Lincoln Discussion Symposium

A wonderful guess, Roger, but it was not Carl Sandburg.

Well, I've three names in mind.
#1: David Donald?

Also a wonderful guess, Eva, but it wasn't him either.

Philip Paludan?

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I withdraw the last guess, one of the Kunhardts?

Was it the actor, Raymond Massey?

I am sorry...good tries!....but the Lincoln speaker who went to Asia in 1959 was not Paludan, one of the Kunhardts, or Massey.

Hint #1: He once worked as a librarian.

Is it Richard N. Current ?

Yet another wonderful guess, Anita, but it wasn't him.

Hint #2: This gentleman spoke about Lincoln in several countries while in Asia. Included were stops in Thailand for two weeks and Indonesia for 10 days. Prior to departing the USA he prepared 20 different speeches on various aspects of Lincoln's life.

R. Gerald McMurtry.

Best
Rob

Excellent, Rob. Indeed it was R. Gerald McMurtry who made this speaking trip to Asia in 1959. Among other things he was the editor of the Lincoln Herald from 1937-1956.
He had quite a career - there is information on him here. There is no prize for this other than my good wishes for your Ida Tarbell work.

Here is another poster from his speaking tour. This one announced his Lincoln speech in Hong Kong on October 9, 1959.

Thanks Roger. I've got 14 pages of the sample chapter written, but of course it's only a first draft. I've stopped writing for a time because I found a website that is genealogical in nature but has a vast collection of newspapers digitized. I've found 7,727 articles on Tarbell and am going through those. While much of what I've found contains ads or otherwise uninteresting information I've found some interesting pieces, including some of the stories she wrote while an unknown living in Paris, many of which were not available in her papers and which I hadn't seen in any of her collected writings.

I knew the answer to this one when you talked about the Asia tour. I remember reading a brochure called the Lincoln Contacts of R. Gerald McMurtry which is available here. This is one of the few that I didn't Google.

Best
Rob

Roger, thanks for this post I just read the final report by the Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission. I would have guessed your mystery person if you had given this last poster as a hint!

This scan came out poorly, but the source is just about as bad. Long ago Rob Wick commented how difficult Ida Tarbell's handwriting was to decipher. This is also quite the challenge.

This letter is dated April 16, 1865. It reads:

********************************************

My Dear C

The funeral of the President is to be on Wednesday. Please come if you possibly can. Many Senators are in the city sincerely grieving at the national calamity caused by his death.

*********************************************

Whose handwriting is this?

Hint #1: An actor played this man's role in The Conspirator.