An Assessment of Thomas Lincoln
by Daniel Cravens TaylorSara GabbardAn Interview with Daniel Cravens Taylor Sara Gabbard: Please trace the Lincoln family’s journey from England to Virginia. Daniel Cravens Taylor: President Lincoln was not familiar with his family history in early life. As he approached his campaign for the presidency, Lincoln knew his father and mother came from Virginia but considered them to be […]
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Marx and Lincoln
by Jeffery Kerr-RitchieMarx and Lincoln by Jeffery R. Kerr-Ritchie Karl Marx, Public Domain In November 1864, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected president of the United States. Numerous bodies outside America welcomed his re-election. One such was the International Working Men’s Association (IWMA). The IWMA was officially founded on September 28, 1864, at St. Martin’s Hall in central London. […]
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A Right Smart Get Out
by M. Kelly TilleryA Right Smart Get Out by M. Kelly Tillery Logan Circle Philadelphia 71.2009.083.2382 It is difficult to imagine, much less fully appreciate, that in June of 1864 the democratic republic as a form of government was extremely rare and under siege. This nation was the only large democracy, other than Britain, though that nation restricted […]
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Interview with Brian Dirck
by Brian DirckAn Interview with Brian Dirck about his new book, The Black Heavens: Abraham Lincoln and Death (Southern Illinois University Press, 2019) Sara Gabbard: You undertook a monumental task in writing on this subject. What led you to accept the challenge? BD: Well, “The Black Heavens” could almost be a case study in how books […]
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Interview with Ron Keller
by Ron KellerAn Interview with Ron Keller, Author of Lincoln in the Illinois Legislature. Sara Gabbard: I know that this book is a product of the Concise Lincoln Library, a series from Southern Illinois University Press. What led you to this specific topic? Ron Keller: Having served for many years as director of the Lincoln Heritage Museum […]
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New Salem
by Guy Fraker, Mark B. PohladSpotlight on: New Salem by Guy Fraker and Mark Pohlad When Lincoln Walked the Streets of New Salem By Guy Fraker The itinerant Abraham Lincoln arrived in New Salem 1831, settling there until 1837. During this period, he spent considerable time in the Sand Ridge area to the west, to which a number of New […]
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An Interview with John Marszalek
by John MarszalekAn Interview with John Marszalek, Executive Director of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State University Sara Gabbard Tour of the Grant Library at the annual USGA meeting in 2018, photo: J. Marszalek Sara Gabbard: Please trace the provenance of the Grant Papers before they arrived at Mississippi State University. John Marszalek: One […]
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Books: An Interview with Harold Holzer
by Harold HolzerSara Gabbard: Some of our readers already know, but for those who don’t: Why did Lincoln become your lifelong focus? Harold Holzer: The “why” is harder to isolate than the “how.” It began for me in a fifth grade classroom in a rural neighborhood of New York City (yes, there was such a thing in […]
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Lost to History: Abraham Lincoln’s Act to Encourage Immigration
by Jason H. SilvermanLost to History: Abraham Lincoln’s Act to Encourage Immigration By: Jason H. Silverman Sometimes it’s difficult to believe that anything Abraham Lincoln did was lost to history. But historians have overlooked one of President Lincoln’s signature pieces of legislation, The Act to Encourage Immigration, July 4th, 1864, the first, last, and only major law in […]
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Interview with Jason Emerson Regarding his new book, “Mary Lincoln for The Ages”
by Jason EmersonInterview with Jason Emerson Regarding his new book, “Mary Lincoln for The Ages” Sara Gabbard: Your book is defined as “an analytical bibliography.” Please explain how you chose this particular approach. Jason Emerson: This approach — this entire book, in fact — really just came about organically. While I was preparing for publication an edition […]
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An Interview with E. Lawrence Abel on Lincoln’s Assassination
by E. Lawrence Abel, Sara GabbardAn Interview with E. Lawrence Abel on Lincoln’s Assassination by Sara Gabbard An Interview with E. Lawrence Abel on Lincoln’s Assassination Sara Gabbard: Your book, A Finger in Lincoln’s Brain, presented a detailed analysis of the medical measures which were used after John Wilkes Booth shot the 16th President. Today those measures seem almost primitive […]
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The Intellectual Milieu of Abraham Lincoln
by Allen C. GuelzoThe Intellectual Milieu of Abraham Lincoln By Allen C. Guelzo Abraham Lincoln was not a philosopher, or even what we might today call an intellectual. “Politics were Lincoln’s life,” William Henry Herndon told Jesse Weik in 1887, “and newspapers were his food.” Yet, in almost the same breath, Herndon acknowledged that “we used to discuss […]
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From The Collection: Lincoln, Emancipation, and Civil Rights
by Susannah KoerberLincoln, Emancipation, and Civil Rights by Susannah Koerber
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200 Years Later
by Ed Breen210 Years Later By Ed Breen The Lincoln Memorial, Ed Breen In February of this year, we marked the 210th birthday anniversary of America’s secular saint, Abraham Lincoln, although it can be hard to separate it from the car, furniture, carpet and indoor spa sales that have somehow become barnacles on the birthday cake. And […]
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An Interview with Kate Masur on “They Knew Lincoln” by John E. Washington
by Kate Masur, Sara GabbardAn Interview with Kate Masur on “They Knew Lincoln” by John E. Washington by Sara Gabbard John E. Washington, c1941 LN-1137 Sara Gabbard: Who was John E. Washington? What brought him to your attention? Kate Masur: I first came across John E. Washington’s book, They Knew Lincoln, when I was a graduate student at University […]
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