Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’ props to find a home in Springfield

Do you follow the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum on Facebook? If you don’t, you should.

Then you wouldn’t miss news like this exciting announcement: “Key sets, costumes and props” from Steven Spielberg’s movie “Lincoln” will be displayed “for many years to come” in an exhibit, “Lincoln: From History to Hollywood.”

The sets for Lincoln’s office and Mary Lincoln’s bedroom will be in the exhibit at Union Station, across 6^th Street from the museum in Springfield, Ill., beginning in early 2014.

The exhibit will also include costumes, such as Lincoln’s suit, some of Mary Lincoln’s dresses and young Tad Lincoln’s Zouave uniform, as well as props like the stethoscope used in the death scene, papers and magazines used as office props, and the gloves Daniel Day Lewis wore in his Academy Award-winning performance of Lincoln.

Union Station will serve as a museum annex, with video presentations about the movie to complement the exhibit.

Admission for children will be free, when accompanied by adults, whose admission charge is $5. A new “full experience” package offers museum visitors a savings, though. For $15, which is $3 more than museum-only admission, adults can see both the museum and its annex “Lincoln” exhibit.

Spielberg and DreamWorks Studios are loaning the items to the museum, with transportation costs covered by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, not tax dollars.

“It is an honor to have this exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum,” says Spielberg. “When we visited for research on the film, it was our thought that there might be an opportunity to bring such an exhibit to Springfield, and that is now a reality.”

From one Lincoln buff to another, I say, Kudos, Mr. Speilberg! Your movie resurrected the Lincoln story, eliciting a new wave of interest in the 16^th President, his life and legacy. Thank you! I can’t wait to see the exhibit.

Visit the ALPLM Facebook announcement to read the full release.

A virtual tour of Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership

Don’t you love the places technology can take us today – the way social media and video can show us sites we may never get to see otherwise, teach us things we may never otherwise know?

In 2005, when the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum opened its doors in Springfield, Ill., it hosted a conference with more than 20 leading Lincoln scholars. 

One of the presentations that touched me the most that day was a three-generation panel of scholars, which included a young scholar named Matthew Pinsker, prolific Lincoln author Harold Holzer (representing the in-between demographic ), and a gentleman who was then a patriarch of Lincoln scholars, David Herbert Donald, Pinsker’s mentor. I was glad I met the elder scholar that day, and received his autograph in my copy of his book, “Lincoln.” Donald passed away four years later, a few months after the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. 

One of the greatest changes we’ve seen in the way we can educate and inspire about the 16^th president is through the use of technology – and Donald’s student is doing it well.  

Pinsker holds the Brian Pohanka Chair of Civil War History at Dickinson College. He is the author of two books about Lincoln, one of which is “Lincoln’s Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers’ Home.” He is also co-director of the House Divided project, which provides 21^st century tools to teach 19^th century topics in grades K-12. 

Check out one of the latest – an inside look at Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership. Pinsker shared this post on LinkedIn today:

This is what a "virtual" field trip looks like... Check out short video tour of new Ford's Theatre Center for Education & Leadership, by @DickinsonCol prof Matthew Pinsker, via @Gilder_Lehrman http://t.co/reSic0tl3i

See the 10-minute video here: 

Teacher's Tour of the Ford's Theatre Center for Education and Leadership from The Gilder Lehrman Institute on Vimeo.

Back to Lincoln's haunts

Nearly 100 years ago, Springfield, Ill. poet Vachel Lindsay penned a poem, “Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight.” In 32 lines of verse, the poet spoke of the President stirred from his grave, walking the streets of the city he called home for more than half of his life, restless even in death because of unrest in the world. 

The central Illinois poet was troubled himself by the discord in the world in 1914. World War I had begun.

Lindsay’s poem is powerful, but many of us who frequent Springfield know that it wasn’t just on a night a century ago that Lincoln’s spirit walked the streets of the capital city. 

Those of us who spend much time there, who study the 16^th President, his life and his legacy, know that, ghost-like being or not, the aura of Abraham Lincoln lives on in the town to which and the home of the people to whom he said he owed everything. 

In the rooms of the Old State Capitol or the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office,  in his home and along the streets he walked, if you stop, close your eyes for a second and open yourself to the possibility, it’s not at all hard to see this tall, lanky prairie lawyer in the city he called home. 

Because I live in mid-Missouri now, instead of an hour from Springfield, as I did for more than a decade, I don’t get to return to Lincoln’s adopted hometown as often as I once did. On Oct. 18, I returned for an opportunity of which I’ve dreamed for nearly two decades. I visited Springfield to speak about Abraham Lincoln. 

The occasion was the national conference of an organization in which I found tremendous value and through which I met vibrant leaders, encouraging mentors and brilliant communicators, when I was a member early in my corporate career—the Association for Women in Communications (AWC). The Springfield chapter of the organization served as host of the event, which has been held in a number of large communities across the nation through the years. 

One of my bucket list items was to speak on the national level sometime, somewhere. Another was to deliver a speech about Abraham Lincoln.  

I’d fulfilled the second of these wishes on a small scale on a number of occasions when I lived in the Bloomington-Normal area. I’ll bet if you asked them, you’d be surprised at the number of Sunrise Speakers Toastmasters members who could tell you that I opened their eyes a number of times at our 7 a.m. meetings with information that inspired them to learn more about Abraham Lincoln. As I shared my lifelong passion for his story, I guess I whetted their interest in him a little, too. If so, I did what I hoped. 

But, I’d never spoken about Lincoln in Springfield, the city where his legacy lives and inspires every single day.

On Friday afternoon, nearly 100 professional communicators gathered to hear “What Communicators Can Learn from Abraham Lincoln.” As I’ve studied Lincoln, I’ve noticed a number of similarities between things he did in his life and things communicators do in theirs. I believe there are 10 lessons that we can take from his life and example that can help us in our own social media efforts, our careers and our lives. 

I won’t share them all here today, but will give you a hint. For the last few minutes, you’ve been practicing one of them. To be like Lincoln, read. Read every day – and share what you read. Share it in a conversation over lunch or dinner, in a blog post or on Facebook, in a tweet.

This weekend, more than 100 women from across the nation gathered in Springfield to hear speakers, ranging from a Paralympic champion to this communicator who is more than a little bit nutty over a President from the Prairie State. I’d like to think they left with a bit more enthusiasm and knowledge about Lincoln than they had when they came. I do know they left inspired by the example, enthusiasm and nurturing of this dynamic group of women – and thankful to the efforts of the Springfield Chapter who showed them why the community and its people meant so much to the development of the president whose legacy is honored there.

Yes, Lincoln does still walk in Springfield – and not just in the light of the moon. 

You'll also find a version of this post on my eclectic blog, "Musings on Route 66." 

Would you like for me to show members of your organization what they can learn from Lincoln? Now accepting speaking engagements for professional conferences in 2014. Please send me email at lincolnbuff2 [at] yahoo [dot] com for more information. 

Happy 203rd birthday, President Lincoln

During the Civil War Sesquicentennial years, you won't find me blogging about Abraham Lincoln as much. I'm not a student of military history and many others scholars and bloggers who are much more knowledgeable are writing about this aspect of Lincoln's life. My area of interest and knowledge is Lincoln's early years, his time in Illinois, and Lincoln in literature.

So, currently, I'm devoting much of my writing time to my blog, "Musings on Route 66." When those musings bring me back to Lincoln, I'll post them here, as well. Today is one of those days. As I celebrate Lincoln's birthday in Springfield with many others who share my passion, may you take time to remember him too.

The following post is from "Musings on Route 66," where I also share musings on other things that interest or tug at me.

Since I was a small child, I’ve been smitten with Abraham Lincoln.

Why? A combination of things, probably – things like parents who told me stories of the 16^th President and took me to visit Lincoln sites, books that kept Lincoln lore alive, school trips, and living in Illinois, where his aura is so strong. Chances are many of you came to admire him by similar paths.

But I like to think there was one more force even stronger in my Lincoln journey. I was born in a hospital about a block from Old Main at Knox College where a Lincoln-Douglas debate was held in 1858. I have my suspicions that almost 100 years later, there was a bit of “Lincoln dust” still in the air and it blew in the nursery window, landed on my shoulder and left me intrigued with the railsplitter for life.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Because of this love for Lincoln, or what many call my “obsession,” I started a blog, Lincoln Buff 2, during the Lincoln Bicentennial year.

In celebration of Lincoln’s 203^rd birthday, I dug back into the archives for the blog post I wrote just after midnight on Lincoln’s 200^th birthday. I spent that week in Springfield and savored all the excitement. Come along. Relive the adventure with me.

From Feb. 12, 2009: "Happy 200th birthday, President Lincoln!

"Here in the Land of Lincoln, the clock just struck midnight. The big day we've looked forward to and planned for is here. It's time to wish Abraham Lincoln a happy 200th birthday.

“As I type this, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is hosting an all-night vigil for Lincoln. In conjunction with the vigil, original copies of the Gettysburg Address, Emancipation Proclamation and 13th Amendment are on display.

“Until after 11 p.m., the line to view the documents wound through the lobby, down the hall, into an exhibit holding area and around the museum plaza. It reminded me of a visitation I once attended for a well-loved school teacher who died much too young. As in that case, the people coming today were there to pay their respects to someone whose life made a difference.”

Feb. 12, 2012: Those same three documents are on display again this year, and the 13^th amendment is all spruced up, just waiting for your visit.

The celebrations may not be as elaborate and as many this year as during the bicentennial year, but chances are that wherever you are, there are Lincoln birthday events nearby. A great place to keep up with Lincoln happenings year-round is the Abraham Lincoln Online website.

And don’t forget to watch The State Journal-Register’s Abraham Lincoln Observer blog where Mike Kienzler spreads the word about the latest, greatest and sometimes even not-so-great goings-on in the Lincoln world.

Again today, I’ll use the words I used in 2009. I mean them as much now as I did when I wrote them three years ago:

“Please join in a celebration of Lincoln's big day. If you can't, at least take a few minutes to stop and reflect on how the life of one individual can change the course of history. Lincoln mattered then and he still matters today. Remember the life he lived and emulate the values he espoused – hard work, honesty and lifelong learning.”

© Ann Tracy Mueller 2012

(Image via)

Lincoln Buff 2 writes anew

I'm ba-a-a-a-ck!

I started Lincoln Buff 2 in October 2008 as my contribution to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial. For more than a year, I wrote of Lincoln events, books, sites, and more. I travelled central Illinois, and later went to both the east and west coasts visiting places with Lincoln connections. I met most of the leading Lincoln scholars and many enthusiasts. I built friendships and mentoring relationships I'll always cherish. I went to two events where President Obama was speaking, and even met Stedman Graham at one of them. (No, still haven't met Oprah, darn it!)

A funny thing happened on the way to the bicentennial. I wrote more and more and fell even deeper in love with words and how they play together on a page. I also fell deeply and passionately in love with social media. Long after I'd run out of energy to write daily blog posts, I seemed to find abundant energy for Twitter. I've stumbled across people around the world to follow, or to follow me. I've even found a couple unlikely mentors who have propelled me to pursue my dreams.

Dreams do come true

One of those dreams was to write a book. My first manuscript, in which Lincoln plays a very strong part, is now with a publisher. When I get good news on that, I'll share it here. Lincoln hasn't come knocking at the door of the second book (still a work in progress) yet, and very likely won't. It's now longer than Richard Bach's 10,000 word "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" -- and growing every day.

Another of my dreams, which includes a relocation to a home on a lake in Missouri, was to find a career with the portability to make that move when the time comes -- and, most importantly, doing something I love. I love writing. I love social media. I love companies with a vision in which I believe.

New moniker - Co-editor

On April 1, I began that career. I am co-editor of Health Care Communication News, a Ragan Communications website to provide health care communicators with information they can use to be better communicators.

On Friday, May 13, we unveiled our new website. I'd love it if you'd drop in for a visit. Believe me, even non-health care communicators, even non-communicators, will find stories they'll enjoy. We publish daily, we do a ton of stories, and we enjoy writing them. We select the images to accompany them, and we try to make that fun, too.

You can still read my words

So, if you started reading my blog because you loved Lincoln, but you kind of liked my words, too, and how I had fun playing with them, drop by our health care communication website, read a story or two, and if you like them, leave a comment, please. We love comments.

You can also still follow me on Twitter as:

• @LincolnBuff2, tweeting about a wide variety of things, often things to uplift, inspire, or inform, or


• @RaganHealth, tweeting links to stories on all of our Ragan websites, kibitzing with health care communicators, and retweeting links I think our readers will enjoy.

Just to get you started, here are some of the health care stories I most enjoyed writing these past six weeks. I think you'll like some of them, too.

• Blogging frontier health care practitioners connect with their founder


• Remember the invisible man? He’s interactive and online!


• 300-pound blogger inspired by most ripped Congressman


• Ragan.com by remote: The power is out, but the news is on


• Do you have social media stress disorder?


• 5 things docs should do to cut the jargon

Lincoln is still with me, honestly

Don't worry. I haven't forgotten Lincoln. He is with me everyday, really. Back when I worked as a communications analyst at an insurance company, I had a big penny on my desk to remind me to pursue my dreams. I also had a lot of other Lincoln-related items, including a desk calendar from one of my readers, who has become a friend. In more than one room of my house are bookshelves with Lincoln books. Heck, he's even on one of my favorite T-shirts. Some of those desk items are not yet unpacked from the box where I put them when I left my old job, but the penny and the calendar are here with me every day to remind me that Lincoln will always play a role in making my dreams come true, no matter what they are.

For, if a grocer from the prairie could become the President of the United States, another former grocer and insurance scribe 150 years later can surely see her dreams come true, can't she?

Happy birthday #202, President Lincoln!

Here in Illinois, where we grow up living and breathing the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln, the prairie lad who made it from a log cabin to the White House, it's not hard to forget what February 12th is, even though someone, sometime, somewhere created some joint birthday celebration and called it President's Day.

Yep, you can't even walk or drive past a vehicle in the Prairie State without being reminded it's the Land of Lincoln. And, that's okay with me. I can be assured that, thanks to my license plate, no matter where I travel on this nation's highways, I'm evangelizing for my pal, Lincoln.

Lincoln lives
Today, folks, Lincoln turns 202. I know, I know, as my coworker friends and old school chums, who constantly rib me, would remind me, "No, Ann, he's not 202. He's dead, remember?"

And, you know what I've got to say about that? John Wilkes Booth may have snuffed the life out of his body, but no one will ever kill his spirit, quelch the "right to rise"* which he so strongly represents. In 1950s, when I first discovered Lincoln, the 1970s when I introduced him to my own daughter, the 1990s, when I shared his story with my first grandson, or the 21st century when we celebrated the bicentennial of his birth and began using all kinds of new technology and mediums to share his story, we can still learn from Lincoln, we can still be inspired by his story.

Take time for Lincoln
Dear reader, today please take a minute to learn something new about Lincoln yourself. Find a Lincoln story you didn't know, discover a Lincoln letter or speech, learn a lesson from the life he lived. Then, when you do, tell someone. Teach a child of 4 or a grandparent of 94.

Find the Lincoln site nearest you and take your friends and family along to visit. Drop in at a senior center or a nursing home and let someone with Lincoln-like wit and wisdom tell you what they remember learning about our 16th President, how he inspired them.

Watch a documentary, read a book, pen your own tribute to Lincoln. But don't let this day pass by without stopping to reflect on how different this country, this state, perhaps even our lives would have been if this man had never lived or risen to a stature not unlike many of his statues - larger than life.

Join us in Springfield
As for me, you'll find me in the same place I was last year and the year before and a Lincoln's birthday when I was a child and Illinois kids still got his birthday as a day out of school - in Springfield. There's tons to do down there all day today, much of it free of cost. If you're in the neighborhood, check out this blog post by my Lincoln blogger colleague, Chris Umhoefer, on his Heart of Lincoln Land blog. I'll be at events at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Lincoln's Home and more. Hope to see you there!

Follow me on Twitter
I'm also on Twitter as LincolnBuff2. Though my tweets since the bicentennial have become much more eclectic, reflecting many of my interests - books, museums, National Parks, aviation, social media, and my favorite authors, such as Richard Bach and Richard Paul Evans, I still remember Old Abe from time to time.

Today, as I attend events in Springfield, I'll try to tweet when I can. I don't have a snazzy new 3G or 4G phone yet, so my Twitter application is a bit clunky and uncooperative at times. I'll tweet some, though. Please, don't hesitate to tweet a link to this article or retweet my Lincoln's birthday tweets.

Happy Lincoln Day, blogosphere! Ann


* "Right to rise" is a term made famous by Lincoln scholar, Gabor Boritt, a Hungarian refugee, whose own story of rising above adversity is told in a marvelous documentary, Budapest to Gettysburg, directed by his son Jake Boritt.

Honor Lincoln and help break world record

Hey, friends.

Our buddy Abraham Lincoln's birthday isn't until Saturday, but tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 11, 2011 at 11 a.m., Central Time, you can join in and give him a gargantuan birthday gift. As part of the kickoff of the Civil War Sequicentenial and on the 150th anniversary of the day Lincoln said farewell to Springfield, you can help break a world record.

At the Great Western Depot, known as the Lincoln Depot, and at sites all around the nation, people will gather for a simultaneous reading of Lincoln's Farewell Address. This speech is still one of the ones that always moves me the most. I can't read it or hear it without getting tears in my eyes.

You can learn all about the celebration, rules and more at the special website dedicated to the event. And, be sure you watch the video, where my friend, Lincoln, (Fritz Klein on other days) delivers his very powerful performance of the speech.

Long gone - Gone longer

To all my readers: My apologies for not posting more frequently in 2010. This has been a busy year for my family and me, and I readjusted priorities for a while.

I wanted to let you know they've shifted again, but keep your fingers crossed. You just might have something pretty doggoned cool to look forward to.

I am now writing again - but in a different medium.

I've been blessed through my late-in-life writing and research career with some of the most magificent mentors ever - brilliant, gifted, supportive, prolific writers. They've been with me as I tried to find myself, provided me with information I sought and, above all, encouraged me with great sincerity to pursue my dreams. I have, and it has been good, great, quite often even greater than great.

Now, with a subtle nudge (Okay, it wasn't subtle. It was a push off a cliff without a parachute.) from another incredible mentor, I am writing - a book! The words are coming in torrents and I think, I believe, I know, this is the story I was supposed to tell all along. As one of my oldest (in time, not age), dearest friends told me when she heard, "Ann, you've been writing around writing long enough!" And so, I write.

If I achieve my goal, it will teach, entertain, make you laugh, make you cry and fulfill one of my greatest dreams.

Yes, if you were wondering, Mr. Lincoln is in it - and a suprising supporting cast. No, none of them are vampires.

Thanks for dropping by. Thanks for your support. Don't forget - learn something new, every day - every single day. And, if it's about Lincoln, all the better.

Please know, I will be back in the blogosphere eventually. It's been too great a part of my Lincoln life to leave behind.

Till next time,
Ann

Vampire Hunter author haunts Chicago's Lincoln book store

I thought I'd heard it all until a few weeks ago. I was shopping with my grandson in a gift shop at the Indiana State Museum while visiting the Lincoln exhibits there. A shopper picked up a copy of Seth Grahame-Smith's "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter." I remarked, "Amazingly enough, that's becoming pretty popular, even though it's fiction."

The clerk behind the counter quipped something like, "Yes, Lincoln hunted vampires because his mother was killed by one."

The shopper, a gentleman likely in his forties, looked at her with wide eyes and asked, "Really?"

Now, I've met gullible people before, but this guy took the cake. I'm not sure what shocked me more - that he didn't know what fiction was or that he believed there really are vampires and Lincoln's mother was killed by one!

I guess that's one reason why I take a step back when I hear that someone's doing a work of fiction about Lincoln. There are enough myths already, going back to the days when Lincoln's law partner, William Herndon, began interviewing people who knew Lincoln. Herndon's early oral history project, begun shortly after Lincoln's death, has been invaluable to researchers. It must be treated with skepticism, though, for at least a couple reasons - because, as my mentor John E. Hallwas teaches, memory constantly reshapes itself and because some people created their own Lincoln lore to paint their relationships with Lincoln in a brighter light historically.

Yet, I think this Grahame-Smith guy may just have something here. This book seems to be going great guns - and the author is cropping up at book signings all over the place. Heck, my buddy Michael Krebs (aka Mr. Lincoln) even appears in a promotional video as the vampire hunter.

I guess my friends at the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop think the book's got value, too. Daniel Weinberg is one of the nation's leading Lincoln authorities and his Virtual Book Signing has hosted Lincoln authors from Harold Holzer, James McPherson and Michael Burlingame to Senator George McGovern. He sits on all kinds of Lincoln-related boards and things - and, through the years, has earned the respect of hundreds of Lincoln scholars, enthusiasts and collectors.

I'm betting Weinberg knows what I suspect - that any way we can get people enthused about Lincoln is good. And, if it takes a work like this one to reach an audience who really hadn't thought much about our sixteenth president, then that's okay.

Watch Virtual Book Signing

This Friday night, April 16, 2010 at 6 p.m. Central Time, he's welcoming Grahame-Smith to his book-filled sanctuary in the Windy City, where the aged wood throughout creates a warm welcome. You can join them - right from the comfort of your own computer. Just log on to Virtual Book Signing from home. Don't worry if you're late, as you can join it anytime during the program.

We'll get to hear all about this latest Lincoln book. What's even neater is that you can ask a question yourself if you'd like - right during the show. And, you know what? They'll try to get to your question. They've read mine during several book signings.

So don't forget now - Friday, April 16, 6 p.m. Chicago Time. (Isn't that what CT stands for?)

But, do me a favor, would you? Please don't be as gullible as that guy in the museum gift store. Shoot, he even had my seven-year-old companion laughing!

By the way, Seth, good luck. Hope we run into each other on the Lincoln circuit. I just pray you don't sic your vampires or vampire hunters on me. I'd kind of like to live to see that grandson grow up.

Know why? He's a Lincoln buff, too!

© Ann Tracy Mueller 2010

Note: To Anonymous, who submitted feedback today about a Civil War diary. I note that this same comment was posted to an article yesterday and stimulated a great deal of discourse. I do not have the time nor the energy to moderate a large flow of comments with folks arguing back and forth, so I have rejected your post. Though there are others who welcome and thrive on such conversation, I'm sorry. I just don't. Best wishes to you, Ann

It’s only just begun – Lincoln’s legacy beyond the Bicentennial

The first message started like many others over the past couple years: “Hi Ann! We'd love to have you add our upcoming event to your blog!”

The follow-up message contained the one word I knew I’d dread when I saw it – "closing."

I became interested in the Bicentennial nearly a decade ago, when I first read of plans for a nationwide celebration to honor Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday. I set into place a seven-year plan, vowing to do “significant Lincoln-related work” myself by the time Feb. 12, 2009 rolled around. That plan didn’t play out exactly as I planned, but it turned out pretty good after all.

Little did I know then that I’d be writing a blog about Lincoln nearly every day for a year. Heck, back then, I’d never even heard of a blog!

Now, the official Bicentennial is coming to a close, and I’ve been asked to invite you to the last big hurrah! I didn’t want to just share the canned news release many others might share. I wanted to give you a “value-added version,” so I went right to the top.

U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Co-chairman Harold Holzer, also author of more than 30 books on Lincoln, came through for me with a wrap up I think you’ll all enjoy. And, Matt Pinsker, who will speak on Lincoln in the digital age at the closing event, provided some insight on where we’re going from here. I think you’ll enjoy reading what both of them had to say.

The Bicentennial Commission’s closing program

The commission wants you to know:

“On behalf of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, you're invited to attend the Commission's closing program on April 19, 2010 from 12:00 noon. - 1:00 p.m. at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Building in Washington , D.C.“We will celebrate Lincoln once more, reflecting not only on his life and legacy beyond this Bicentennial year but also challenging the latest generation to apply Lincoln to our present and continue to struggle for ‘a more perfect union.’

“Join us for an engaging presentation by Matt Pinsker, Brian Pohanka Chair of Civil War History at Dickinson College and author of “Lincoln 's Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers' Home.” Dr. Pinsker will share his thoughts on the impact of an emerging digital age of Lincoln scholarship. He will then open the floor for questions and conversation with the audience. We hope you will join with fellow esteemed scholars, elected officials, students and community leaders for this exciting event.

”For more info and to register, please visit http://www.lincolnliveson.com/.”

Here’s the scoop:

Monday, April 19, 2010

12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m.
US Department of Agriculture Building

Patio Room1400

Independence Ave., S.W.

Washington D.C.

Harold Holzer wraps up one heck of a present

Harold Holzer has been there for me time and again over the past few years, patiently answering what seemed to be a gazillion questions. This time, I asked him if he would address the life of the commission - how it was born, what it hoped to achieve, an example or two of how it morphed to be perhaps even better than he'd imagined, what it feels like to have to "close" it.

Here’s what he had to say:

“I’m proud that the Commission—a truly creative and diverse group of scholars, collectors, and Lincoln authorities—together with a very devoted and energetic staff, not only fulfilled each and every one of its legislated mandates, but helped stimulate other individuals and organizations around the country to make 2009 a truly unforgettable ‘year of Lincoln’ nationwide. As our final report will show, we certainly organized countless events from coast to coast, worked on the Mint’s new pennies and the Postal Service’s new stamps, and staged widely attended town halls to continue Lincoln ’s ‘conversation’ about America ’s ‘unfinished work.’

“Few of us who participated will ever forget Denyse Grave’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial, or President Obama’s 200th birthday speech in the Capitol Rotunda—official events, and great ones. But much of what we’ve done can’t adequately be recorded in a report: it involved encouraging, promoting, and supporting state-by-state initiatives to commemorate Lincoln, to help promote individuals and communities, or simply getting the idea circulated that Lincoln’s big birthday was approaching, and then participating with gratitude as corporations, libraries, museums, and theaters responded with remarkable programming of their own that added inestimably to the celebration and the legacy. Thus we’re not only proud of our own work, but thrilled that so much happened in so many other quarters, at least in part as a result of the groundwork we laid from 2001 on. These results included more than 200 new books, plus TV documentaries, museum exhibitions, new plays and dance works—a fantastic legacy.

“Am I said it’s ending? Well, I will of course miss the formal interaction with my colleagues and the staff, but I’m also sure many of these relationships will continue. Lincoln people stay in touch, work on projects together, meet at conferences and such. That will continue as long as we’re standing.

“For another thing, while the Lincoln Bicentennial may be ending, the Civil War sesquicentennial is only beginning. And while no national commission was established to manage that anniversary, state commissions have sprung up in the key battlefield states to organize events and conferences. November marks the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s election, March 2011 the 150th of his inaugural, and April the 150th of the start of the war. So we’re already in a new cycle that will carry enthusiasts through 2015. Is it confusing? Well, it just requires us to sort of close down the old computer and reboot with new software, at least metaphorically speaking. Now everything tracks to the anniversary of the war. The good news is that we have a new opportunity to remind people how important this history is.

“Besides, the ALBC will in a sense continue its work in new forms. The ALBC Foundation will live on and support important initiatives. And the ALBC website, http://www.abrahamlincoln200.org/, survives and thrives. I urge everyone to log on after April 19 to read our final report and make use of its many enduring and important features.

“As new technologies develop, our goal will be to make sure that Lincoln has a place in their content. Whatever the medium, Lincoln will always be part of the message—always part of the national conversation—not only because he believed ‘we cannot escape history,’ but because he believed so earnestly in ‘a vast future.’

“Let me end with one cautionary note. This connection between history and the future is important—crucial, really. We can’t make proper use of the past unless we learn from it—and apply it to the present. It doesn’t require us to rewrite history; but it does call on us to analyze and understand it with honesty and sensitivity. Just a few days ago, I’m afraid, the State of Virginia began promoting its upcoming Civil War observances by talking cheerfully about secession and state’s rights, and all but ignoring the issue of slavery. The official explanation was that the idea is to promote tourism, so why bring up all the old ‘unpleasantness’? Well, because the issues of freedom, opportunity, and self-determination are as important—and sometimes as open to challenge—now as then. The debate over the Civil War may go on. But the battles are over—the main issue has been settled —and let’s never forget what that involved, or all these commemorations will have no value at all.”

Matt Pinsker forecasts Lincoln studies in the digital age

When the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum opened five years ago this month, I had the opportunity to meet a patriarch of Lincoln scholars, the late David Herbert Donald, as well as Holzer and Pinsker. I was excited that this article seemed to cry for comments from the two living scholars, and I wanted to share a little of Pinsker’s expertise on Lincoln and technology with those who can’t make to the closing.

I wrote to him, saying, “A few years ago, someone like me, who is not on the staff of a university with sabbaticals and university grants, would likely never have been able to do significant research on Lincoln . Because of time and financial constraints, I couldn't have gone to where these collections were housed. Yet, with all the resources that are now digitized, it opens doors in ways we might have never imagined.

Then I asked,“How do you see this changing Lincoln scholarship, and even more, how do you see it changing how we can keep the legacy alive in new ways and through new mediums?”

Pinsker wrote back:

“As you wrote [above], the future of Lincoln studies is likely to be quite bright because more people have more access to more evidence than ever before in the history of history. This flattened hierarchy and information superhighway will lead to both good and bad developments -- in addition to the new voices and new documents, for example, we will also have to address a growing problem of bad information that goes ‘viral’ (to use the expression of the day) and creates myths and misunderstandings faster than ever before.

“It's also true that new information doesn't always translate into better understanding or fresh concepts. For that, I believe we still have to rely mainly on the creativity and persistence of trained scholars, but I do believe that training these scholars for the next generation means teaching them not only about the fundamental precepts of history and historiography but also about the new digital tools and their application for subjects such as Lincoln.

“My particular view is that new tools will help us decipher the political Lincoln in a fashion that will revolutionize perceptions about his leadership because it will reveal his behind-the-scenes actions in ways that have previously been obscured.”

This Lincoln general store isn’t closing

For nearly 30 years, I shared one of Lincoln’s early professions. I was a grocer. The store where I worked didn’t close at night. It was open 24 hours. They say old habits die hard. Sometimes, I think they live forever. So, folks, the bicentennial may be “closing” in a sense, but Lincoln Buff 2 blog isn’t. Just as we shut a few cash registers down during the slower hours of the day, my posts have slowed some. I won’t be writing two or three a day now, as I did sometimes in February 2009, but I’ll still be watching for Lincoln events and publications, I’ll still share them, and I’ll be beginning work on my next Lincoln venture.

Who knows? Someday, you may even pick up a Lincoln book and see the author is Ann Tracy Mueller.

Blogger’s note: Thanks to Harold Holzer and Matt Pinsker and to Malorie Janasek of Jasculca/Terman and Associates, Inc. for their generous sharing of information and perspective.

© Ann Tracy Mueller 2010