Lincoln Forum at Gettysburg and new exhibit at the ALPLM

[Angela]

In the past week I had the incredible luck to be at the Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg which is held right before the November 19th.

There were so many great panels and while it would be considered spam to go into all of them, I would like to just point out one of my favorites which was given by Jonathan W. White about his new book “Emancipation, the Union Army and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln”.

While the panel DID shatter some of the heroic ideas someone like me might have about the 78% soldier vote during the 1864 election, it also did answer some question I had and that I simply could not figure out on my own. He is an amazing speaker and I hope he will write more!

I also got incredibly lucky to meet Tom and Scott in person – HI GUYS! – and I cannot tell you how lovely it was to have Scott approach me with a sentence that went somewhat like “I know this is silly, but there is another German who is really into Lincoln – you would not happen to know a lady named Eva?” and I could shout right back “YES, yes, of course I know her!”. It also made for some great pics!

The second highlight was a road trip to Springfield with the amazing photographer David Wiegers, who is imo the leading expert on Lincoln statues and has traveled all states (except, I believe, Alaska) as well as several European countries to photograph them. Not only was I introduced to hidden gems on private property but also to wonderful statues and even an amazing collection of Ostendorf paintings in a bank in Lincoln.

We attended a preview of the new exhibit “Undying Words” which I would urge everybody to see. It features documents like the Gettysburg Address, the 13th amendment and so many more! Just check out the ALPLM website and expect to be blown away by what they have taken out of the archives to put up for a short while.

I cannot stress enough how much of an experience my visit to the Abraham Lincoln Bookshop in Chicago was. The owner, Daniel Weinberg, gives the most sensitive advice to a newbie like me, looking to start a Lincoln collection of her own.

I have done many roadtrips – but this one was simply exceptional. A rabbi, the father of a young boy who won a scholarship at the Lincoln forum, put it best when he described his experience as coming into not a group of people interested in the same thing, but coming into a family as a new member.