Abraham Lincoln Birthday symposium to be held remotely

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of Coronavirus may speedily pass away,” said Abraham Lincoln Association President Michael Burlingame as he paraphrased the famous Lincoln quotation.

Burlingame made the statement while announcing that the annual symposium commemorating Lincoln's 212th Birthday will be held remotely this year, with the full slate of speakers available on-line.

The Symposium is named for Benjamin P. Thomas (1902-1956), the renowned Lincoln biographer and one-time Executive Secretary of The Abraham Lincoln Association. The symposium is supported by a generous gift of Thomas's daughter, Sarah Thomas, and her family to The Abraham Lincoln Association Endowment Fund. The event is co-sponsored by the University of Illinois Springfield. For more information about the Abraham Lincoln Association, visit www.abrahamlincolnassociation.org.

This story appeared in the Canton Daily Ledger on January 28, 2021.

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Susan Koch: Embracing history with Lincoln studies at UIS

The following is an excerpt from a column by University of Illinois Springfield Chancellor Susan Koch. This column appeared in The State Journal-Register on February 9, 2019.

February commonly brings predictions of spring’s arrival provided by a groundhog named Phil or handfuls of candy conversation hearts to celebrate Valentine’s Day. 

Here in Springfield, Illinois, however, February’s center stage goes to our own hometown hero — Abraham Lincoln. 

With Mr. Lincoln’s 210th birthday only two days away, my thoughts, too, are with the 16th president. Fortunately, resources for contemplating Lincoln are close at hand here at the University of Illinois Springfield. 

The study of Abraham Lincoln — his leadership and his legacy — is a unique point of pride for the University that continues to grow and contribute to the education of tomorrow’s leaders as well as to the Springfield community. 

Though UIS faculty in many areas of study engage in teaching and research about Lincoln, Professor Michael Burlingame, who occupies the Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies, is most prominent. 

The author of many critically acclaimed Lincoln books including a biography titled Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Burlingame believes learning about Lincoln ”... deepens students’ understanding of what it means to be an American.” 

Devin Hunter, who joined the UIS faculty after working at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and earning a Ph.D. in Public History from Loyola University, agrees. “Studying Lincoln’s life,” says Hunter, “enables better understanding of how others navigate challenges — some of which are similar to what we see today.” 

Professors Burlingame and Hunter take full advantage of their location in Lincoln’s hometown where resources for teaching and research about Lincoln and his time abound. “I have a 75-step commute from my residence to do my research at the Lincoln Presidential Library,” says Burlingame, “which has a fabulous collection of primary source materials, books and journals.” “Next to the Library of Congress,” he continues, “it’s the premier place to do Lincoln research.”

(Burlingame’s current project is focused on Lincoln’s many interactions with African Americans throughout his lifetime.) Hunter, who is currently teaching a course titled “Monuments, Museums and Memory,” could not agree more with his colleague’s assessment. “To have local, state, and federal sites all within a small radius is uncommon,” he says, “and it creates an opportunity for faculty and students to have unparalleled access to a variety of important historical sites and information.” 

Local resources also create opportunities for hands-on learning and community engagement. One of Dr. Hunter’s classes recently served as an advisory panel for Springfield’s African American History Museum. His students also help conduct a local “History Harvest” — inviting Illinois residents to bring historical items to a site where they are digitized and become part of an online exhibit. 

Many UIS graduates who studied Lincoln at UIS have gone on to successful careers in a variety of leadership roles. Claire Jerry is one of them. 

Jerry earned a master’s degree in public history from UIS and then a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. She is now at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. where she is the Lead Curator in Political History at the National Museum of American History. 

“My experiences at UIS were absolutely essential to my career as a museum professional,” says Jerry. “Professor William Siles’ insistence that I pursue increasingly challenging opportunities gave me the confidence to do more than I had ever thought possible and Dr. Cecilia Cornell not only insisted I do my best work, but that I strive for more. “I would not be where I am today,” she concludes, “without the education I received at UIS.” 

Lincoln Studies at UIS will take another important step forward in the coming year with the formal launch of the Center for Lincoln Studies — a priority of the current Reaching Stellar fundraising campaign. 

With planning underway for collaboration with the ALPLM, the Abraham Lincoln Association and other Lincoln-oriented organizations, the Center will provide new opportunities for learning about Lincoln and the impact of his contributions. 

I’m so pleased the growing Lincoln Studies agenda at the University of Illinois Springfield will enable us to further embrace, rather than escape, history.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln!

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Lincoln and voting rights topic of lectures Oct. 15 at UIS

Lincoln and voting rights is the topic at the 13th annual Lincoln Legacy Lectures, which will be Oct. 15 at the University of Illinois Springfield.

The event, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Brookens Auditorium at UIS, is free and open to the public, with no reservation required.

Featured speakers are Michael Vorenberg, associate professor of history at Brown University, and Ronald Keith Gaddie, chair of the political science department at the University of Oklahoma. Vorenberg’s talk will involve a view of voting rights from the Civil War era. He is author of “Final Freedom: The Civil War, The Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment,” which was published in 2004. Gaddie will discusss citizenship and voting rights in the modern era. He is co-author of “The Triumph of Voting Rights in the South,” published in 2009, and another University of Oklahoma Press book, to be released in 2016: “The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act.”

The lecture series is designed to bring nationally known scholars to Springfield to discuss topics that engaged Abraham Lincoln and the citizens of his era and are still timely today. A lead sponsor of the series is the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership.

This article appeared online in The State Journal-Register on October 6, 2015.

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150 years later, Springfield honors its favorite son with funeral procession

Opening ceremonies featured a keynote speech by Michael Burlingame, noted Lincoln expert and author and the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield.

Burlingame's speech centered on abolitionist Frederick Douglass' views on his friend Lincoln and how Douglass' speeches show that he eventually came to the conclusion that Lincoln despised slavery.

In a speech given on April 11, 1865, only three days before he was shot, Lincoln called for voting rights for blacks who had served in the Union Army and who were "highly intelligent," which historians take to mean those who were literate.

Douglass was at first dismayed by the narrow approach to black suffrage taken by Lincoln, but he later said it was a rail-splitter's approach — start with a thin wedge, then later drive it home with a maul.

Burlingame was featured by The State Journal-Register on May 4, 2015.

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UIS lectures look at Lincoln, Gettysburg

In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, two lectures devoted to the address comprise the Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the University of Illinois Springfield.

Martin P. Johnson, assistant professor of history at Miami University of Ohio-Hamilton will speak on “Lincoln’s Journey to Gettysburg.”

Joseph Fornieri, professor of political science at Rochester Institute of Technology, will present a lecture entitled “Abraham Lincoln’s Faith in the Gettysburg Address.”

Michael Burlingame, Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at UIS, will make opening remarks and moderate.

Johnson is the author of the forthcoming book “Writing the Gettysburg Address (University of Kansas Press, 2013), and Fornieri has written several books on Lincoln including the forthcoming “Lincoln, Philosopher Statesman” (Southern Illinois University Press, 2014).

The lectures in Brookens Auditorium are free and open to the public, and no reservations are required. Overflow seating is in Public Affairs Center Room C/D.

The lecture is sponsored by the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership in cooperation with Burlingame and has several co-sponsors.

The story was featured by The State Journal-Register on November 16, 2013.

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Books tells Lincoln's life story in words, photographs

Acclaimed landscape photographer Robert Shaw has teamed up with renowned Lincoln historian Michael Burlingame to produce a book titled “Abraham Lincoln Traveled This Way — The America Lincoln Knew.”

The book takes readers on a visual journey that is unique among books about Abraham Lincoln. Burlingame’s writing and Shaw’s photographs are woven together with Lincoln’s own words to tell Lincoln’s life story.

The 276-page hardcover book is a culmination of five years of research and hundreds of days of photography in 10 states and the District of Columbia. Shaw traveled more than 100,000 miles in taking photos for the book.

The book begins at Lincoln’s birthplace in Kentucky, moves through his younger years in Indiana, offers a comprehensive view of his 29 years in Illinois, travels to The White House and the years of the Civil War, and concludes with an epilogue by Burlingame.

Burlingame is the author of “Abraham Lincoln: A Life,” “The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln,” and most recently “Lincoln and the Civil War.” Burlingame is the holder of the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

The book was featured in an February 23, 2012, article in The Jacksonville Journal-Courier.

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Lincoln was a modern campaigner, of sorts

Illinois marks the 203rd anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth on Sunday, and scholars note that the 16th president's shrewd sense of politics and knack for retail campaigning may serve as a lesson for candidates seeking offices from the Statehouse to the White House this year.

Lincoln cut his teeth as a campaigner based in the small pioneer town of New Salem, where he practiced the fine art of door-knocking along the woodsy 19th century campaign trails just north of Springfield.

Later, as Lincoln was on the verge of becoming the national standard-bearer for the still-young Republican Party, the savvy politician made use of what might have been the equivalent of the social media of his day: a pamphlet of partisan news clips that included coverage from both the Democratic-leaning Chicago Times and the Republican-leaning Chicago Press & Tribune of his 1858 debates over slavery with opponent Stephen A. Douglas.

"It would be like Newt Gingrich wanting to publish the earlier debates in South Carolina," said Michael Burlingame, a nationally renowned Lincoln scholar now based at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "I think it indicates Lincoln thought he won the debates."

Burlingame's comments were featured in an February 12, 2012, Chicago Tribune article.

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New book showcases Abe Lincoln's Illinois

The Illinois Abraham Lincoln knew was a land of prairies and wildflowers, creeks and rivers, where dirt roads connected towns and farms.

“There were no bridges back then at all,” says landscape photographer Robert Shaw, whose book, “Abraham Lincoln Traveled This Way,” was released just before Feb. 12, the 203rd anniversary of Lincoln’s birth.

Subtitled “The America Lincoln Knew,” the book is a photographic reverie of the country’s landscape and architecture as Lincoln would have experienced it, including swimming a horse through the Mackinaw River on his way to Tremont, one of Lincoln’s stops on his rounds as a young attorney in central Illinois’ Eighth Judicial Circuit.

Michael Burlingame, the Lincoln scholar at the University of Illinois-Springfield, wrote the narrative and compiled the Lincoln quotes that accompany Shaw’s photos.

“We don’t have photos of what the Eighth Judicial Circuit looked like in the 1840s,” Burlingame says. “It gives us a sense of the world Lincoln saw.”

The book was featured in an February 12, 2012, article in The Peoria Journal Star.

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New book traces Lincoln's life in photos

A landscape photographer and a Lincoln scholar have collaborated on a new book that weaves images and writing to trace Abraham Lincoln’s life story.

“Abraham Lincoln Traveled This Way—The America Lincoln Knew” is a collection of images by Robert Shaw and writing by Michael Burlingame that aims to take readers on a visual journey that explores Lincoln’s life story.

The 276-page hardcover book, available at several locations in Springfield, required five years of research and hundreds of days of photography in 10 states and the District of Columbia, according to Shaw, who traveled more than 100,000 miles in taking the photographs that range from the Mississippi River to New Hampshire.

Burlingame is the author of “Abraham Lincoln: A Life, The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln,” and most recently “Lincoln and the Civil War.” He is the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield.

The book was featured in an December 7, 2011, article in The State Journal-Register.

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Five questions with Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame

Michael Burlingame, the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield, will be speaking at Pine Point School in Stonington about "Lincoln's mindset at the beginning of the Civil War."

He is the author and/or editor of a dozen books on Lincoln, not the least of which is his two-volume biography, "Abraham Lincoln: A Life," published in 2008, which has been hailed as the definitive work on the 16th president.

The Day, a Connecticut newspaper asked Burlingame five questions about Lincoln during a May 2, 2011 interview.

Read Burlingame's full Q&A online

Book: Lincoln sought to deport freed slaves

The Great Emancipator was almost the Great Colonizer: Newly released documents show that to a greater degree than historians had previously known, President Lincoln laid the groundwork to ship freed slaves overseas to help prevent racial strife in the U.S.

Just after he issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Lincoln authorized plans to pursue a freedmen's settlement in present-day Belize and another in Guyana, both colonial possessions of Great Britain at the time, said Phillip W. Magness, one of the researchers who uncovered the new documents.

Michael Burlingame, chair of Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said there are two ways to view Lincoln's public support for colonization.

One side holds that it shows Lincoln could not envision a biracial democracy, while the other stance — which Mr. Burlingame subscribes to — says Lincoln's public actions were "the way to sugarcoat the emancipation pill" for Northerners.

"So many people in the North said we will not accept emancipation unless it is accompanied by colonization," said Mr. Burlingame, adding that Lincoln himself had always made clear colonization would be voluntary and nobody would be forced out of the United States.

Burlingame's comments were featured in a February 9, 2011, article by the Washington Times.

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Burlingame to deliver Lincoln Lecture Feb. 11 at LLCC

The third annual Lincoln Lecture at Lincoln Land Community College is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 11.

Michael Burlingame, a recipient of the Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield, will discuss “Lincoln’s Emotional Life”. The program begins at 9 a.m. in the Trutter Center on the main LLCC campus, 5250 Shepard Road.

Burlingame is author of “Abraham Lincoln: A Life” and “The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln” and has edited several volumes of Lincoln history. The program is free. Refreshments will be served.

The presentation is among a variety of Lincoln-related programs planned at the college in February.

Burlingame's appearance was featured in a January 23, 2011, article in The State Journal-Register.

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Bloomingtonians played vital role in Lincoln's 1860 nomination

One hundred and fifty years ago this Tuesday, Abraham Lincoln received the Republican Party’s nomination for president. Lincoln partly owes his May 18, 1860 victory at the national convention to the intense lobbying—and some likely backroom politicking—of Judge David Davis of Bloomington.

Davis and William Seward denied doling out cabinet positions in order to secure support from state delegations.

Yet there’s enough contradictory evidence to call into question such assertions. Lincoln biographer Michael Burlingame splits the difference, concluding that while Davis promised Indiana a cabinet appointment, he did not necessarily guarantee the seat would go to Smith.

Burlingame is the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at UIS. His comments were featured in a May 16, 2010, article in the Bloomington Pantagraph.

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Cheers, tears part of naturalization ceremonies

For Nnenna Dettro of Chatham, whose husband, frequently travels abroad for his job, becoming a citizen means she won’t have to apply for a visa to travel with her husband.

And what about the ceremony itself — which featured Lincoln scholar and author Michael Burlingame as the guest speaker — will Nnenna remember?

“Everything about it was special,” she said.

Burlingame, Chancellor Naomi Lynn Distinguished Professor in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield and winner of the Lincoln prize for his book “Abraham Lincoln: A Life,” talked about Abraham Lincoln’s thoughts and writings about immigration and the U.S.

“His life story inspired me, and I hope it also inspires you,” Burlingame told the 60-plus new citizens, who represented 27 countries.

Burlingame was featured in a April 10, 2010, article in the State Journal-Register.

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20100410-SJR-Cheers-tears-part-of-nat.pdf

UIS Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame to speak at ceremony

New citizens of the United States, including several from Central Illinois, will take the oath of allegiance during naturalization ceremonies at 2 p.m. April 9 at the Old State Capitol Historic Site.

Featured speaker will be Michael Burlingame, a history professor at University of Illinois, Springfield. U.S. District Judge Jeanne Scott will preside.

Burlingame's appearance was featured on April 6, 2010, in the Bloomington Pantagraph.

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20100406-Pantagraph-naturalization-oath.pdf

Scholar unearths new past about Abraham Lincoln

Michael Burlingame says President Abraham Lincoln’s famous “Letter to Mrs. Bixby” may not have been written by Lincoln after all. The Lincoln scholar spoke Thursday at Knox College about his most recent publication, a two-volume biography, “Abraham Lincoln: A Life.” The book was the 2010 winner of the Abraham Lincoln Book Prize.

In his talk titled “What New Can Be Said About Abraham Lincoln?” Burlingame focused on the difficulties in finding information on Lincoln that has not already been uncovered and published.

“It’s easy to find letters that Lincoln wrote or received,” said Burlingame. “What’s really valuable and hard to find are letters about him. You have to do a lot of sifting through gravel, but if you’re willing to do that, you find a lot of information.”

Burlingame is the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair of Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield. He was featured in a March 26, 2010, article in the Galesburg Register-Mail.

Download a PDF of the article:
20100326-GRM-Scholar-unearths-new-past.pdf

Illinois-Springfield professor will address changing view of Lincoln

What turned out to be a mistaken assumption by a college professor back in 1984 led to revealing new information about Abraham Lincoln.

"I assumed everything that was important that Lincoln ever said or was said about him or his administration had long since been discovered by an army of Lincoln scholars and I could do my research by just consulting these published sources," said Michael Burlingame, who holds the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Conclusions drawn from resources, particularly about former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Lincoln, will be highlighted Monday in Pittsfield. Burlingame will be the featured speaker at a Lincoln symposium sponsored by the Abe Lincoln Project of Pike County and the Pittsfield Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

Burlingame's appearance was featured in a February 16, 2010, article in the Quincy Herald Whig.

Download a PDF of the article:
20100216-QHW-Lincoln-symposium.pdf

Burlingame picks Presidents Day reading list

Books about Abraham Lincoln by Knox College scholars occupy two of the top five spots in a “Presidents Day Reading List” in The Wall Street Journal.

The books were selected by historian and Lincoln biographer Michael Burlingame for a “Presidents Day Reading List — Best Five Books on Abraham Lincoln,” published Saturday in “The Wall Street Journal.” Lincoln’s birthday was Feb. 12, and Presidents Day was Monday.

Burlingame is professor of history at the University of Illinois-Springfield and author of a new biography, “Abraham Lincoln: A Life,” which recently won the 2010 Abraham Lincoln Prize. The prize, which includes the largest award in the field of history, is given annually for the best book on Lincoln and Lincoln’s era.

Burlingame's selections were featured in a February 16, 2010, article in the Galesburg Register-Mail.

Download a PDF of the article:
20100215-GRM-Knox-College-scholars.pdf

Dedication Day: 146th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address

On Thursday, the 146th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address will be honored with numerous events in Gettysburg.

Dr. Michael Burlingame will deliver the 48th Annual Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture at 8 p.m. Burlingame is currently the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Burlingame's lecture was featured in an November 18, 2009 article in The Gettysburg, PA Times.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091118-Getty-Dedication-Day.pdf

Books of the Year: The Top Five

Dr. Michael Burlingame’s book “Abraham Lincoln: A Life” has been picked by The Atlantic Monthly magazine as one of the top five books of 2009. Burlingame is a professor of history at the University of Illinois Springfield and holds the Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies.

Read more online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/books2009

Download a PDF of the article:
20091116-Atlantic-Monthly-Books-2009.pdf