Watch Prelude to the Presidency – Lincoln’s formative Illinois years

As America prepares to observe Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, a new film underwritten by COUNTRY Financial will show how he became one of the most important figures in American history.

“Lincoln: Prelude to the Presidency” will air on WILL TV, Urbana (Ill.) on Monday, Feb.9 at 8 p.m. Central Time and appear on PBS stations across the country all week.

The film highlights Lincoln’s formative years as a lawyer and speaker in Central Illinois, which is also the location of the COUNTRY Home Offices. Reenactments and expert interviews help tell the story of this important time in Lincoln’s life when he earned recognition and shaped the beliefs and values he would later use as president.

“COUNTRY is proud to play a role in marking the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday,” says Doyle Williams, chief marketing officer for COUNTRY. “We invite the public to watch this film and learn how this man went from a small town in Illinois to become one of the most important figures in American History.”

About two dozen PBS stations across the country will broadcast the film within the next week to mark Lincoln’s birthday (Feb.12) and Presidents Day (Feb. 16).

With contributions from some of my favorites
Several of my favorite Lincoln experts were involved with this film. My fellow McLean County Lincoln buff, the guy who surely knows more about the Lincoln and the Eighth Judicial Circuit than anyone, was the production subject matter expert. Guy is writing a book on the Lincoln's ciruit riding days, and you can bet you’ll read all about it here when it’s out.

If I’m understanding the information on the film’s website correctly, several Lincoln scholars are also featured. I had a chance to visit with two of them today – the always entertaining, recently retired Chief Justice Frank J. Williams and the gracious and delightful Edna Greene Medford. Also featured are Byron Andreasen, Orville Vernon Burton, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Wayne Temple.

Dates and times – Check your local listing
These are the dates and times I was able to obtain for various showings across the country. Please check your local listing to make sure of the correct date and time for the PBS station near you.

• Arizona (KUAT) - Feb. 9 at 10:30 pm
• Atlanta (PBA) - Feb. 12 at 9:30 p.m.
• Boston (WGBH) - Feb. 12 at 10:00 pm, repeated 3:00 am
• Bowling Green, Ohio (WBGU) - Feb. 22 at 2 p.m.
• Carbondale (WSIU) Feb. 10 at 9 p.m.
• Charleston (WEIU) Feb. 12 at 7 p.m.
• Chicago (WTTW) - Feb. 9 at 10:30 pm
• Chicago (WYCC) - Feb. 15 at 8:00 pm
• Columbus (WOSU) - Feb. 15 at 12:30 PM
• Detroit PTV - Feb. 9 at 10:30 pm
• Fresno (KVPT) - Feb. 9 at 10:30 pm
• Idaho Public Television - Feb. 10 at 9 p.m.
• Indianapolis (WFYI) - Feb. 12 at 9 p.m.
• Los Angeles (KCETWorld) - Feb.10 at 8 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 11 at 12 a.m.
• Milwaukee (MPTV, Channel 10) - Mar. 10 at 7:00 pm
• New Hampshire PTV - Feb. 12 at 11:30 pm
• Orlando (WMFE) - Feb. 9 at 10:30 pm
• Pittsburgh (WQED) - Feb. 11 at 8:00 pm
• Rocky Mountain PBS - Feb. 11 at 7:00 pm
• San Bernardino (KVCR) - Feb. 17 at 9:00 pm
• Springfield (WSEC) Feb. 10 at 9 p.m.
• Utah Educational Network - Feb. 11 at 9:00 pm, repeated Sunday at 2:00 am
• Tampa, FL (WUSF) - Feb. 11 at 10 p.m.

I'm looking forward to watching this - hope you are too!

Is your school joining the Lincoln Teach-In? There's still time.

Good media relations people keep plugging their stories anyway they can, as long as they can, and the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission staff is doing just that - even if it takes working weekends to get the word out. I had a reminder mail yesterday about the commission's National Teach-In. You won't want to miss it.

Two of my favorite Lincoln scholars, who have both so kindly answered my many questions, inspired me, believed in me and even mentored me, will be leading the event, along with another quintessential Lincoln scholar I've yet to meet, but would feel privileged to.

Be sure to watch Harold Holzer, head of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and author of more than 30 Lincoln books, Matthew Pinsker, author of Lincoln's Sanctuary, and Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals. Best wishes, guys. I know the Teach-In is in good hands. Ms. Goodwin, I look forward to the day when we, too, can meet. Happy Bicentennial and thanks to all of you.

From the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

Dear schools, libraries, museums and learning centers:

Join the over 4000+ educational organizations and sign up for the ALBC National Teach-in. Organized with History.com and broadcasted live from the National Archives in Washington, DC, this special ALBC event features Lincoln scholars, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Matthew Pinsker and Harold Holzer, sharing their expertise and answering students questions from all over the country.Educators and students nationwide can tune-in and view this LIVE webcast online at www.history.com/lincoln. Teachers, students, and families can also find enrichment resources and study guides which may be used at any time and/or can help prepare for the event.

ALBC National Teach-in
Thursday, February 12, 2009
1:30 PM EST
Live at National Archives - Washington, DC

Sign up now at http://www.history.com/minisites/lincoln Learn more about the Bicentennial celebrations happening around the nation at http://www.abrahamlincoln200.org.

Lincoln in sculpture – Fleeting and lasting

One of the benefits of this Lincoln blog is the fellow Lincoln buffs I’ve met – scholars, authors, photographers, educators, fellow Lincoln bloggers. It’s really neat when they share their enthusiasm, experience, knowledge and tips.

Weigers captures Lincoln images
Recently, one of my readers tipped me off to a fleeting Abraham Lincoln sculpture here in Illinois – a sculpture made of snow. The reader, David Wiegers of Gurnee (Ill.), has crossed the country taking photographs of more than 200 sculptures of the 16th President. He’s planning to publish them in a book, with a tentative title, “A Life Worth Remembering - the Monumental Legacy of Abraham Lincoln.” In the meantime, you can see his work and many of the statues he’s captured at the “Looking for Lincoln” PBS film website. More on this Kunhardt-produced film with Doris Kearns Goodwin, Harold Holzer and others later.

Weigers learned of a Lincoln snow portrait being crafted in Aurora (Ill.) this week. I sent email to the media contact this morning to make sure it was still on. It is, so here’s the scoop from the Aurora Public Art Commission.

The nitty-gritty snowy details

• What: Abraham Lincoln ‘Snow Portrait in Progress’
• Where: Next to the David L. Pierce Center, Aurora (Ill.)
• When: Monday – Friday, Jan. 26 - 30, 2009
• Meet the artists: Snow portrait reception on Friday, Jan. 30 from 3 – 7 p.m.

The rest of the snow scoop*
In honor of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial the Aurora Public Art Commission has commissioned a portrait of Lincoln, to be carved in snow by sculptor Joseph Gagnepain. This large-scale bust will be located in APAC’s sculpture garden, which is adjacent to the Pierce Center at 20 East Downer Place .

Gagnepain, a local freelance artist, has been carving snow for the past four years. With his teammates from Eau Claire, (Wisc.) "The Starvin' Carvists” have participated in multiple national and international snow sculpting competitions and commissions in Michigan, Illinois, and Italy. Last year his team placed first and second in an international competition held in two villages in Northern Italy.

To create the Aurora Public Art Commission’s Lincoln Bicentennial snow portrait, Gagnepain is assembling a team of local talent including Ed Pineada, Pete "Blast" Barrett and Marcus Mason. After foot packing (imagine stomping grapes for wine) the snow into a concrete form with snow plowed off of Mastodon Lake, the artists will use a model and photographs to scale the image onto the eight-foot block of snow. Differing from ice sculpting, the artists only employ hand tools - shovels, scrapers, horse brushes, saws, and homemade sanders.

In writing about his outdoor winter works, Gagnepain has stated: "I love snow sculpting, being close to nature, enjoying crisp/dry winter air, and being hands on with the pristine beauty of wonderful, white snow. I look forward to a good, snowy, cold winter each year."

Joseph Gagnepain is honored to have the opportunity to create a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln. A long time admirer of this former president, he has always wanted to use him as the subject for a work of art. The project also strikes a personal chord of pride for Gagnepain, as ancestors on his mother's side are cousins to Mary Todd Lincoln.The Lincoln portrait will be on display as long the cold weather holds.

* Thanks to Kathleen Swigart of the Aurora Public Art Commission for the information on the snow sculpture and a special thanks to my friend Dave Wiegers for the tip.

Congratulations, Mr. Secretary-to-be

Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard the term “Team of Rivals” so many times that some of us are beginning to wish Doris Kearns Goodwin had named her Lincoln book something else.

No offense, Ms. Goodwin. It was a great name. It’s just getting worn out as President-elect Obama selects his cabinet and the media runs the phrase into the ground. The freshness is kind of gone, you know.

There’s one “rival” we’re excited to learn about here in Central Illinois, though. Our native son, Congressman Ray LaHood, who recently announced his retirement from his current role, has been named Secretary of Transportation for the Obama administration.

LaHood’s our man
LaHood is dear to us here in the Land of Lincoln, not only because he’s from our neck of the woods – or prairie – but because he’s a co-chair of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

So, it seems appropriate that this Lincoln enthusiast will have a role with our nation’s transportation. After all, as early as the New Salem days, Lincoln was passionate about internal improvements – better waterways, railroads and such. We were already proud of our Representative for his public service and his support of the Lincoln legacy. We’re even prouder now.

Learn more
As usual, the journalists at the Peoria Journal-Star have done a great job of telling the story of Hood’s nomination. Learn more in the following:

• It’s official
• LaHood’s remarks
• Votes of confidence
• About the job
• A first for Peoria

Best wishes always
Congressman LaHood, when I wished you well in my Dec. 6 post, I borrowed some words from an old Irish toast. Little did I know the roads will not only rise up to meet you, but you’ll be the “road and sky guy” for our whole country. Wow!

Congratulations – and thanks for continuing to serve the people of the United States of America.

Sowing the seeds of Lincoln scholarship

It may surprise some of you to know that my excitement about the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial isn’t something which sprouted up overnight. Like anything worthwhile, it took seed, was nurtured and is now coming into its own.

My growth with Lincoln
I truly have been interested in Lincoln for as long as I can remember – very early childhood. Part of that comes from growing up in Illinois, some of it comes from the pride of this great state and its famous son instilled by my parents and grandparents, some also grew in the classroom, and the rest of it comes from inheriting a trait with roots stronger than an old milkweed plant on an Illinois prairie – an insatiable curiosity.

What many of you don’t know is that I earned my college degree much later than most – just a few days before my forty-first birthday. One of the courses I took was a Literature of Illinois class offered through Western Illinois University’s Board of Governors/ BA program (now Board of Trustees/BA). I’d been away from school a long time, and from my studies of Lincoln even longer, but I knew during the first evening of that class that I’d found my true passion. The history and literature of Illinois are so rich, and the legacy of Lincoln even richer. This was something that had a grip on me that would not let go. And – I wasn’t going to let it.

A few years later, through the encouragement of my professor from that class, I attended a writers’ workshop at the Carl Sandburg Days Festival in Galesburg, Ill. I then began writing freelance book reviews on books by Illinois authors or about Illinois subjects, including Lincoln, for The State Journal-Register of Springfield, Ill.

Then in 2002, the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, co-chaired by U.S. Senator Richard Durbin, U.S. Representative Ray LaHood and Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer, put out a press release announcing its new Web site. It was then that I began to formulate what I called my seven-year plan. I’d hoped that by Lincoln’s 200th birthday on Feb. 12, 2009 I could be making a significant contribution to keeping the legacy of Lincoln alive.

As often happens in life, my plans went awry, and I’m not making a huge contribution to the Lincoln world. I did, however, get to attend all the events associated with the April 2005 opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, met some brilliant Lincoln scholars and learned a lot. Then this fall I had an opportunity of a lifetime – to take a course on Abraham Lincoln at Heartland, the local community college. Through the course and a number of other Lincoln-related events here in the center of the Land of Lincoln, I’m finally pursuing my interests.

This blog is one way I hope to plant that Lincoln passion in others. Significant contribution? Maybe not. But a little seed - maybe…

Heartland Community College course
The Heartland course, “The Life and Times of Abraham Lincoln,” will also be offered in the Spring of 2009, so if you’re from Central Illinois, you may want to check it out.

And let me tell you about a couple other places where students are learning about Lincoln.

Galesburg High School Lincoln Seminar
Galesburg has a rich Lincoln tradition, which is part of the reason I was always so passionate about the sixteenth president. Unfortunately, in the past much of the Galesburg community didn’t latch onto Lincoln with the same enthusiasm that held a grasp on Carl Sandburg and me.

This year, though, Galesburg High School is offering an interdisciplinary course, Lincoln Seminar. Sixteen young people have already been exposed to many wonderfully rich Lincoln-related experiences, which they’re chronicling on their own blog. I wonder if those young people really understand the magnitude of what this experience can mean to them. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if one of those students – or better yet all of them – were the next generation of Lincoln scholars?

Loyola University courses
Through a comments post to another Lincoln blog, I recently learned of an exciting Lincoln class at Loyola University, “Lincoln and Citizen Journalism,” taught by John Slania. See some of the outstanding work of this group on their class Web site.

According to information on the Loyola Web site and in the Loyola online publication, this is just one of several Lincoln-related courses to be offered at Loyola this year. And, to top it off, they’ll also be hosting Lincoln scholar Doris Kearns Goodwin for a lecture on Feb. 11, 2009.

Other Lincoln courses?
Are there other Lincoln courses you’d like people to know about? If so, please let me know. I’ll try to let readers know about them here on Lincoln Buff 2.

© Copyright 2008 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.