Houghton Library, the Lincoln Forum, and the Lincoln Group of Boston to Sponsor Symposium Marking Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial April 24th and 25th, 2009
The year 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. As part of the Lincoln Bicentennial celebrations, Harvard University’s Houghton Library will co-sponsor with the Lincoln Forum and the Lincoln Group of Boston a symposium on Abraham Lincoln at 200: New Perspectives on His Life and Legacy. The symposium, to be held at Houghton Library and other Harvard University venues on Friday, April 24, through Saturday, April 25, 2009, will coincide with a major exhibition featuring books, manuscripts, ephemera, and artifacts from Houghton Library’s Abraham Lincoln Collection.
The symposium will examine or re-examine several aspects of Lincoln’s career, such as his views on race and slavery, his role as Commander-in-Chief, his use of the press to shape public opinion, his relationship with Congress and his influence on the legislative process, and his role as a politician and as a party leader. Several prominent Lincoln and Civil War scholars have agreed to participate, including Jean H. Baker, Michael Beschloss, Gabor Boritt, Brian Dirck, David Herbert Donald, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Drew Gilpin Faust, Richard W. Fox, Harold Holzer, John Marszalek, James McPherson, Edna Greene Medford, Matthew Pinsker, Gerald J. Prokopowicz, Barry Schwartz, John Stauffer, Craig Symonds, Thomas Turner, Michael Vorenberg, and Frank J. Williams.
Details on the symposium and exhibition will be announced over the next year, so please check this page periodically.
Support for the symposium has been generously provided by the Lehrman Institute and Houghton Library, Harvard College Library. This program has been endorsed by the United States Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission as an official event of Lincoln’s 200th year, and will be promoted widely on its Web site. Two of the scheduled conference participants, Professor Boritt and Chief Justice Williams, serve as commissioners of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and Mr. Holzer serves as one of the three co-chairs.
