ALA Newsletter (29 May 2023)

The latest in Abraham Lincoln Association news

Remembering the Fallen as Lincoln Did

Memorial Day honors those who died while serving in the United States military. On this day we recall Abraham Lincoln’s model for memorializing the fallen in his “Gettysburg Address.” Lincoln honored the dead while articulating the American cause and calling the living to action to “the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.” Today we once again “highly resolve . . . that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Photo by Jacob Thorson on Unsplash

Upcoming ALA Symposium

The ALA will host a groundbreaking symposium on original and primary resources on June 17, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The event will take place at Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Illinois, and is free and open to the public.

This ALA Symposium will emphasize the increased use and availability of original and primary resources in the research and writing on Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. The event will feature these speakers:

• Michael Burlingame, author of Abraham Lincoln: A Life

• Michelle Krowl, specialist at the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division - Civil War & Reconstruction

• Dan Weinberg, expert on Lincoln documents and owner of Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Chicago

• Guy Fraker, author of Lincoln’s Ladder to the Presidency: The Eighth Judicial Circuit

• Robert I. Girardi, author/editor of nine books on the Civil War, including The Civil War Generals

• William Griffing, creator of Spared & Shared: Saving History One Letter at a Time

• Diana Dretske, author of The Bonds of War: A Story of Immigrants and Esprit de Corps in Company C, 96th Illinois Volunteer Infantry

• Jeffery Anderson, assistant curator, First Division Museum, Cantigny Park

RSVP to Kay Smith at kaysmith.ala@gmail.com or by calling 217-LINCOLN.

New Lincoln Log Podcast Episode

Prolific Lincoln scholar Jonathan W. White joins host Joshua Claybourn on the Lincoln Log podcast to discuss White’s most recent book titled Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade. The book focuses on Appleton Oaksmith, a swashbuckling sea captain whose life intersected with some of the most important 19th century moments. Access the podcast via your favorite podcast app or on YouTube here.