What Will You Do For Lincoln's Day ?

[Angela]

No cake or candles this year, but I finally did get to celebrate the birthday in Springfield (my very first time) and it was great fun.

Though very cold and a bit snowy, the two days of celebration were filled with very entertaining lectures. I had a chance to meet Richard E. Hart who, along with Bonnie E. Paull, wrote the wonderful book on the Lincoln neighborhood in Springfield (thank you, Eva).
There was a spectacular lecture series by Dr. Louise Stevenson and Dr. Jason Silverman on "Lincoln, Immigrants and the Atlantic World" at The Old State Capitol Senate Room.
Dr. Thomas Carson lectured about the question of Lincoln being a "Moral Exemplar".

An absolute hightlight was the powerful keynote speech by Bernice King at the Lincoln Banquet on Friday who made a wonderful connection between her father and Lincoln.

My personal highlights:
Meeting friends again and a special meeting that I had been anticipating for a long time.
As a visitor from Germany, running into Scott Schroeder, David Wiegers and George Buss simply makes my day. It is such a huge gift to know like minded people and suddenly see them again after a long absence.

Also, I had the great fortune to meet Prof. Michael Burlingame, a historian whose writings have always made me nod my head in violent agreement with the conclusions he draws on various topics.
We spoke for a while and when he realized I was German, he instantly switched the conversation to German and we continued in that language. I have rarely been so impressed and am still completely smitten.
He moderated a wonderfully entertaining round table.

@Roger, please feel free to add any picture I send you to this post. I cannot do so from my phone for which I apologize.