln and served as president of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia in 1970 and 1971. It was Josephine Cobb who, as chief of the Still Photo Section of the National Archives, discovered the Brady glass negative depicting the speakers stand at Gettysburg and correctly surmised, as a photo enlargement indicated, that Lincoln was in the group.

The historian Dumas Malone, widely regarded as the leading expert on the life of Thomas Jefferson, died on December 27, 1986.

The distinguished sculptor Avard Fairbanks died on January 1. He was well known for his heroic statues of Lincoln that stand in New Salem, Illinois, Hawaii, and at the United States Capitol.

Jim Bishop, the columnist and author, died on July 2. His The Day Lincoln Was Shot sold more than three million copies and was translated into sixteen languages.

Composer Vincent Persichetti died on August 14. He will be remembered for his A Lincoln Address, prepared for President Nixon's second inaugural concert on January 19, 1973, but deemed unsatisfactory by members of the inaugural committee because of the war comments it contained by Lincoln at his second inaugural. They thought it would not be good to remind Americans in 1973 that the country was at war in Vietnam and at home.

Works in Progress

Arthur F. Loux, president of the Lincoln Club of Topeka, has undertaken a new project, "John Wilkes Booth—Day by Day," which is similar in approach to Lincoln Day by Day; persons with information about Booth should let Loux know at 5805 W. 164th St., Stilwell, KS 66085.

Hans L. Trefousse is writing a biography of Andrew Johnson, with a manuscript to be in the hands of W. W. Norton and Co. in 1988.

Meckler Publishing, 11 Ferry Lane West, Westport, CT 06880, has announced its series of Presidential Bibliographies. Frank J. Williams has consented to write about Abraham Lincoln (1861–65), probably in two volumes. Page  [End Page 98]

Kent State University Press will publish the Salmon P. Chase papers, which may run from four to six volumes. John Niven will edit.

The Office of Public Affairs Communication at Sangamon State University is producing an hour-long documentary on the restoration and preservation of the Lincoln Home, which will shed light on the Lincolns' marriage and family life from 1844 through 1861.

Rutgers University Press has promised to reprint The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln and has obtained the rights to the supplemental volume initially published by Greenwood Press. Professor Gabor S. Boritt has been asked to update the supplement.

William E. Gienapp is at work on a short biography of Lincoln designed for use in introductory college history classes.

Acknowledgments

Success of this annual article depends on contributions of information. For that, I wish to especially thank George M. Craig, secretary-treasurer of the Civil War Round Table of New York and the Lincoln Group of New York, Mark E. Neely, Jr., director of the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, Harold Holzer, and Thomas F. Schwartz, curator of the Lincoln Collection, Illinois State Historical Library.

I welcome any news concerning Abraham Lincoln to be considered for publication in the next issue of the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association. Write me at R.F.D. Hope Valley Road, Hope Valley, RI 02832. Page  [End Page 99]