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wpbinzel · 01-03-2017, 10:31 PM

For those in the WDC area, the 2017 Abraham Lincoln Symposium at Ford's Theater will be on Saturday, March 18, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Registration is free, but advance tickets are required. The link is below.

https://www.fords.org/productions/abraha...promo=3109

Angela · 01-04-2017, 04:34 AM

Thank you for this!

Thomas Kearney · 01-04-2017, 11:23 AM

I registered and will be live tweeting the event. Angela, let me know if you will be attending so we can finally meet up.

L Verge · 01-04-2017, 12:40 PM

(01-03-2017 10:31 PM)wpbinzel Wrote: For those in the WDC area, the 2017 Abraham Lincoln Symposium at Ford's Theater will be on Saturday, March 18, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Registration is free, but advance tickets are required. The link is below.

https://www.fords.org/productions/abraha...promo=3109

Interesting - or an error - that Engle and Guelzo are speaking on the same topic??

RJNorton · 01-04-2017, 02:10 PM

Laurie, according to the web page here Stephen Engle's topic is "They are a Body of Wise and Patriotic Men’: Lincoln’s Loyal Governors."

(I just checked the other link, and the error has now been corrected.)

Susan Higginbotham · 01-05-2017, 03:55 PM

Thanks; I signed up!

wpbinzel · 01-05-2017, 04:02 PM

(01-05-2017 03:55 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote: Thanks; I signed up!

As have I. And I believe Tom has as well. When we get closer to the date, perhaps we can make arrangements for attending Forum members to meet or say hello before or in between sessions.

Thomas Kearney · 01-05-2017, 05:33 PM

good idea

Angela · 01-24-2017, 01:14 PM

(01-04-2017 11:23 AM)Thomas Kearney Wrote: I registered and will be live tweeting the event. Angela, let me know if you will be attending so we can finally meet up.

I would love to go! At present, I am not sure if I can make it but will definitely let you know. If I should have to sit this one out, I sure would appreciate those tweets!
Who else is going?

Angela · 03-23-2017, 03:06 PM

The symposium was a wonderful experience with some speakers I already knew and others that I had not had the honor to listen to before.

Having just returned to Germany last night, this is a belated report, but I thought I’d share the experience nevertheless.

You can all watch the details on C-Span here.

The speaker lineup was – at least for me – absolutely brilliant, starting with Daniel Croft who made me write down quite a few thoughts that he shared with the audience.

Stephen Engle gave a really entertaining presentation and made me order his book about the “War Governors” immediately. (At this point I was still thinking about traveling “light”).

I was incredibly thrilled to meet Jason Silverman again who is not only a wonderful speaker but also a very kind and warm person. His talk on Lincoln and immigration was passionate and on point.

Douglas L. Wilson had me on the edge of my seat because I always wanted to hear the man who put together this monumental collection of Herndon documents and I am now fully convinced that his latest work (“Letters”) will be a fascinating read.

Allen Guelzo simply blew me away with his fierce and powerful speech! His conclusions were absolutely convincing and the way he narrated his thoughts had me deeply impressed. I was terribly sad when his time was up!

The days surrounding this event were, of course, very Lincoln-heavy, starting with some of us getting in touch and trying to organize meetings.
We had to substitute a planned meeting the night before because of – surprise! – St. Patricks Day. The bars were FULL and it appears that Washington can party after all.
Breakfast instead it was.

In the evening after the symposium, a group of us – with Scott, Jason Silverman and a lovely friend of mine that works at Ford’s – headed to the Lincoln restaurant where we enjoyed a few hours of great conversation, Lincoln shirt shopping and excellent food.

Brian Steenbergen directed me to Capitol Hill Books and this is were my travel-light plan fell apart. Four publications later, I walked into the next Walmart to by a duffel bag.

With the floodgates open now, I visited the usual suspects and acquired new mugs, glasses, shirts as well as apparel and – of course – more books featuring The Man to take home.

For some strange reason, I was not able to convince anybody of our party to join me for a 4am visit to the Lincoln Memorial and thus made my way there alone on Tuesday morning.

The cab driver asked what was going on there at this early hour and joined me for a laugh when I replied “Absolutely nothing – that’s why I’m going”.

And indeed, I had it to myself for exactly 43 minutes before the first jogger ran up the stairs uttered a polite greeting towards the marble figure and then fled in horror when I replied from behind one of the columns.

For some strange reason, these visits always put an extra spring to my steps for the rest of the day. It allowed for an originally unplanned visit to the Portrait Gallery where a temporary exhibit of “Lincoln’s Contemporaries” opened just last year.

And just like that, four days were over.

RJNorton · 03-23-2017, 05:02 PM

Angela, thank you so much for the wonderful report on your trip to the USA. Brian Steenbergen is a member here. I am an early riser (as is Vicki), and we would have gone with you to the Lincoln Memorial. I can imagine the shock of that jogger! It's great that you had such a terrific trip, and I hope your beloved kitties gave you a warm greeting when you arrived home. Thanks again for sharing with all of us.

Eva Elisabeth · (This post was last modified: 03-23-2017 05:20 PM by Eva Elisabeth.)

That's AAA - absolutely awesome, Angela!!! Thank you for another wonderful report that makes me feel like it had been there and multiplied my desire to have been. And I can relate to the bookstore issue...

(03-23-2017 05:02 PM)RJNorton Wrote: I am an early riser (as is Vicki), and we would have gone with you to the Lincoln Memorial.

I sure would have, too. I'm not an early bird but right now I often don't make it to bed any sooner due to workload...

RJNorton · 03-24-2017, 03:07 PM

Angela sent this wonderful photo of her and Scott (STS Lincolnite on the forum), and she gave me permission to share:

Angela · 03-24-2017, 04:48 PM

Roger and Eva - you are totally on my list of people to bug on the next trip to D.C.!
The early Lincoln coffee dates are special and awesome - you would both love to have that place to yourself for an extended amount of time!

wpbinzel · 03-25-2017, 09:58 PM

Angela - That was an excellent synopsis of the ALI Symposium. I am sorry that we did not have the opportunity to meet and say hello, but you were in good company with Scott. Too bad that you could not have extended your trip to include the Surratt Society Conference next weekend, but it certainly sounds as if you made the most of your time here in WDC. Bill Binzel