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

Southern Politics and Mary Chestnut today's Virtual Book Signing topics

If you haven't watched a Virtual Book Signing from the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, you don't know what you're missing. Daniel Weinberg and Bjorn Skaptason always stimulate thought and interest as they interview authors live online during these book signing events.

Today, Saturday, March 6, at noon Central Time, they'll welcome authors Michael Perman and Julia Stern into the store. Perman will discuss his book, Pursuit of Unity: A Political History of the American South, and Stern will offer insight into her critical analysis, Mary Chestnut's Civil War Epic.

If you can't watch it live online - or make it to the store to see it in person - you can always view the signing later on the website. Earlier book signings with many notable Lincoln and Civil War authors are archived on the Virtual Book Signing website, so you can watch them when it is convenient for you. This one will be, too, in a couple weeks or so. Be sure to check it out.

Political history, the Civil War and me

Until just a few years ago, I was one who never wanted to read about the Civil War - or any war, for that matter. That may seem odd, considering my interest in Lincoln, and how interrelated his story is with the story of our country's conflict. But, it was the popular Lincoln who drew me in as a child, the Lincoln with ties to my native state and my hometown who tugged at my heartstrings, and the self-made man Lincoln who motivated me, like Galesburg poet Carl Sandburg, to pursue the study of the sixteenth president. Those ugly things - politics, slavery, war? I left them for others.

Yet, as I became more than just a casual Lincoln enthusiast and instead a student in earnest of his life and legacy, I realized that those things I'd avoided were necessary evils. Without understanding the political Lincoln, the injustice of slavery, the dynamics and logistics of the Civil War, I couldn't truly know the man whose story inspired me.

A Civil War book club at the McLean County Museum of History a few years ago helped to set me on a path toward greater understanding of the War Between the States. One of the books we read was The Private Mary Chesnut: The Unpublished Civil War Diaries. Suddenly, the conflict was more than the names of battles and generals which it had been in my high school and undergrad history classes. It was the stories of real people and the impact all this had on their lives.

It will be interesting to learn of Stern's critical work on Chestnut's piece - a project, that will surely move me ,as a regional literary critic, to take a second look at Chestnut's work. As for that political history stuff, thank goodness for people like Perman, who understand those things and, through their gifts as writers, work to make it more understandable for those of us who are political illiterates.

Watch Virtual Book Signing Dec. 5: The Maps of Chickamauga

One of the best things about the world of Lincoln enthusiasts is the neat people you meet. Among those I count as my friends is Daniel Weinberg of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago. Dan and his staff host Virtual Book Signing, a wonderful online program where they interview authors about their latest books.

If you've got time at noon Central Time today, Saturday, Dec. 5, log on to watch the interview with Dave Powell, author of The Maps of Chickamauga: An Atlas of the Chickamauga Campaign, Including the Tullahoma Operations, June 22 - September 23, 1863. Now that's a title!

Information on the Virtual Book Signing Web site says The Maps of Chickamauga is the third in a new series of campaign studies that take a different approach toward military history. The book explores this largely misunderstood battle through the use of 126 full-color maps, graphically illustrating the complex tangle of combat's ebb and flow that makes the titanic bloodshed of Chickamauga one of the most confusing actions of the American Civil War.

One of the really cool things about watching the book signing live is that you can submit questions for the author. I've done it before, and, when time allows, they really do answer them - right while you're watching. It's pretty neat. But, if you are just too busy holiday shopping or decorating to watch the book signing live today, don't despair. After a few days, the signings are archived. You can watch many past book signings with numerous Lincoln, presidential and Civil War authors.

Authors explore Grant, Teddy and more on VBS

Be sure to stay close to your computer tonight for another interesting Virtual Book Signing from the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago. Daniel Weinberg invites two authors to speak about their books on American presidents.

Here's the scoop
It's Thursday, November 5, at 6:00 pm CST. Featured authors are Joan Waugh, author of U. S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth. and Peri Arnold, author of Remaking the Presidency: Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson 1901-1916.

Waugh book
The VBS website says, "U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Legend is an insightful blend of biography and cultural history, Joan Waugh traces Grant's shifting national and international reputation, illuminating the role of memory in our understanding of American history."

Arnold book
This is the first comparative study of the three Progressive Era presidents, examining the context in which they served, the evolving institutional role of the presidency, and the personal characteristics of each man.

Watch Virtual Book signing tonight, Sept. 15

Looking for something fun to do this evening to celebrate Lincoln? You don't even need to leave the comfort of your computer monitor. Just tune in to Virtual Book Signing for a "Celebration of Abraham Lincoln and the Arts."

Yep, it's today, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. Central Time.

Lincoln expert and Abraham Linocln Book Shop owner Daniel Weinberg and company will host guests from Chicagoland's Ravinia Festival. Though this is a private event, not open to the public like most book signing events, you're invited to watch the live webcast. Virtual Book Signing events are always entertaining, so you won't want to miss it.

The live panel discussion features artists commissioned by Ravinia commissioned to help North America’s oldest summer music festival celebrate the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial. They include composer Elbio Barilari, composer Lita Grier, composer Ramsey Lewis and choreographer Venetia Stifler. The panel is hosted by Ravinia’s President and CEO Welz Kauffman.

The event will feature some of the magnificent music produced for Ravinia during this Bicentennial commemoration of Lincoln's birth and also a video segment about Jazz legend Ramsey Lewis and his remarkable new composition. Live performances include the Lincoln Trio, soprano Michelle Areyzaga and pianist/speaker Welz Kauffman.

I had the opportunity to hear the Lincoln Trio at Bloomington's David Davis Mansion earlier this year, and their performance alond was a treat. Getting to hear all these artists in a discussion at once should be even more exciting. Hope you can watch it.

The live broadcast is sponsored by Ravinia Festival, Virtual Book Signing and Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Inc. Ravinia Festival gives special thanks to Kartemquin Films and WTTW Chicago.

Ravinia Festival has brought the finest in music and performance to the Chicagoland area since 1904.

Don’t miss Lincoln as he meets the press

On Friday, June 5, 2009 you won’t want to miss Virtual Book Signing live online at 6 p.m. Central Time. Lincoln presenter George Buss will discuss Abraham Lincoln’s life and presidency with several members of the media.

Those joining Buss are:

• Eric Zorn, editorial columnist
• Patrick Reardon and John Patterson, political reporters
• Kane Farabauh, radio journalist

The event, sponsored by Abraham Lincoln Book Shop and the Abraham Lincoln Association, will be moderated by Bob Lenz and will last an hour or until the journalists and online viewers are out of questions.

What to expect
Buss will join the journalists in a roundtable discussion, answering questions from the media and those received by email from the audience watching live from home. There’s one hitch though – all questions have to be directed not at Buss, but at his alter ego, President Lincoln, and not just at any time in his life but on that fateful day, April 14, 1865. So, as the Virtual Book Signing folks, who just happen to be from Chicago, warn it’s no fair asking if the Cubs are going to win the World Series.

I can tell you with no reservations you’re in for a good time. Buss is quite the Lincoln. He knows his subject and has a wit not unlike that of the sixteenth president. He’s stood in Lincoln’s shoes – and under his hat – for a number of years now. In 2008, he was joined by Tim Connors, who played Stephen A. Douglas to Buss’s Lincoln as the pair commemorated the sesquicentennial of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates in the same cities where the prairie orators faced off 150 years earlier.

I had the opportunity to hear Buss and Connor more than once last year, and I heard Buss and Lenz do a similar presentation with media in Peoria. I often found myself thinking I really was in the presence of the President and, more than once, I had a good laugh.

Check it out. You’ll be glad you did.

Join the Abraham Lincoln Association
Not a member of the Abraham Lincoln Association? Can you think of a better way to honor his legacy and celebrate the bicentennial of his birth? It’s as easy as clicking this link and following the instructions on the Abraham Lincoln Association website.

It’s a great organization with fine people who are also committed to keeping the Lincoln legacy alive, and events like this one are just one of the ways they do so.

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Authors talk about Lincoln/Truman books today

Daniel Weinberg of Chicago’s Abraham Lincoln Book Shop invites Matthew Algeo and Larry Tagg to Virtual Book Signing today, May 16 at 12 noon Central Time.

Please join them as they talk about:

• Algeo’s book, Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure, and
• Tagg’s book, The Unpopular Mr. Lincoln.

Virtual Book Signing is free, it’s online and you can even submit questions for the authors. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do.

If you miss the show online today, check the Virtual Book Signing website periodically. They’ll post in online before long. In fact, right now you can hear Weinberg’s visits with other Lincoln authors, including:

• Harold Holzer
• James McPherson
• Michael Burlingame
• Philip Kunhardt, III
• George McGovern
• Ronald C. White, Jr.
• Catherine Clinton
• Daniel Mark Epstein
• David Leroy
• Daniel Stowell
• And more.

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Don' t miss Virtual Book Signing

Our friends at the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop are busy getting ready for another Virtual Book Signing - today, Saturday, April 25, at 12 noon Central Time.

Be sure to watch as Daniel Weinberg visits with :

• Fred L. Reed III, author of Abraham Lincoln: The Image of His Greatness and
• Marc Egnal, author of Clash of Extremes: The Economic Origins of the Civil War.

Virtual Book signings are free, live and available again later online at no charge. They're a great way to hear an author talk about the book, the subject and the writing and research process. Weinberg's a great interviewer and you can even submit questions online for authors to answer while you're watching. If you're in Chicagoland, you can even drop in the shop to watch the taping. Check it out!

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Don't forget to watch Burlingame tonight

--Updated 5:25 p.m. March 5, 2009

Michael Burlingame will be joining Daniel Weinberg of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop for a Virtual Book Signing this evening, March 5, at 6 p.m. Central Time. Be sure to join and watch online as Burlingame talks about his new two-volume, 2,000-page* biography, Abraham Lincoln: A Life.

These are really nice events. Weinberg has such a knack for interviewing. You'll really feel as if you're all just sitting around in his living room chatting about the book. Burlingame is quite personable himself - and funny, too. Be sure to watch for his quip about the size of the book.

*Thanks to Bjorn of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, who noticed that I originally said 2000-word instead of 2000-page. That's what I get for trying to blog before my first cup of morning coffee!

Coming this weekend – another Virtual Book Signing

One of the highlights of my bicentennial pilgrimage to Springfield was having the opportunity to meet Lincoln scholars and experts I’ve covered in my blog. The first Lincoln author/expert I ran into on Sunday, Feb. 8 was Daniel Weinberg of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago.

Weinberg and I had exchanged emails a time or two and I’d promoted some of his Virtual Book Signings in my blog, but we’d never met. He was just as pleasant in person as he had been by email and seemed in the online book signings. This man just has an aura about him that puts his interviewees at ease and elicits some powerful discussion.

You’ll get a change to see Weinberg at work this weekend and again in early March if you tune in to his next two Virtual Book Signings.

David Leroy on Feb. 21
Be sure to log on to your computer at 12 noon Central Time on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009, as Weinberg interviews David Leroy, Idaho Lincoln Bicentennial Commission chair and chairman of the Governors Council of the United States Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Leroy will be speaking about his book, Mr. Lincoln’s Book: Publishing the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

Remember, you can order your book for this and other Virtual Book Signings ahead of time through the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop BookBlast page.

Unfortunately, Mr. Leroy is one Lincoln buff I haven’t yet met. I remember reading about him last year in an online news story about the Lincoln Forum symposium at Gettysburg. I’m planning to attend this year, so I hope meet him there. In the meantime, we can all meet him in cyberspace, thanks to Weinberg’s book event.

Michael Burlingame on March 5
On Thursday evening, March 5 at 6 p.m. Central Time, join Weinberg and Michael Burlingame, as Burlingame talks about the most grandiose Lincoln biography since Sandburg finished his six-volume Lincoln bio 70 years ago.

I had the pleasure of meeting Burlingame, author of the two-volume Abraham Lincoln: A Life, at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library last week. I later watched as he moderated a panel for the Abraham Lincoln Association’s Lincoln Roundtable. I also got to hear him speak at a luncheon and at the Abraham Lincoln Association banquet. Burlingame’s good nature and wit make him a pleasant conversationalist and an engaging speaker.

You won’t want to miss this event, either. If you do, though, be sure to check back on the Virtual Book Signing website later, as the book signings are archived so they can be watched again and again.

If you missed White and Clinton
How did you spend your Valentine’s Day? Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln spent their day together on Virtual Book Signing. Okay, they didn’t, but the authors of books about each of them did.

Ronald C. White, Jr., author of A. Lincoln: A Biography, and Catherine Clinton, who wrote Mrs. Lincoln: A Life, teamed up on Feb. 14 to talk with Weinberg about one of the most misunderstood marriages in the history of our country. Just last week, I heard one writer speak of the strength of the Lincoln marriage and another speak of its misery. No one really knows what the marriage was like, of course, but the couple themselves, and they’re not here to tell us.

I’m sure you’ll gain some new insight into the individuals and into their marriage if you watch the archived interview when it’s available on Virtual Book Signing. When this article was written it wasn’t yet ready, but keep checking back. They should have it out there before long.

I had the opportunity to meet White in 2005 at the opening symposium of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum when my Lincoln buff buddy, Karen Needles, who has done research for White, introduced us. She spoke very highly of him and of his work.

Clinton was at that event too, but we didn't really get to meet until this year. Her inquisitive nature and tenacity inspire me. I'll be reviewing her book in the coming months, so be sure to watch for it here.

Be in the know
Afraid you’ll miss out on future Virtual Book Signings? You won't have to if you sign up for the free email mailing list. I joined a few months ago and it’s a great way to keep in the know on who’s on first, what’s on second and I don’t know’s on third in the world of Lincoln literature.

Upcoming Lincoln events you won’t want to miss

When I set out to do this blog four months ago, I knew there would be a lot to share before the bicentennial, but I don’t think I realized how much I wouldn’t have time to share. I’ve missed out on sharing a number of events I wish I could have. The days are only so long. On many of them I’ve been not only burning the candle at both ends, but sometimes I think it’s spring tentacles and I’m burning it at the ends of all of them, too.

Here are four events which are special to me, and I think you’ll enjoy them, too. Why are they special? It’s because in one way or another, I like to call the people involved with each of these my Lincoln friends. I wanted to share more about all these events, but time just got away from me. I’ll give you a “Reader’s Digest” version and hope to follow up with more later.

In the next few days, you’ll want to catch a Virtual Book Signing wherever you are, a play if you can make it to Bloomington (Ill.) and a couple of cool bicentennial events in Springfield with people whose work I admire.

• Virtual Book Signing with Ronald White and Catherine Clinton
• Lincoln’s in Town! original production, Bloomington (Ill.)
• Emancipation and the Dream of Freedom - From Slavery to the White House with Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King, Springfield (Ill.)
• Chris Vallillo, Abraham Lincoln in Song, Springfield, Ill.

Virtual Book Signing
Daniel Weinberg of Chicago is the owner of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop. He’s got a gift a store owner needs – the ability to make a person feel as if they are important to him – whether it’s in an author interview, at a signing of his own book or in the hallway at a scholarly event. Yet, somehow I feel that even if he weren’t a merchant who knew that anyone could someday be your customer, he’s still just be this all-around kind and very pleasant guy.

Weinberg hosts Virtual Book Signing, and this Saturday, Feb. 14 at noon, he’ll have two of the authors on his show whom I first met or heard speak at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum’s opening symposium in 2005: Ronald C. White, Jr., author of A. Lincoln: A Biography, and Catherine Clinton, author of Mrs. Lincoln: A Life.

You won’t want to miss these interviews, but if you do, be sure to go back to the website later to see them online.

Lincoln’s in Town!
I really wanted to tell you a whole lot more about this next production. Robert Bray is an Illinois Wesleyan University professor, whose work I’ve used over and over through the last 18 years as I’ve studied the literature and history of Illinois, including Lincoln. He and writer Nancy Steele Brokaw are the playwrights for a new play about Lincoln’s time in McLean County (Ill.)

Here’s the information from the play’s website. I have much more to share with you, but I’ll have to do it as a follow-up piece later. I think you’ll still enjoy hearing about it. In the meantime, if you’re in the area, you oughta come. It will be a great show, but don’t wait. Tickets are really selling well.

Lincoln's In Town! is an original dramatization of Abraham Lincoln's sojourns in Bloomington, Illinois. This show, which includes an annotated booklet, was designed for Lincoln buffs, school children, and everyone in between.

The play follows Lincoln's Bloomington career from his initial appearance as a newly-minted lawyer through all of his best known legal and political appearances in town - including the famous 'Lost Speech' of 1856.

The storytellers of the production, a grandfather and his young grandson, wait at the recreated Bloomington train depot for Lincoln's train to arrive in town. The stories they tell come to life before the audience's eyes, and include a story-telling Lincoln entertaining the town children, a rollicking courtroom scene, tense political debating and plotting with Leonard Swett, David Davis and Jesse Fell, a memorable haircut with Billy the Barber and Asahel Gridley, a quilting bee gone awry, and much, much more.

Lincoln's friends and experiences in Bloomington, his 'second hometown,' helped to shape the man who saved the nation. Learn how all that happened in a true historical celebration on stage at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, February 13-15, 2009.

Lincoln's In Town! is a commissioned project of the McLean County Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. It is produced by Holiday Spectacular, Inc.

Emancipation and the Dream of Freedom - From Slavery to the White House
This Springfield event is part of the Bicentennial festivities there. I just had to tell you about it, because two of the three are the most believable characters you’d ever want to meet – and just plain really neat people, too. The third might be, too. I just don’t know who the presenter is or, obviously, anything about him.

Stop by the Lincoln Home Historic Site in Springfield on Friday, Feb. 13 at 2 p.m or Saturday, Feb. 14 at 10 a.m. to see Frederick Douglass (Michael E. Crutcher, Sr.), Harriet Tubman (Kathryn Harris) and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Crutcher and Harris play their roles so well, that you’ll think you’d stepped back to Lincoln’s time. Be sure you don’t’ miss this.

Abraham Lincoln in Song
While you’re at Lincoln’s Home on Saturday, Feb. 14, be sure not to miss my west central Illinois buddy, songster Chris Vallillo with Rocky Maffit with his program "Abraham Lincoln in Song." The performance is at 1 p.m.

And that’s not all
I wish I could share all the other cool Lincoln Bicentennial events I’ve read and heard about with you, but I’m just plain tuckered out, as a Southern Uplands frontierman like Lincoln might say. This is it for now. I’ve got a big week ahead of me.

Be sure to follow me on twitter. I had some technical challenges today (translate: didn’t know what the heck I was doing), but I think I’ve got a work-around. I should be back in business tomorrow. And, who knows, if I have insomnia, you may even see some surprise blog posts from me this week.

In the meantime, this is what we’ve been anxiously awaiting. This week really is the Bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. Enjoy it, celebrate it, learn from it. To find events in your area, please visit these websites:

• U. S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial
• Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial
• Abraham Lincoln Online

Don’t forget to send a birthday card
It’s still not too late to send Lincoln a birthday card, you know. Try to do an original card rather than store-bought. As soon as I get this posted, I’m going to make mine!

George S. McGovern on Virtual Book Signing

-- Updated 5:15 p.m. Jan. 13, 2009

If you’ve never watched a Virtual Book Signing from the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, you’re missing out. In December, I had the privilege of watching owner Daniel R. Weinberg talk with Philip Kunhardt, III, about Looking for Lincoln, the book Kunhardt co-authored with his brother and nephew, Peter W. Kunhardt and Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr.

On Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009* at 6 p.m. Central Time, you can see former Senator George S. McGovern talk with Weinberg about McGovern’s book, Abraham Lincoln: The American Presidents Series: The 16th President, 1861-1865 (Hardcover).

Visit the Virtual Book Signing website to:

• watch online,
• order your copy of McGovern’s book or
• see details about the signing.

About Abraham Lincoln Book Shop
The Abraham Lincoln Book Shop was opened in 1938 by Ralph G. Newman, a contemporary of Carl Sandburg and the editor of Lincoln for the Ages. Newman’s book is one of the “must haves” in my Lincoln library. It contains the work of 76 authors who tell the story of Lincoln from the cradle to the grave and beyond. Lincoln for the Ages, by the way, was one of the books published around the time of Lincoln’s Sesquicentennial. My guess is that there weren’t as many Lincoln books published from 1958-1960 as there will be from 2008-2010.

Weinberg was Newman’s partner in the book store beginning in 1971 and purchased the founder’s interest in 1984. He and James L. Swanson are the authors of Lincoln's Assassins: Their Trial and Execution.

See Weinberg and others in person next month
Weinberg is a leading authority on Lincoln documents, books and memorabilia. He’ll be moderating a panel discussion on Collecting Lincoln at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library on Feb.8, 2009 at 2 p.m. Collectors on the slate to speak that day are Kunhardt, Louise Taper, Chief Justice Frank Williams and Jack Smith. Though admission is free, you do need to call 217-558-8934 to make reservations to attend. I've heard all but Smith speak before and I'll guarantee hearing them share their passion will be time well spent.

These are just a handful of the Lincoln authorities, scholars and authors who will be in Springfield the week of Lincoln’s birthday.

• Visit the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission website to learn about all the other exciting events going on in Springfield and Illinois in celebration of the bicentennial.
• For events across the nation, see the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission website or Abraham Lincoln Online.
  

*Earlier I listed the wrong date. The signing is on the 15th, not the 14th, as previously stated. I apologize for the error and any confusion it may have caused. Ann

Thanks, Kunhardts, for building on a legacy

Recently, I was looking for an audio book about Lincoln to “read” on my commute to work. The first one I ran across in a nearby library was Lincoln: A Biography by Philip B Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B Kunhardt III and Peter W. Kunhardt. Nearly as soon as I began listening to it, I knew it was going to be time well spent.

Just the beginning
Even in this abridged 1992 audiotape, the Kunhardts’ coverage of Lincoln’s evolving views of slavery and African-Americans proved to be very comprehensive. And, considering this subject was to be one of the questions on an exam in the Lincoln course I was taking, the authors held me captive – so much so that I went back and also checked out the large-format unabridged hardcover, Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography.

As I spent two weekends and several evenings documenting the topic for the exam and future reference, I was amazed at how much depth this book had on slavery and a number of other facets of Lincoln’s life. I was just as amazed at how beautifully the volume was illustrated. I took advantage of the library’s liberal renewal policy to keep the book longer and to spend time savoring the photographs. I learned the book was printed as a companion piece to the trio’s four-part ABC mini-series on Lincoln.

Delving into the Kunhardt story
These guys and their work were impressive. I stepped away from Lincoln for a bit and began to research the Kunhardts, their books and their documentaries. I was excited to find there was much more to learn than just a tale of three guys who decided to write a book about Lincoln. There was a legacy here – a powerful one spanning five generations – from Frederick Hill Meserve (grandfather of Philip, Jr.) who was born the year Lincoln died, through Frederick’s daughter Dorothy (Mother of Philip Jr. and author of Pat the Bunny), then Philip, Jr., his sons Philip III and Peter, and Peter’s son Peter, Jr.

The legacy started when Meserve purchased the glass photographic negatives of Lincoln/ Civil War era photographer Matthew Brady. Thanks to Meserve’s wise investment, the rest of us can linger over these photos today and see back into Lincoln’s time with a clarity which wouldn’t have been possible without this man’s wisdom and foresight.

Sharing the treasures
Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt and her son, Philip, Jr., started the tradition of sharing these magnificent images in the book, Twenty Days: A Narrative in Text and Pictures of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the Twenty Days and Nights That Followed--The Nation in Mourning, the Long Trip Home to Springfield. If I’m not mistaken, this volume was first published in 1965 on the centennial of Lincoln’s mournful trip home to Springfield.

Philip Jr. and his sons built on the tradition with the illustrated 1992 biography I stumbled upon. I was troubled to learn that Philip Jr. passed away in 2006, but delighted to learn that the next project, now hot off the press, is the work of his two sons and his grandson, Peter, Jr.

The latest Kunhardt work
I had the opportunity recently to hear Philip III talk about the new book, Looking for Lincoln: The Making of an American Icon, with Daniel Weinberg of The Abraham Lincoln Book Shop on Virtual Book Signing.* This book, too, draws from the family’s collection of images and draws upon each of the co-author’s unique gifts – Philip III’s gifts as a writer and his brother and son’s talents with the images and design work.

The book continues the Lincoln story, taking the reader from the assassination through the life of Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln. It, too, is a companion book, to an upcoming PBS documentary, but based on tradition, I’m sure it will stand well on its own. The legacy of the Kunhardts, like the legacy of Lincoln, is one which will remain strong for years to come.

Congratulations, Philip III and Peter
In February, Philip III and Peter will join other Lincoln experts in receiving a special Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial edition of the highest honor awarded by the State of Illinois, The Order of Lincoln. As is the case with the other honorees, this recognition of the brothers' longstanding commitment to Lincoln is well-deserved. Congratulations to both of you from someone who appreciates your work and laments of not discovering it earlier.

More to come
Watch for more information on this interesting family and their contributions to the Lincoln world, including a new numbering system for Lincoln photographs, in future Lincoln Buff 2 blog posts next year. If I told you everything I’ve learned about this talented family, I fear it would take me into the new year.

* Abraham Lincoln Book Shop and Virtual Book Signing: This is really cool! I even got to send a question via email, which Mr. Kunhardt answered on the air. I want to tell you more about the history of this institution and the new legacy they're creating with the virtual book signings. Watch for more on that next year, too.

Scholars congregate and letter surfaces

There was plenty of Lincoln news today, and it’s too interesting not to share.

Lincoln Forum symposium opens
The Lincoln Forum symposium opened Sunday in Gettysburg. James R. Carroll of the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal made sure the event was chronicled. You’ll want to read his article to hear what these Lincoln buffs have to say:

• Frank J. Williams, Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice, quintessential Lincoln scholar, chairman of the Lincoln Forum, Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission member, author or editor of more than a dozen books, annual cataloguer of Lincolniana and more
• David Wiegers, an Illinois photographer
• David Leroy, chair of the Idaho Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
• Daniel Weinberg, owner of Chicago’s famous Abraham Lincoln Book Shop

Like many of the scholars attending the symposium, Leroy, Wiegers and Williams are all in the midst of Lincoln book projects. Carroll tells you a little about a couple of them and why the Lincoln legacy continues to captivate people almost 200 years after his birth.

The Bixby letter (found?)
Even those who aren’t Lincoln buffs remember the famous Lincoln letter featured in the moving “Saving Private Ryan” – the letter the president wrote to a mother whose five sons all were believed to have perished in battle during the War Between the States.

The Dallas Historical Society recently found a document in its archives which it hopes is an honest-to-goodness copy of this famous letter. The letter will be appraised to help determine if it is the real deal. Read Jeff Carlton’s Associated Press story as featured in today’s Houston Chronicle to learn more.

By the way
Did you know that Steven Spielberg, who brought us Private Ryan, also has a Lincoln project in the works – supposedly in 2010? I’m not spreading any rumors about who’ll be filling the roles, but you can get a little info from the Internet Movie Data Base. In the meantime, if Mr. Spielberg wants to let Lincoln Buff 2 know the real scoop, I’ll be glad to share it with the rest of you.

© Copyright 2008 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.