Lincolniana in 1989

Lincoln Group Activities

The 16th annual symposium of the Abraham Lincoln Association was held on February 12, with papers by John Niven ("Lincoln and Chase, an Uneasy Relationship") and Norman B. Ferris ("Lincoln and Seward: Revisited"). Richard N. Current and Don E. Fehrenbacher commented. The banquet speaker was U.S. Senator Paul Simon, author of the definitive book on Lincoln's Illinois legislative career, the subject of his talk.

David Hein delivered "The Education of Lincoln and Lincoln's Education of Us" on February 21 before the Boonsboro, Maryland, Historical Society.

The 100th anniversary celebration of the Civil War Library and Museum, Philadelphia, was held in January and coincided with the opening of its exhibit, "Fighting for Freedom," the story of black soldiers in the Civil War.

Wallace Best delivered "The Young Lincoln" at the Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, Pomona, California, on behalf of the school's Friends for Preservation. Best also spoke on "Lincoln's Relevance for Today's World" at Pomona on February 13.

The annual Lincoln Day program of the Lincoln Club of Southern Indiana and the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial was held on February 12, with Indiana Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard as the speaker. Dan Weinberg spoke to the club on February 2, and Banks McDowell presented his paper "The Outside World Looks at Lincoln and the Civil War" at the March 2 meeting.

W. Emerson Reck spoke on "When the Nation Said Farewell to Lincoln" at the April 16 meeting of the Lincoln Fellowship of Wisconsin. The bulletin for the 1988 annual meeting, containing Richard N. Current's address "Lincoln, the Constitution and Presidential Leadership," has been published and distributed to the members.

James M. McPherson delivered "Lincoln and Liberty" at the February 4 meeting of the Lincoln Group of Boston. For the occasion, S. Mabell Bates, special collections librarian at Bridgewater State College, assembled and distributed a bibliography of "The Writings Page  [End Page 51] of R. Gerald McMurtry in the Lincoln Collection" at the library. On April 15, Thomas F. Schwartz, curator of the Lincoln Collection at the Illinois State Historical Library, presented a slide lecture of some of the treasures he oversees; he also spoke before the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia on April 12 and the Lincoln Group of New York on April 13.

John Y. Simon presented "Ann Rutledge: Case Reopened" on February 4 before the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia.

Lloyd Ostendorf presented "Illustrating Lincoln" at the 5th annual dinner meeting of the Lincoln Group of Florida on February 25 in Orlando.

The Lincoln Group of Illinois has published a 1989 directory.

This author spoke on "Abraham Lincoln and John Hay: A Comparison" before the Lincoln Group of New York on February 2. President Richard Sloan distributed the 10th anniversary history of the group at the meeting. I also delivered "Abraham Lincoln: Deeds and Misdeeds or Mistakes of a Mortal" at the annual dinner meeting of the Lincoln Club of Delaware on February 9.

For Lincoln's birthday, the Lincoln Home National Historic Site presented "Abraham Lincoln: A Biography in Words and Music" on February 11; John K. Lattimer and Mark A. Plummer delivered "The Lincoln Heritage Lectures" on February 12. Plummer discussed "Lincoln and the Railsplitter Election of 1860," and Lattimer discussed why he believed that Abraham Lincoln did not suffer from Marfan's syndrome. A special exhibit, "Visual Impressions of Lincoln," was on display at the visitors' center from February 11–13.

William Layton presented "Lincoln and the Legacy of Freedom" at the January 17 meeting of the Lincoln Group of Washington. Former Lincoln Group president S. L. Carson delivered "Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis: An American Reconciliation" at the May 16 meeting.

Gabor Boritt presented his paper on Lincoln and Marfan's syndrome at the 57th annual Watchorn Lincoln dinner of the Lincoln Shrine, Redlands, California, on February 12.

On May 25, Robert W. Johannsen delivered the 12th annual R. Gerald McMurtry lecture at the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, Fort Wayne, Indiana. The lecture, available from the library, was entitled" 'The People Will Set All Right': Lincoln and the South in 1860." The library has also published a new descriptive brochure of its outstanding museum and collection, as well as the valuable Guide to Starting a Lincoln Library.

Wayne C. Temple was the speaker at the February 11 banquet of the Mt. Carmel, Illinois, Grimke Literary Association. Page  [End Page 52]

Irving Dilliard delivered "Lincoln's Liberal Legacy" before the Political Science Association at Sangamon State University, Springfield, Illinois, on November 19, 1988.

Phillip Shaw Paludan presented "Lincoln and the Rule of Law" as the second Harman Memorial Lecture at Washburn University, Topeka, on March 23.

Jean Baker presented her paper on Mary Todd Lincoln before the Abraham Lincoln Association of South Central Connecticut on June 12.

On June 2, Charles B. Strozier presented "On the Verge of Greatness: Psychological Reflections on Lincoln at the Lyceum" as the Jack Weinberg Memorial Lecture before the Illinois Psychiatric Society in Springfield.

Mark E. Neely, Jr., presented "Lincoln and the Constitution" before the Montgomery County, Maryland, Civil War Round Table on April 13. The Stephen A. Douglas Association (Chicago) heard Neely speak on "Stephen A. Douglas and the Constitution" on June 3. Neely also spoke about "The Mary Todd Lincoln Insanity Trial" on July 28 before the First Family History/Local History Symposium of the Indiana Historical Society in Fort Wayne.

Lincoln Legals Project

Herbert Mitgang wrote "Lincoln as Lawyer: Transcript Tells Murder Story" for the New York Times on February 10. The account concerns a transcript (the only one available of a trial in which Lincoln participated) of the People of the State of Illinois v. Peachy Quinn Harrison in which Lincoln was the leading defense lawyer. Harrison was acquitted primarily because of Lincoln's lawyering and the decedent's deathbed forgiveness of his assailant.

Conferences

The ninth annual Illinois History Symposium was held on December 2–3, 1988, at the Old State Capitol, Springfield. Among the papers presented were "For God and Country: Illinois Methodist Support for President Lincoln" by Richard Chrisman; "Abraham Lincoln, Ann Rutledge and the Evidence of Herndon's Informants" by Douglas Wilson; "The Lord and the Commoner: Charnwood's Lincoln and World War I" by Helen B. Crocker; and "The Prince on Page  [End Page 53] the Prairie: The Prince of Wales in Illinois, a Harbinger of English Opinion of the Civil War" by Thomas Keiser.

To commemorate the 125th anniversay of the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse, the National Park Service conducted a battlefield tour of the Wilderness on May 7 and of the Bloody Angle and Spotsylvania on May 13. A lecture series was conducted from May 5–11 and included "Tactics in the Wilderness" by Daniel J. Beattie; "Lee vs. Grant: The Generals" by Edwin C. Bearss; "The Battle of the Wilderness" by Noah Andre Trudeau; "The Battle of Spotsylvania" by William D. Matter; and "The North Anna Campaign" by J. Michael Miller.

The Lincoln Society (Taiwan, Republic of China) together with the Pacific Cultural Foundation, the National Central Library, and the American Studies Association co-hosted an international conference on Abraham Lincoln in Taipei from November 12–16. The theme of the symposium was "Lincoln and Democracy," and the play Mr. Lincoln by Herbert Mitgang was performed.

The Civil War Society presented a seminar, "The Battle of Shiloh," from April 27–30.

The spring history conference of the Indiana Historical Society included Gordon Whitney, who spoke on "Lincoln and the Fifth Column: Copperheads in Indiana" on May 6.

The annual colloquium of the Lincoln Group of Illinois was held at Illinois Benedictine College, Lisle, on June 10. Lewis P. Mallow presented "The Life of Abraham Lincoln" as a tribute to the late Tom Dyba, and Wayne C. Temple presented "The Building of the Lincoln Home and Other Discoveries."

The third annual Deep Delta Civil War Symposium was held from June 9–11. The theme, "Leadership During the Civil War," was in honor of T. Harry Williams; Richard N. Current spoke on "Lincoln, the War, and the Constitution."

Petersburg, Virginia, began a year-long celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Siege of Petersburg and Battle of the Crater with a seminar on July 29. John Y. Simon presented "Grant as Commander"; Edwin C. Bearss presented "The Secondary Commanders: Meade and Beauregard"; Richard J. Sommers presented "Grant and Lee: Strategy and Tactics During the Seige"; and James I. Robertson, Jr., presented "R. E. Lee in the Crossroads at Petersburg."

The annual Civil War Institute, under the direction of Gabor S. Boritt, was held in Gettysburg from June 25–July 1 and featured an examination of the Battle of Chancellorsville, with James M. McPherson discussing "The Role of the Battle of Chancellorsville in Page  [End Page 54] the Civil War"; a slide presentation by Robert L. Bloom entitled "Chancellorsville: Then and Now"; a tour of the battlefield with Jay Luvaas, Colonel Harold Nelson, Mike Andrus, and Wil Greene; as well as papers by William Tidwell ("Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Lincoln"); Frank E. Vandiver ("Stonewall Jackson"); and William Gladstone ("The United States Colored Troops").

The fourth annual Lincoln Colloquium sponsored by the National Park Service at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, the Lincoln Group of Illinois, and the Sangamon County Historical Society, was held on October 14 and featured as its theme "The Many Facets of Abraham Lincoln." Robert V. Bruce discussed "Lincoln's Concern with Science and Technology"; Harold Holzer presented a slide lecture entitled "The Image of the Lincoln Family"; and David Green-stone discussed "Lincoln as a Political Theorist: The Problem of Liberty and Union." Wayne C. Temple, chief deputy director of the Illinois State Archives, discussed his research findings for his forthcoming book Lincoln the Lecturer. Don E. Fehrenbacher, editor of The Library of America two-volume collection of Lincoln's writing and speeches, delivered "Gradations in Our Knowledge of the Words of Lincoln." Cullom Davis, editor of The Lincoln Legals Project, delivered "Lincoln, the Lawyer."

Gary W. Gallaher presided over the session "New Directions in Civil War Military History" on November 9 at the 55th annual meeting of the Southern Historical Association in Lexington, Kentucky. Earl J. Hess presented "The 'Face of Battle' and the Experience of Combat in the Civil War"; Reid Mitchell presented "The Union Soldier and the Local Community"; and comments were by Herman M. Hattaway and Drew G. Faust. Kathleen C. Berkley presided over the session "Not Only a Brother's War: Women in the Civil War South," where papers were delivered by Victoria Bynum ("The Struggle to Survive: Poor Women in Civil War North Carolina") and Donna D. Krug ("The Enemy at the Door in the Confederacy: A Crisis of Honor"). Comments were by George C. Rable and LeeAnn Whites. On November 8, LaWanda Cox presided over "Eric Foner's Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution," with panelists Nell Irving Painter, Armstead L. Robinson, and Joel R. Williamson, and comments by Foner.

Editorials

The political cartoonist Jack Ohman, in the October 14, 1988, issue of the Oregonian, portrays Abraham Lincoln giving the full Gettys- Page  [End Page 55] burg Address under the caption "Before Sound Bites" and has him saying "Following Sound Bites: Read My Lips: No Slaves."

In the "Northeast" section of the Hartford Courant on October 18, 1988, Bill Ryan discusses "Dirty Presidential Politics Through the Ages." With the help of Edmund B. Sullivan, curator of the Museum of American Political Life at the University of Hartford, Ryan shows how many prior elections took the low road in vilification of the candidate by each other and the public. An example is the case of the 1860 election; the New York Herald, commenting on the nomination of Lincoln, stated, "They pass over Seward, Chase and Bates, who are statesmen and able men, and they pick up a fourth-rate lecturer, who cannot speak good grammar, and who, to raise the wind, delivers his hackneyed, illiterate compositions at $200 apiece" [referring to Lincoln's Cooper Union speech].

The "Weekend Review" section of the New York Times, on Christmas Day 1988, presented the more telling "Beyond Words, Recollections of 1988" as depicted in cartoons. Victor Juhasz's "Unpopular Vote" shows Lady Liberty being courted by George Bush and Michael Dukakis, but she dreams of Abraham Lincoln.

On Inauguration Day, the New York Times (January 20) presented the "All-Purpose Inaugural Address" compiled by Howard G. Goldberg, who assembled parts of many addresses into one. Lincoln's paragraph is "By the frame of the Government under which we live, the same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom, provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals."

Henry Mayer discussed Lincoln as portrayed in children's books for the New York Times Book Review on February 12. At first dismissing the earlier biographies aimed at children, Mayer highly praises Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Friedman (the 1988 Caldecotte Prize winner).

The Sunday Oregonian (Portland) on February 12 featured Ken Alexander's editorial of Lincoln in back-breaking work splitting rails and saying "Whew! Anything would be better'n this, even politics."

The Register-Guard of Eugene, Oregon, featured Paul Greenberg's editorial "Lincoln Uniquely American" on February 13. The author points out how Lincoln remained moderate, never ascribing to or following the views of those on the fringes, whether Left or Right.

The distinguished cartoonist Pat Oliphant struggled with the issue of how blacks wished to be described in a Lincoln cartoon syndicated by Universal Press. It appeared, among other places, in the Oregonian on March 22 and portrayed Lincoln as not recognizing the class of Page  [End Page 56] people he freed. He states, "I freed the what?" upon being told that he freed "the slaves." He makes the same response when they are called "the coloreds," "the Negroes," "the Blacks," "the Black Afro-Americans," and "the African-Americans." Lincoln finally says "Why can't they just call themselves "Americans? ..." However, the question remains, If Americans of Italian descent can refer to themselves as Italo-Americans, why can't those of African descent refer to themselves as "African-Americans"?

The 1989 edition of Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year edited by Charles Brooks (Pelican) contained two cartoons about the 1988 political debates that feature Lincoln. The first, by Scott Stantis of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, shows a chagrined Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas as they watch Michael Dukakis and George Bush fighting during their television debate. The second, by Linda Boileau of the Frankfort State Journal, shows an advisor to President Lincoln warning him that he could not get a "sound-bite" out of the Gettysburg Address.

Cartoonist Gary Larson, who draws "The Far Side," in May drew Lincoln on the way to Gettysburg by rail. A trainman says, "Well, Mr. President, let's see.... Carry the one, take away three, carry the two ... that would be four score and seven years ago."

Columnist Mike Royko's syndicated column "Lincoln, No Longer Party Favorite" appeared in November 1988. In it, Royko writes that in order to capture votes in the South, Republican leaders like Ronald Reagan and Dan Quayle invoke names like Presidents Roosevelt and Truman as good guys without mentioning President Lincoln. They do not want to remind the South of Lincoln, the Civil War, or his Emancipation Proclamation and, in effect, Royko says that contemporary Republicans regard Lincoln as another "liberal."

The Austin-American Statesman featured cartoonist M. Sheldon's portrayal of George Bush as Abraham Lincoln stating "So What Am I Suppose to Do? Start a War?!" after viewing his nominee to head the Civil Rights Division being led away in chains by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Fort Worth Star Telegram on May 14 depicted Steve Wilson's cartoon of Abraham Lincoln with his hand on his press agent's shoulder; the agent states, "Abe and I have no comment for the press!"

The annual Lincoln editorial from the State Journal-Register, Springfield, Illinois, appeared on February 12 and described how the interest in Lincoln has never waned by indicating the tremendous increase in the number of visitors to the newly restored Lincoln Page  [End Page 57] Home, an increase in 1988 that was 40 percent higher than in 1986, just before the home was closed for renovations. The editorial points out the results of research that seemed to always show five Lincoln characteristics that continually stand out, "his compassion, his humility, his deep faith, his sense of moral purpose, and his sense of humor."

Don C. Wright, the respected editorial cartoonist for the Providence Journal-Bulletin, presented a montage of Washington, D.C., in the September 1 issue, which showed the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, and a monument to Mayor Marion Barry indicating a tombstone inscribed, "Three hundred murders in Washington, D.C."

Arts

In observance of the 125th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, Time & Space Limited presented its "Go Between Gettysburg," part of a larger work called "Civil War Chronicles" by Linda Mussmann, at the Theater of the Riverside Church, New York City, from November 11–19, 1988. On March 2, Mussmann presented part 4 of the "Civil War Chronicles," with her Mary Surratt performed at the Equitable Center, New York City. On May 3, her Lincoln Speak was presented at the Phillip Morris Sculpture Court, New York City, as part 6 of the "Chronicles." Jack Anderson, in the Saturday, May 6, issue of the New York Times, called the production "touching." A grand revival of Mussmann's tribute to Abraham Lincoln took place on September 27 at the Great Hall at Cooper Union, where Lincoln spoke in 1860.

American Audio Prose Library, Inc. (1015 E. Broadway, Suite 284, Columbia, MO 65205) has available two cassettes of Carl Sandburg's recording A Lincoln Album.

The artist Lloyd Ostendorf has produced a special packet of twenty-four of his prints of the "Lincoln Family at Christmas," along with twenty postcards emphasizing this theme.

"Mapping the American Civil War," an exhibit that ran through May 15, was prepared by the Library of Congress. For the occasion, a revised edition of An Annotated List of Civil War Maps in the Library of Congress was published.

Lincoln Savings Bank, New York City, once again issued a Lincoln calendar for 1989 adorned with prints relating to the life of Abraham Lincoln. Page  [End Page 58]

The Huntington Library conducted an exhibit, Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln: The Shaping of the American Presidency, 1789–1865 from September 30, 1988–February 26, 1989. A handsome exhibit catalog was prepared by John H. Rhodehamel.

In an article in the Sunday New York Times on February 12, Jed Stevenson discussed the 80th anniversary of the Lincoln cent. Stevenson indicated that more than a quarter-trillion of the coins have been minted (that is, 250 billion Lincoln cents) since 1909, and this at a time when it has been decided to redo the reverse side of all American coins. Thus, the Lincoln Memorial may no longer appear on the other side of Brenner's Lincoln engraving. In "Pastimes" in the July 23 Times, Stevenson discusses the controversial "greenbacks"—the first U.S. paper money issued for general circulation.

For INTERPEX '89, held in New York City on March 16–19, the United States Postal Administration released a commemorative stamp reproducing the well-remembered carmine and black 90 cent Lincoln stamp originally issued in 1869.

The Lincoln Museum conducted a preview gala at the Larue County Herald News Building on Lincoln Square, Hodgenville, Kentucky, on March 31.

Princeton University Press has published two major volumes entitled Picturing America, 1497–1899, Prints, Maps, and Drawings Bearing on the New World Discoveries and on the Development of the Territory That Is Now the United States by Gloria Gilda Deak.

Arnett's Country Store (1604 E. Cleveland, West Frankfort, IL 62896) and Sturbridge Yankee Workshop (Westbrook, ME 04092) are offering a wood resin figure of Abraham Lincoln on a "high-wheeler" bicycle—an expensive but effective bit of whimsey.

The Three-D Zone (333 N. Hobart Place, Los Angeles, CA 90004) has produced a three-dimension comic book, 3-D Presidents.

The 1989 season of Billy Edd Wheeler's Young Abe Lincoln premiered on June 23 at Lincoln State Park, Lincoln City, Indiana.

Smithsonian Books presented the best book of photographs during the year with its Images of America: A Panorama of History in Photographs. Gleaned from the eight million images in the Smithsonian Institution are photos never before published, many from the period of Lincoln and the Civil War.

Volume 3 of Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Arkansas and the Civil War by Bobby Roberts and Carl Moneyhon has been published by the University of Arkansas Press. Although the original quality of the photographs is poor, the reproduction in this volume is superb. Page  [End Page 59]

The Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, is selling two prints by the artist relating to Lincoln. One is "Lincoln for the Defense" featuring Lincoln as defense counsel in the Duff Armstrong case; the other, in a limited edition of the artist's proofs, is entitled "Young Lincoln."

The Lincoln artist and photograph collector, Lloyd Ostendorf, painted Nancy Hanks for Adin Baber, whose daughter, Nancy Baber NcNeil, presented the painting to the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial at Lincoln City, Indiana.

In honor of the 200th anniversary of the United States Congress, the Library of Congress mounted two exhibitions entitled "The Tides of Party Politics" featuring a cartographic display presenting maps of every congressional election from 1789 to 1989 and "'To Make All Laws': Rare Documents, Portraits, Recordings, Political Cartoons," which featured Lincoln's annotated copy of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Master sculptor Jeffrey Bernard was hired by the City of Ashland, Oregon, to fix its marble statue of Lincoln, according to the March 15 Oregonian.

Herbert Mitgang noted in his article "Lincoln's Notes on Slavery in Book-Fair Gems" in the New York Times on March 30 that the owner of these notes, ambivalent about selling them, had Lincoln's argument against slavery on exhibit at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. This unsigned, but authentic, Lincoln memorandum starts by saying, "If A. can prove, however conclusively, that he may, of right, enslave B., why may not B. snatch the same argument, and prove equally, that he may enslave A.? ..."

The "Connecticut Weekly" section of the Sunday New York Times on April 23 reported the opening, on April 25, of the Museum of American Political Life at the University of Hartford and the efforts of Curator Edmund B. Sullivan to realize his dream of having a permanent museum to display some of the sixty thousand artifacts collected by J. Doyle DeWitt. Mark E. Neely; Jr., and Harold Holzer recount this in their article "Mementos of Politics" that appeared in the August issue of Americana. Other articles about the new museum appeared in the May 10 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education in an article by Goldie Blumenstyk entitled "Trinkets and Mementos Reveal 'Politics from the Grass-roots'" and in the June 22 edition of the West Hartford News, an article by Richard Woodworth entitled "Museum of American Political Life Offers Excitement." The first issue of the Log Cabin from the museum was published in the spring. Unfortunately, a water-line break dumped three feet of water into the museum, causing it to close temporarily in the fall. Page  [End Page 60]

The documentary opera by Edwin London entitled The Death of Lincoln premiered on April 29–30, 1988, at Cleveland State University, Cleveland. The original libretto by Donald Justice is available from Ralph Geoffrey Newman, 175 West Delaware Place, Chicago, IL 60611.

A one-man drama based on the life of Cassius Marcellus Clay, "The Lion of White Hall," was performed on the lawn of his home in Kentucky from June 8–August 12.

Conrad L. Bush has a videotaped introduction to Confederate stamps for rent (Box 956, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549).

The Grand Traverse Pioneer and Historical Society, Traverse City, Michigan, presented the Assassination of President Lincoln on February 9 at the City Opera House. After reenacting the assassination, Weldon E. Petz gave his slide presentation "Assassination and Funeral of Abraham Lincoln." Reports of the activities can be found in the Traverse City Record-Eagle on February 9 and in the Traverse magazine for February.

The Civil War Library and Museum, Philadelphia, presented an exhibit entitled "Generals: Blue and Gray" from July 15–October 15.

Harvard University Press has published Hugh Honour's two-part The Image of the Black in Western Art, vol. 4: From the American Revolution to World War I. Part 1 is entitled Slaves and Liberators, and Part 2 is called Black Models and White Myths. They were reviewed by John Boles in the Houston Post on August 13.

U.S. News and World Report (July 10) reports that, of all the presidents, Abraham Lincoln leads in portrayal in American films, appearing in 133 movies—three times more than his closest competitor, U. S. Grant.

Forbes Galleries has published a handsome illustrated catalog describing its collections. Highlights from the Forbes Magazine Galleries by Margaret Kelly is available from Forbes, Inc., 65th Ave., New York, NY 10011. Many Lincoln items, including a signed Lincoln photograph and signed print copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, are in the section on presidential papers.

The Cooper Union in New York City has a permanent exhibit outside of the Great Hall where Lincoln spoke in February 1860. The exhibit tells the history of The Cooper Union For the Advancement of Science and Art. An address by Peter G. Buckley, "The Meaning of Cooper's Union," is available from the school.

The artist Rea N. Redifer delivered "Lincoln in Art," a slide presentation, at the September 19 meeting of the Lincoln Group of Washington, D.C. Page  [End Page 61]

In commemoration of the centennial of the Illinois State Historical Library, an attractive Lincoln poster was distributed.

Luigi Creatore's new play, The Man Who Shot Lincoln, opened at the Astor Place Theater in New York City on September 21.

Exhibits

The John Hay Library and Friends of the Library, Brown University, presented several events to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the birth of John Hay (October 8, 1988). On that day, in a joint meeting with the Lincoln Group of Boston, I presented "John Hay and Abraham Lincoln: A Relationship Re-examined," and Jennifer B. Lee presented "John Hay: From Poet to Statesman," a slide show of the exhibit she prepared for the occasion; on October 21, 1988, Gore Vidal presented an address on John Hay; on November 13, 1988, George Monteiro presented "John Hay's Literary Career"; and on November 20, 1988, John Thomas presented "John Hay Unbalanced: Perplexities of a Political Biographer." Philip Eppard led a discussion of John Hay in the writings of Gore Vidal on December 4, and on December 11, Patty O'Toole delivered "John Hay and the Five of Hearts."

On February 10, Governor James R. Thompson opened a major traveling exhibit at Chicago's Newberry Library of rare Lincoln documents owned by the State of Illinois and in the custody of the Illinois State Historical Library. Among them were included one of only five copies of the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln's hand and a rare, signed (by Lincoln) copy of the Emancipation Proclamation.

From March 18–June 17, the Cultural Affairs Center at the Chicago Public Library featured an exhibit of items owned by Mary Todd Lincoln as part of the exhibit entitled "A Nation Divided: The War Between the States, 1861–1865."

Tours

The History Book Club sponsored a series of Great Journeys covering the campaigns of the Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea (March 25–April 2); Petersburg and the Retreat (March 29–April 2 and September 13–17); Fredericksburg (April 5–9); Vicksburg (May 10–14); the Eastern Battlefields (June 17–25); Shenandoah Valley Page  [End Page 62] (September 20–24); and the Western Battlefields (October 28–November 5).

Lee C. Moorehead conducted his summer tour of the Land of Lincoln July 28–30.

Auctions

Part 5 of the auction of the Estelle Doheny collection was held by Christie's in New York on February 21 and 22. Many Lincoln items were bid on; a copy of the first edition of the Lincoln-Douglas debates inscribed by Lincoln sold for $19,300, plus 20 percent commission.

Considered one of the best Lincoln letters not heretofore published in the Collected Works, his four-page letter to Jesse O. Norton on February 14, 1855 discussing his hurt in losing the U.S. Senate race sold at Sotheby's on April 25 for $77,000.

One of the forty-eight printed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward was sold at Sotheby's in October after having been found in the basement of the library at Ashfield, Massachusetts. Sally Johnson discusses this find in the New York Times on May 14.

At a philatelic auction conducted by Daniel F. Kelleher Co., Inc., June 20–21 in Boston, a letter by A. Lincoln, postmaster at New Salem, Illinois, originally estimated to bring $8,000 was sold for $34,000.

On October 26, 1988, Malcolm Forbes paid $220,000 at a Sotheby's auction for a penciled message from Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant that began with "I ask a cessation of hostilities...."

Awards

Harold Holzer received the first annual Award of Achievement from the Lincoln Group of New York.

Lincoln Memorial University, Harrowgate, Tennessee, posthumously made the late R. Gerald McMurtry, former director of Lincolniana at LMU, and who for nineteen years served as editor of the Lincoln Herald, director emeritus of the Lincoln Collection of the Abraham Lincoln Museum at the school, and, in his honor, created the R. Gerald McMurtry Gallery in the museum.

For his thirty years as the cover artist for the Lincoln Herald, as Page  [End Page 63] well as for his regular column on "Faces Lincoln Knew: Photographs from the Past," Lloyd Ostendorf was honored by Lincoln Memorial University with the creation of the Lloyd Ostendorf Collection Gallery as part of its museum.

Don E. Fehrenbacher and Richard N. Current received the Logan Hay Medal from the Abraham Lincoln Association at its banquet on February 12 in recognition of distinguished and enduring Lincoln scholarship.

Gabor S. Boritt received the 1989 Barondess/Lincoln Award from the Civil War Round Table of New York. The group's Bell I. Wiley Award was presented to Annie Snyder for her work with Save the Battlefield Coalition.

Mark E. Neely, Jr., received the Lincoln Diploma of Honor from Lincoln Memorial University on February 10 and the Nevins-Freeman Award from the Chicago Civil War Round Table on September 8.

Basil Moore received a Certificate of Excellence from the Illinois State Historical Society for his many years of lecturing on Abraham Lincoln and Will Rogers.

James M. McPherson won the Pulitzer Prize for his Battle Cry of Freedom.

The 8th annual Lincoln Era essay contest sponsored by the Social Studies Development Center of Indiana University at Bloomington had as its theme, "President Lincoln and the Growing America." The center has published the award-winning essays.

James O. Hall, William Tidewell, and David Gaddy received the National Intelligence Study Center Award on May 9 for their book Come Retribution....

Floyd Barringer, historian, neurosurgeon, and past president of the Abraham Lincoln Association, received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from MacMurray College, Jacksonville, Illinois at its 138th commencement on May 21.

Periodicals

The June 27 issue of AB Bookman's Weekly was devoted to the Civil War and military history. It contained "The General's Greatest Victory: Grant's 'Memoirs'" by Ralph Geoffrey Newman.

In anticipation of the November 1988 election, American Heritage published "How We Got Lincoln" by Peter Andrews. The March issue contained Eric Foner's "The South's Inner Civil War," a fine Page  [End Page 64] survey of the bitterness among the Confederate States. The April issue contained Geoffrey Ward's discussion of Lincoln's Springfield home and its restoration in "The House at Eighth and Jackson." Stephen W. Sears also discussed the Battle of Antietam in "The Terrible Price of Freedom" in the same issue. "The Civil War's Greatest Scoop" by James Weeks appeared in the July–August issue and discussed how, within thirty-six hours after the Battle of Antietam, the New York Times ran a "masterly account" of the battle and its carnage.

The cover article of the May–June issue of Americana contained "In Stonewall's Shadow: Preserving Civil War Battlefields" by Roger M. Williams.

Harold Holzer wrote "Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: Where the Civil War Was Decided" for the November 9, 1988, issue of the Antique Trader. His annual article on February 8 was "The Bearding of the President." Holzer's "Why Lincoln Grew a Beard" was in the January issue of Cobblestone, and "The Decision That Led to Civil War" was in the March issue.

My "Lincolniana in 1988" appeared in the February issue of Antiques and Collecting Hobbies.

David Morris wrote "Historians Taking Another Look at the Life of Abraham Lincoln," which was syndicated by the Associated Press on February 14.

"Mr. Lincoln's Bridgewater [Massachusetts] Connections" by Jordan Fiore and Jean Stonehouse appeared in the September 1988 issue of Bridgewater Review.

David Hamilton wrote "A Look at the Domestic Side of Abraham Lincoln" for the February 5 issue of the Chicago Tribune.

Volume 15 of Civil War: The Magazine of the Civil War Society had as its theme, "The Role of the Press in the Civil War" by Brayton Harris. Volume 17 was devoted entirely to "Gettysburg Revisited," and Volume 19 to the Battle of Seven Days.

The September issue of Civil War History contained "Abraham Lincoln and the Development of Presidential War-Making Powers: Prize Cases (1863) Revisited" by Ludwell H. Johnson, III; "Marse Robert and the Fevers: A Note on the General as Strategist and on Medical Ideas as a Factor in Civil War Decision Making" by Richard M. McMurry; "Ben Butler Takes on a Chaplin" by Howard C. Westwood; and "Ethnic Discrimination in Minnesota Volunteer Regiments During the Civil War" by Kevin J. Weddle.

The April issue of Civil War Times Illustrated contained Harold Holzer's "Mrs. Ames and Mr. Lincoln" about a sculptor responsible Page  [End Page 65] for two of the best likenesses of Lincoln. The May issue contained Mark Grimsley's "The Definition of Disaster" about the Union debacle at Ball's Bluff, Virginia, where Lincoln's dear friend Edward Baker died. Kenneth Paul Czech's "Rumors of War" also appeared in this issue; he discusses the visits of the Russian navy ships in 1863, and asks whether such visits meant that the czar supported the Union, or was the visit really to show that the czar was ready for war in Europe. The summer issue was devoted entirely to The Atlanta Campaign: A Drama of the South's Struggle for Survival. In five chapters, David Evans discussed "The Atlanta Campaign," "Up Against the Defenses," "Fighting John Hood," "The Deaths of Friends and Foes," and "The Prize I Fought For." Albert Castel wrote "Gone With the Wind: The Film That Made Me." The April 12 issue, Closing Every Friday, contained James L. Swanson's "American Presidential Assassinations." The September–October issue contained "The Message of Julia Ward Howe" by Peggy Robbins and "Why We Lost at Gettysburg" by Confederate General E. P. Alexander, edited by Gary Gallagher.

Frances E. Wiley wrote "Missing Lincoln Link Found with Certain Mysteries" for the summer 1988 issue of Genealogy Digest.

The March–April issue of Historic Preservation included an account of the restoration of the Lincoln home in Springfield.

Richard Mills's "A. Lincoln: The Consummate Lawyer" appeared in the November 1988 edition of the Sangamon County Historical Society's Historico.

The autumn 1988 issue of the Illinois Historical Journal contained "A Newcomer Observes the Climax of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Campaign," edited by Mark A. Plummer and Michael Maher. Brooks D. Simpson wrote "Ulysses S. Grant and the Failure of Reconciliation" for the winter issue.

The annual Lincoln issue of Illinois History: A Magazine for Young People had as its theme "Lincoln's Family." John S. Goff wrote the feature essay, "Abraham Lincoln's Family."

In the January–February issue of Illinois Magazine Terri Cameron discussed "Lincoln's Springfield Home," and Michael K. White wrote "The Short Life of Willie Lincoln."

The March issue of Indiana Magazine of History included Merrily Pierce's "Luke Decker and Slavery: His Cases with Bob and Anthony, 1817–1822" and Jacqulyn Nelson's "Civil War Letters of Daniel Wooton: The Metamorphosis of a Quaker Soldier."

The August issue of the Journal of the Lincoln Assassination contained the continuation of the interview with William Hanchett and a brief biography of Andrew Johnson. Page  [End Page 66]

The spring-summer issue of the Keynoter (American Political Items Collectors, 2222 Twentieth St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009) contained "A. Lincoln: Preserving the Union" by John Pfeifer.

Fred L. Reed's "Lincoln: Railsplitter—and Master of the English Language" appeared in the February 9 issue of the Leicester Journal.

Thomas J. Dyba's "The Lincoln Chronicle: What About Its Future?" appeared in the December 25, 1988, issue of the Lincoln Chronicle.

The fall 1988 issue of Lincoln Herald contained Hans L. Trefousse's editorial "The Gettysburg Address After 125 Years," Don E. Fehrenbacher's "The Dred Scott Fragment: A Mystery," James Stevenson's "Romantic Glimpses of Abraham Lincoln," and Michael Mogilevsky's "What Was Abe Lincoln Doing in Pre-War Japan?" Lloyd Ostendorf's regular feature, "Faces Lincoln Knew: Photographs from the Past," described John Edwin Denny, a law student, lawyer, lecturer, and soldier who was familiar to Lincoln. A tribute to R. Gerald McMurtry also appeared in this issue. Gary Planck's informative "Lincoln News Digest" accompanies each issue of Lincoln Herald. The spring issue contained "Manifest Destiny and the Irrepressible Conflict: Abraham Lincoln and the Imperial Origins of the American Civil War" by Mark A. Louse; "A Todd Legend About the Lincoln's Romance" by Waldo W. Braden; "Lincoln Witnesses a Will: A New Document" by Wayne C. Temple; "Lincoln's Ancestry Period: A New Document" by Edward Steers, Jr.; and "In The Abraham Lincoln Museum Collection" by Steven M. Wilson.

Mark E. Neely; Jr., performed a real service with "A Bibliography of Habeas Corpus Pamphlets from the Civil War" in the July 1988 issue of Lincoln Lore. The May 1988 issue by Sarah McNair Vosmeier discussed Indiana's governor, Oliver P. Morton. For the June, July, and August 1988 issues, Vosmeier reviewed Robert V. Bruce's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Launching of Modern American Science, 1846–1876. The August issue also contained "Upton Sinclair on Abraham Lincoln" by Vosmeier and a cumulative bibliography for 1986–87 by Ruth E. Cook. The September issue featured an article by Vosmeier, "Maria Child in Her Letters: 'How Much Leaven It Will Take to Leaven the Cold Dough of This Nation'." The October issue contained a tribute to R. Gerald McMurtry by Kenneth A. Bernard that was originally delivered before the Lincoln Group of Boston at its February 4 meeting. The November issue featured Mark E. Neely, Jr.'s "The Myth of Freedom and Safire" which, I believe, puts to rest the theory advanced by Safire and others that the president was motivated by foreign policy considerations to issue Emancipation Page  [End Page 67] Proclamation. Neely describes why this is not so. In the January issue, Vosmeier discusses "The Lilly Library's Collection of Lincolniana" having been purchased from the son of one of the "Big Five" Lincoln collectors, J. B. Oakleaf. Oakleaf's collection was acquired by Indiana University's Lilly Library. [As for the other four: the Charles McLellan collection was purchased by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and given to Brown University, Judd Stewart's collection was acquired by the Huntington Library, the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum obtained Judge Daniel Fish's Lincolniana collection, and William H. Lambert's was sold at auction.] "A Chronology of the Trent Affair" by Vosmeier appeared in the February and March issues of Lincoln Lore.

W. Emerson Reck's "Lincoln's Stint with the Postal Service" was in the January–February issue of the Lincolnian. Edward Steers, Jr., and Joan L. Chaconas wrote "Get Down, You Fool!" for the July–August issue. It concerns President Lincoln's visit to Fort Stevens on the edge of Washington on the occasion of the attack by General Jubal A. Early in July 1864.

Jean H. Baker's '"Not Much of Me': Abraham Lincoln as a Typical American," delivered as the 11th R. Gerald McMurtry Lecture, has been published by the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum.

Joseph W. Bellacosa's "Demythologizing Lincoln" appeared in the November 1988 issue of the New York State Bar Journal. Harry V. Jaffa and Lewis E. Lehrman responded in "Demythologizing a Demythologizer," which appeared in the April issue.

Newsday published Harold Holzer's "How Lincoln Found His Way to the Gettysburg Address" on November 17, 1988.

Free-lance author Paul H. Verduin's "New Evidence Suggests Lincoln's Mother Born in Richmond County, Virginia Giving Credibility to Planter-Grandfather Legend" appeared in the December 1988 issue of Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine. An article about Verduin's quest appears in the October 28, 1988 Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The February 6 issue of the Oregon Grange Bulletin described how Lincoln's fee of $1,000 for his assistance in the reaper patent infringement suit involving McCormick helped finance his run for the U.S. Senate against Stephen A. Douglas.

The March issue of the Plain Truth contained "Abraham Lincoln: An American Now."

The fall 1988 issue of the Psychohistory Review presented three critical articles about Jean Baker's Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography; "Feminist Revisionist Psychobiography: A New Interpretation of Page  [End Page 68] Mary Todd Lincoln" by Nancy Fix Anderson; "The Psychology of Mary Todd Lincoln" by Charles B. Strozier; and "Is a Psychobiography of Mary Todd Lincoln Possible?" by Thomas F. Schwartz. Baker replied with "Writing Female Lives: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln."

The summer 1988 issue of the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society contained Jean H. Baker's "Mary Todd Lincoln: Biography as Social History," which she first presented as the Boone Day Address of the Kentucky Historical Society on June 7, 1988.

Redmond J. Barnett's "Madison, Lincoln and Contemporary Policy Making" was published in the autumn 1988 issue of Sino-American Relations. The winter 1988 issue contained "Lincoln's Universal Message" by Malcolm B. Roberts. The spring issue contained "Some Chinese Perspectives on Abraham Lincoln and His Legacy" by Yu-Tang D. Lew. The autumn 1989 issue contained T. P. Willard Hunter's Lincoln Day address of February 12, 1984, "Abraham Lincoln; Prophet of the American Dream," which Hunter delivered before the Santa Barbara County [California] Lincoln Club.

The February 12 edition of the Springfield, Illinois, State Journal-Register featured the City of Lincoln, Illinois, and its connections with Abraham Lincoln, especially Lincoln College and Paul Beaver, curator of the Lincoln Museum there.

Suburban People for April 9 contained an article about Helen Leale Harper, Jr., who maintains the memory of her grandfather, Dr. Charles Augustus Leale, who, as a twenty-three-year-old Army surgeon, was the first physician to reach Lincoln after the shooting at Ford's Theatre.

Books

Civil War

Indiana University Press has published The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare, Ideas, Organization and Field Command by Edward Hagerman, and The Union Army, 1861–1865, Organization and Operations, vol. 1: The Eastern Theater by Frank J. Welcher.

The Book of the Month Club has reprinted in a boxed edition the Pulitzer Prize-winning history of Washington during the Civil War, Reveille in Washington, 1860–1865, by Margaret Leech, with an introduction by James M. McPherson.

Thomas A. Lewis is the author of The Guns of Cedar Creek (Harper and Row).

William D. Matter wrote If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania (North Carolina).

Jerome M. Loving edited the Civil War Letters of George Washington Whitman (Duke).

Randall C. Jimerson wrote The Private Civil War: Popular Thought During the Sectional Conflict (LSU).

J. Britt McCarley has written the useful The Atlanta Campaign: A Civil War Driving Tour of Atlanta-Area Battlefields (Cherokee). George C. Rable is the author of Civil Wars: Women and the Crisis of Southern Nationalism (Illinois). Page  [End Page 72]

Herman Hattaway's General Stephen D. Lee has been published in paper by the University of Mississippi Press.

Gary W. Gallagher is the editor of Fighting for the Confederacy: The Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander, the August History Book Club selection.

Patty Griffith wrote Battle Tactics of the Civil War (Yale).

Frank J. Welcher is the author of The Union Army, 1861–1865: Organizations and Operations, vol. 1: The Eastern Theatre, and David M. Jordan wrote Winfield Scott Hancock: A Soldier's Life (Indiana).

John Bowers wrote Stonewall Jackson: Portrait of a Soldier (Morrow).

Edward Haggerman has written The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare, Ideas, Organization and Field Command (Indiana).

David W. Blight wrote about Frederick Douglass' Civil War: Keeping Faith in Jubilee (LSU). Louisiana State University also published The Confederate Cherokees by W. Craig Gaines, John Brown Gordon: Soldier, Southerner, American by Ralph Lowell Eckert, An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas, 1821–1865 by Randolph B. Campbell, Rebel Watchdog: The Confederate States Army Provost Guard by Kenneth Radley, Guide to Louisiana Confederate Military Units, 1861–1865 by Arthur W. Bergeron, Jr., The Union League Movement in the Deep South: Politics and Agricultural Change During Reconstruction by Michael W. Fitzgerald, Thomas Morris Chester, Black Civil War Correspondent: His Dispatches from the Virginia Front by R. J. M. Blackett, and Mind and the American Civil War: A Meditation on Lost Causes by Louis P. Simpson.

The University of South Carolina Press has published Soldiers Blue and Gray by James I. Robinson, Jr., and Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War by Stephen R. Wise.

The National Archives has published a revised edition of A Guide to Civil War Maps in the National Archives.

People and Things

The November 28, 1988, issue of U.S. News and World Report contained an article about Gabor S. Boritt obtaining a drawing outlining President Lincoln's feet, purportedly done by Lincoln himself for a bootmaker.

The Abraham Lincoln Book Shop celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with its catalog 116.

Lincoln collector, Don Dow of Forth Worth, Texas, was featured in "The Collectors" by Kathryn M. Lang in the June 1988 issue of Aura.

Florence Fabricant in "Food Notes," the New York Times, January 18, discussed Lincoln's inaugural "feast," which consisted of mock turtle soup, corned beef and cabbage, parsley potatoes, blackberry pie, and coffee. In honor of President Bush's inauguration, the new Willard Hotel, where the Lincoln inaugural luncheon was held in 1861, served the same menu before Bush's inauguration.

The Champaign-Urbana [Illinois] News-Gazette on January 3 contained an article about Lincoln student Kent Tucker.

People Magazine in a January issue is quoted as saying that although all presidents love to claim kinship to Lincoln, President Bush has the right; Lincoln is a seventh cousin, four times removed. Bush is also related to Garfield and ten other presidents.

Pamela Hart Rago featured Harold Holzer in "Suburban People" on February 12 for the Gannett Westchester Rockland Newspapers.

The April and August issues of the Journal of the Lincoln Association contained an interview with Lincoln assassination historiographer William Hanchett.

I was featured in the "Lifebeat" section of the Providence Journal-Bulletin on February 20 in an article entitled "He Knows Abe Lincoln as a Real Character."

In the January 22 issue of the New York Times Magazine's "Works in Progress" section, a photograph appeared of a much-abused, larger-than-life papier maché figure of Abraham Lincoln in storage in a New Orleans warehouse awaiting use at Mardi Gras. Page  [End Page 81]

Banks McDowell was elected president of the Lincoln Club of Topeka. Richard B. Strauss is president of the Lincoln Fellowship of Wisconsin.

A musical tribute to legendary singer Marion Anderson was held in Danbury, Connecticut, on August 13 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of her concert given on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at Eleanor Roosevelt's invitation after Anderson was prevented from singing at Constitutional Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Although the focus was on Anderson in 1939, Lincoln and all of the positive images he represents were certainly the appropriate backdrop for the occasion, which seventy-five thousand came to hear.

The case of the cuspidors in the Lincoln Home: During the last year, Springfield, Illinois, attorney Charles A. Chapin and many others noticed the placement of spittoons in Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln's sitting room and parlor. As Lincoln did not smoke or chew, Chapin did some research and expressed his concern to the Lincoln Home National Historic Site staff that it was highly unlikely that such spittoons would be found anywhere within the confines of the residence, especially considering Mrs. Lincoln's propensity of not allowing people in her home who smoked or chewed. As a result of Chapin's efforts, the spittoon in the parlor was removed, but the director of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site remains adamant about keeping the two cuspidors by the fireplace in the sitting room, relying on the engravings that appeared in Frank Leslie's Illustrated News after Lincoln's election to the presidency in 1860. Although two dark objects—one on each side of the fireplace—appear in the engravings, it is impossible to ascertain what they are. Nor does documentary evidence indicate that such furnishings were, in fact, in the Lincoln home before the family left for Washington in February 1861. Despite the failure of the Lincoln National Home Historic Site to recognize the lack of evidence, especially since the National Park Service has established an excellent reputation for authenticity in the sites it supervises, the questions and concerns Chapin raised are necessary to correct misrepresentations by site interpreters, whether intentional or not.

Sea trials for the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln were held on September 11, 12, and 13. Gigantic commissioning day events were held on November 11 (Veterans' Day). To assist in the support of the commissioning ceremonies and to commemorate the occasion, the USS Abraham Lincoln Commissioning Committee, with the United States Historial Society of Richmond, Virginia, have Page  [End Page 82] produced place settings and individual dinner plates of the White House china used during the Lincoln administration.

Lincoln and Popular Culture

It has become evident in the last decade that how Lincoln is treated by popular culture is a subject worth commenting on. By popular culture, I do not mean the advertisements that appear in almost every newspaper around Lincoln's birthday or Presidents' Day, with a Lincoln caricature hawking motor vehicles.

Lincoln, himself a master humorist, would have enjoyed the comment by the actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who in A Fish Called Wanda, said, "He [her "brother"] is so stupid that he thinks the Gettysburg Address is where Lincoln lives." Some advertisements are not demeaning, but are eye-catching and effective—for example, the two-page magazine advertisement from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs Office of Tourism that appeared in many spring publications. A "long" Abe is featured in cartoon fashion, with the heading, "He freed the slaves. He saved the Union. And if you rub his nose, he'll bring you luck" [referring to the Lincoln bust at the entrance to his tomb in Springfield].

In the not-so-good news about Lincoln in popular culture, the American Federation of Teachers reported in the September 14 issue of the New York Times that Abraham Lincoln and other major American figures are ignored in high school history texts that reach approximately five million students. Of the five textbooks studied, one offered no biography of Lincoln and devoted twenty-four of its forty-three pages about the Civil War to pictures. The most lengthy profile of the 16th president in any of the books examined contains only six paragraphs.

The Los Angeles Times, on September 11, reported that according to a survey conducted by the National Coalition on Television Violence, only 36 percent of students between ten and thirteen identified Abraham Lincoln, while 72 percent of the one hundred surveyed in that age group recognized horror film villian Freddy Krueger as the hockey-mask killer of the Friday the 13th movies.

Necrology

Thomas J. Dyba, expert on the Lincoln Home and founder of the Lincoln Group of Illinois, died on March 7. The entire summer issue Page  [End Page 83] of The Lincoln Legacy contained tributes to this good man whose interest in Lincoln was infectious.

James E. Barker, co-founder of the Association of Abraham Lincoln Collectors, died on May 23.

Variety reported on October 19, 1988, that Jean Struthers Newell, the daughter of actress Jeannie Gourley Struthers, died on October 13. Mrs. Newell's mother portrayed the cousin in Our American Cousin and was on stage when John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln.

Irving Stone, biographical novelist and author of Love Is Eternal about Mary Lincoln, died on August 26 at age eighty-six.

Robert Penn Warren died on September 15. The Pulitzer Prizewinning poet and writer of fiction will be remembered for such Civil War series as Jefferson Davis Gets His Citizenship Back, The Legacy of the Civil War, Band of Angels, and Wilderness.

Works in Progress

John A. Garraty, editor of supplements 4–8 of the Dictionary of American Biography, is at work on the new American National Biography under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies. It is intended to contain about twenty thousand biographies. Garraty tells of the background of the DAB in his "In Retrospect, the Dictionary of American Biography," for the December 1988 issue of Reviews in American History. He mentions some of the classics contained therein, including J. G. Randall's piece on Lincoln.

Henry Mayer is writing a biography of the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, and John Niven is at work on a biography of Salmon P. Chase.

In February 1990, the Chicago Historical Society will complete and open a long-term exhibition, "A House Divided: America in the Age of Lincoln." A collaboration between the museum's curator Olivia Mahoney and the scholar Eric Foner, the exhibition will depict the dissolution of the nation and its polarization into two regions.

Mark E. Neely, Jr., has finished the manuscript for his ground-breaking work Lincoln and the Constitution, which is about civil liberties during the Civil War. It will be published by Oxford.

The Lincoln Family Album by Harold Holzer and Mark E. Neely, Jr., will be published by Doubleday in 1989.

During the year, New York Governor Mario M. Cuomo met with several teachers from Poland at his office in Albany. Cuomo was Page  [End Page 84] surprised to learn that Abraham Lincoln has been persona non grata in Poland since World War II and, until recently, his name has been omitted from textbooks and not permitted to be mentioned. As a result, the governor, with Harold Holzer, has embarked on the "Lincoln and Democracy" project in an effort to bring Abraham Lincoln to the people of Poland. A manuscript of Lincoln utterances relating to freedom, democracy, and equality has been completed for translation into Polish, with distribution planned in Poland. An advisory board assisted in choosing the quotations, and the Abraham Lincoln Association served as co-sponsor. Cuomo hopes that this book will be published in many other languages as well.

The Bicentennial Commission of Kentucky is compiling an Encyclopedia of Kentucky to be published in 1992.

The United States Military Academy at West Point and the Capital District Civil War Round Table will present a seminar entitled "Leadership in the Civil War" on April 5, 6, 7, and 8, 1990, at the Hotel Thayer at the Academy.

William S. McFeely, author of Grant: A Biography, will see his biography of Frederick Douglass published in 1990.

Richard Nelson Current has been asked by Simon and Schuster to be editor-in-chief for the four-volume Encyclopedia of the Confederacy.

James M. McPherson's book of Lincoln essays will be published by Oxford around the time of Lincoln's birthday in 1991.

Gabor S. Boritt's project proceeds on Lincoln's image in Great Britain.

Four Abraham Lincoln and Civil War documentary projects are in production: (1) The Civil War is a nine-part series by Ken Burns of Florentine Films that will be broadcast on PBS during 1989. James M. McPherson and Stephen B. Oates served as consultants and on-camera interviewees. (2) Atlas Video, under the tutelage of Peter Edwards, is producing five one-half hour videocassettes on various aspects of the Civil War—one of them on Abraham Lincoln. McPherson has served as an interviewe and consultant on the Lincoln project. (3) Great Battles of the Civil War, produced by J. Wertz and Richard Stadin of Mastervision, is a five-part series. James McPherson also served as a consultant and interviewe on this project. (4) McPherson, along with Richard Nelson Current and Kenneth Stampp, served as historical consultants for Robert Brent Toplin of the Department of History, University of North Carolina for a "docudrama" on Lincoln and Fort Sumter, a pilot for a proposed series on presidential crises decision making. Page  [End Page 85]

Hans Trefousse is writing An Encyclopedia of Reconstruction for Greenwood Press.

Gary R. Planck is at work on a "revised and expanded paper" about A. C. Richards and the Lincoln assassination.

Charles B. Strozier wrote the script for a Lincoln video "postcard."

The Lincoln Home documentary, produced by the Office of Public Affairs Communication of Sangamon State University, Springfield, should be broadcast by the PBS network during 1989.

The Museum of the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library will undergo extensive renovation and revision and will include a gallery to contain its recently acquired Lloyd Ostendorf collection of photographs as well as photographs of the Lincoln family.

Volumes 17 and 18 of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, edited by John Y. Simon, were due from Southern Illinois University Press in 1989.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to all who provided information and copies for mention in this article, and a special thanks to Tom Lapsley, George Craig, Mark E. Neely, Jr., Harold Holzer, and Gabor S. Boritt. I welcome any news concerning Abraham Lincoln to be considered for publication in the next issue of the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association; contact me at 300 Switch Road, Hope Valley, RI 02832. Unless otherwise stated, all dates refer to 1989. Page  [End Page 86]

Legal Papers of Abraham Lincoln

The editors request your assistance in locating any document, record, letter, contemporary printed account, or after-the-fact recollection that relates to Abraham Lincoln's entire law practice, 1836–61. All communications should be sent to Lincoln Legal Papers, IHPA Drawer 1, Old State Capitol, Springfield, IL 62701 (telephone 217-785-9130).

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