Lincoln Papers funding threatened

[Rob Wick]

I can't remember if there was anything on this earlier, so if I'm reposting, forgive me. This is sad, however, to those who want to do the best history possible. Archival material is the lifeblood of any historical research project.

Best
Rob

http://www.sj-r.com/opinions/x1367241722...ll-funding

[RJNorton]

As a retired teacher from Illinois not a month goes by in which I do not receive messages from old teaching friends about the deplorable financial condition Illinois is in. Many retired teachers fear their pensions are in jeopardy, although I hope this is not true. Vicki and I are in big trouble if it's true as she is also a retired teacher. We live on our pensions. I have read that Illinois is in the worst fiscal shape of any state in the USA.

[Angela]

(10-20-2013 08:28 AM)Rob Wick Wrote:  I can't remember if there was anything on this earlier, so if I'm reposting, forgive me. This is sad, however, to those who want to do the best history possible. Archival material is the lifeblood of any historical research project.

Best
Rob

http://www.sj-r.com/opinions/x1367241722...ll-funding

Hi all - this is my very first post here and I hope I am doing this right!

I wanted to thank you Rob for this article - it's quite sad to hear that the funding could dry up for such a project and I agree, archival material is great when it comes getting a first hand impression of certain events.

The article mentions that the Papers Project was an expansion from the Legal Papers Project - I didn't know that until reading this article. And yet, I have used this database so many times in the past.

[RJNorton]

Welcome, Angela! It is great for the forum to have another person from Germany as a member!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Welcome Angela! How cool I'm not the only "freak" here (in Germany)!!
Rob, sorry, but this what my screen says when I click the link:"Sorry, that article is no longer available."
I would love to know what you are talking about - could you briefly tell? (Don't know why it's alway me who has such issues...)

[BettyO]

Welcome, Angela!

It's great to see another German friend posting!

[Rob Wick]

Welcome, Angela.

Eva, not sure what is wrong with the link, but here's the article in its entirety. It was written by Bill Beard and appeared in the Springfield State Journal-Register and was on their website on September 14, 2013.

Best
Rob

I worked on the Lincoln Legal Papers project for 13 years, mostly under the direction of Cullom Davis, a history professor at Sangamon State University, now the University of Illinois Springfield.

A dynamic fundraiser, Cullom put together a first-rate staff, which combed 85 Illinois counties, visited repositories across the country and sent thousands of research letters to various institutions in the United States and abroad.

At the time, 1985, some told us we were wasting time and money because everything had been found, copied and filed in the Illinois State Historical Library. However, the results were staggering.

The Legals project discovered 97,000 documents pertaining to more than 400 cases by Lincoln and his partners. The documentation proved Lincoln no backwoods pettifogger, but a lawyer as knowledgeable of the law as any of the better eastern lawyers. He proved this again as president.

Daniel Stowell became director in 2000 and oversaw the publication of three DVD-ROMs that year containing all the documents. A four-volume edition interpreting selected cases was published in 2008.

Meanwhile, in 2001, the project expanded into The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, which sought to discover all documents and letters sent to Lincoln, and new non-legal Lincoln documents and letters.

Why waste time and money on this expansion? After all, Roy Basler had published The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, eight volumes and supplements, in the 1950s. Basler’s scope, however, did not include the “incoming” material – documents and letters sent to Lincoln.

The difference in scope between Basler and Stowell is significant. For professional historians and the public, it’s all there in one multivolume source – paper and electronic. It broadens the base of access to our greatest president and allows historians to gain a clearer perspective of Lincoln’s relations with both pre-presidential and presidential contemporaries. It will help clarify errors and misconceptions, and it will refine previous interpretations of many issues and relationships.

Stowell believes the expanded project will collect 200,000 documents, mouth-watering fodder for all. But there are still 75,000 documents remaining in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., to examine.

The problem is the search and the scope of the project may be jeopardized by lack of funding. A five-year $1.4 million charitable grant has been depleted, and funding through the Illinois General Assembly was halved. The project has an annual $775,000 budget, which is not outrageous considering the importance of bringing everything known about Lincoln and his world to this and future generations.

It is imperative Congress act to fund completion of Stowell’s superlative work. If Congress can appropriate $223 million for a bridge to nowhere, it is beyond comprehension it can’t find a funding bridge so this significant project doesn’t careen into the waters.

Hopefully, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. – the second-most-powerful senator, a student of Lincoln and a resident of the 16th president’s hometown – can meet the challenge of funding this monumental project to completion.

As Stowell told the Washington Post: “We’re building a new Lincoln Memorial. We’re building it not out of granite and marble, we’re building it out of the words of Abraham Lincoln and all of his contemporaries.”

Indeed, they are. Don’t let this project become tongue-tied. People in a country need to embrace their history to remain a nation.

Bill Beard writes for the Cass County Star-Gazette in Beardstown.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thank you so much, Rob!
Angela, I would love to know what books you have (read) and wich is your favorite one (you may well know how difficult it is to get and to learn about books on the topic).
Also I would love to learn how you became interested in Abraham Lincoln and what fascinates you most?!

[Angela]

Thank you all for the warm welcome!
@Eva - Yes, it IS difficult for us to get our hands on good books! Would it be ok if I make a post concerning these questions in the "other"-thread to not hijack this one?

[RJNorton]

Yes, Angela, folks post on any topic they want in the "Other" category.

[L Verge]

Welcome Angela. Eva has become a wonderful long-distance friend on this forum, and I'm sure that we will find the same friendship with you. I'll be switching over to "Other" to learn more from the two of you.

As for the Lincoln Papers, I feel that a national foundation with no financial ties to Illinois should be formed (if it hasn't been already) to support this as an ongoing project -- seeking help from wealthy universities, local chapters of Lincoln Groups across the U.S., The Lincoln Forum, Gilder-Lehrman Institute, etc.

[Angela]

(10-20-2013 10:40 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Welcome Angela. Eva has become a wonderful long-distance friend on this forum, and I'm sure that we will find the same friendship with you. I'll be switching over to "Other" to learn more from the two of you.

As for the Lincoln Papers, I feel that a national foundation with no financial ties to Illinois should be formed (if it hasn't been already) to support this as an ongoing project -- seeking help from wealthy universities, local chapters of Lincoln Groups across the U.S., The Lincoln Forum, Gilder-Lehrman Institute, etc.

Hi and thank you! I agree so much with your idea about taking this project to another level. Their work has gotten VERY big I think, it is a breathtaking collection and I have done a lot of reading on the Legal Papers project which I think is just so professionally done.
This should be funded by way more sources that just the state!