Lincoln Research

[David Lockmiller]

(04-22-2018 10:21 PM)DannyW Wrote:  The question I wanted to ask is related to how the historians - professional or amateurs like myself go about their research on the Lincoln Assassination or matters related to Lincoln .
1. Do you choose something your interested in a particular area?
2. Do you try to locate something new or hasn’t been brought out before?
3. You read all available literature on a particular area & try to give new
Insight.
4. Or in other words how do you go about doing what you are doing?
I should have asked this years ago? Thank you !

I would make two suggestions:

1. Read F.B. Carpenter's book "The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln, Six Months at the White House." It begins in February, 1864 and gives Lincoln's own account for the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation and many other contemporaneous first-hand stories directly involving Lincoln. The book also contains a number of second-hand stories (which are almost as good).
2. A second suggestion, in combination with the first, would be Lincoln quotes on particular subject matter. I would suggest either/and the "Lincoln Dictionary" edited by Ralph B. Winn (1959) or "The Lincoln Treasury" compiled by Caroline Thomas Harnsberger (1950) containing "Lincoln's expressions on a multitude of subjects."
   

Start with what interests you, and go as far as you want to go on a subject by going to the indexes of other published works. There is a neat little trick that I learned on the Lincoln Discussion Symposium website. [Go to Google books and put in an exact Lincoln quote and press enter. It will take you to the published Lincoln quote and provide academic context.] Or, dare I say, subject matter research on this website threads.