NEH Grant to Support Research into Lincoln's Anonymous Journalism

The AP wire has a story this week about a National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) grant to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum to fund a study to determine what articles Lincoln may have authored in the Sangamo Journal from 1834 to 1842.  According to the NEH, the project is entitled, "Is That You, Mr. Lincoln?: Applying Authorship Attribution to the Early Political Writings of Abraham Lincoln."  UPDATE (5/7): Here is an article from The State Journal Register in Springfield with more details about how this project should work.

While this overly academic subtitle may be a bit mind-numbing, it refers to one of the now few under-examined parts of Lincoln's written works, determining what anonymous newspaper articles he likely wrote in his early political career.  There are multiple references to Lincoln writing anonymous or pseudonymous articles for Illinois newspapers, especially the Sangamo Journal; and, in the fairly well-known and embarrassing story of Lincoln's almost-duel with James Shields, the start of the controversy was over a couple such articles.  Over the years, historians have speculated which newspaper articles Lincoln may have written, mostly because they were looking into insights into his political beliefs during this time period.

Now this project will use multiple computer programs to analyze all of the articles in the period from 1834 to 1842 in the Sangamo Journal to determine, in a formalized manner, what articles Lincoln likely authored.  While such analysis will not be decisive -- after all, consider the arguments over whether Lincoln personally authored the famous letter to Mrs. Bixby, which appears over his signature -- it should offer historians more context for Lincoln's years in the Illinois legislature.

More than this, at least from my perspective, is the opportunity to see how Lincoln matured as a politician from his early years to the years leading up the 1860 election and then his presidency.  There are persistent contemporary accounts of Lincoln's willingness in early years to resort to personal attacks against his legislative opponents.  And he may have used other distasteful tactics (at least to our eyes).  Over the years, I've come to imagine that legislator Lincoln was very different than his presidential incarnation, mostly because I believe that there is no more firm believer than a convert.  Given the extraordinary absence of such normal 19th century political behavior during Lincoln's presidency, and given the limited evidence, especially in the Shields' affair, that it was not always absent, I have long guessed that Lincoln "converted" himself from traditional politics to his unique approach evident in his later years, one almost devoid of malice (with perhaps one or two exceptions).  This new research may offer some insight into this evolution as well.

House Where Lincoln('s Stuff) Slept for Sale

According to The LA Times, Louise Taper is selling her large mansion. Taper is well known in Lincoln circles as an avid collector of all things Lincoln, amassing a large and valuable collection over the years. She has been a huge supporter of The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield -- the museum's first temporary exhibit on the assassination was mostly drawn from her vast collection, as well as the Peterson House furniture owned by the Chicago History Museum (or whatever they're calling themselves this month).

Three years ago, she sold (some say at a reduced price) her collection to the museum, including several gems: a Lincoln hat, the gloves Lincoln wore the night he was assassinated, and the famous arithmetic book that has Lincoln's famous scribble: "Abraham Lincoln/ His hand and his pen/ He will be good/ But God knows when."

For years, this collection was housed in this mansion. Andrew Ferguson, in Land of Lincoln (which I've reviewed before), tells of his visit to the Taper residence to view the collection, including the gloves and the book. Now the Lincolniana has moved to Springfield, and evidently Taper is moving on as well.

More about the New Donner Party-related Lincoln Document

After yesterday's post, I received a friendly email with additional information from Kristin Johnson, a librarian who has studied the Donner Party for almost 20 years. Kristin sent the joint press release of the California State Library and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which details the story of how this document came to the attention of Lincoln experts who studied the handwriting and other details. Evidently, it was Kristin herself who brought the documents to the attention of The Papers of Abraham Lincoln project, as she writes on her own blog.

In addition, Kristin passed along the newspaper article that caught her eyes a few years ago, alerting her to the possible existence of these materials. Published in The San Francisco Call as part of its special coverage of the Lincoln centennial in 1909, there is even a photograph of one muster roll.

Two thoughts. This is how many discoveries are made in archived materials. Someone researching one topic comes across items which may very much interest someone studying a different topic. The Donner Party and Abraham Lincoln are two largely unrelated focuses within US History -- though clearly we now see they is a relationship between the two. An experienced researcher about the Donner Party realized that it might interest experienced Lincoln researchers, and discovering an online way of sharing these documents, passed it along. I hope that I and other Lincoln students are as sensitive when we conduct our research if we come across material that might interest people studying other, seemingly unrelated, historical subjects.

Second, after reading the newspaper article, I am a bit disturbed that no Lincoln researchers had discovered these materials, or at least pursued them. Given the extensive coverage of Lincoln during the 1909 centennial celebration of his birth, this newspaper article should have been read by at least some Lincoln researchers. Certainly much of the centennial coverage was redundant, and some of it was probably exaggerated; this does not diminish the need to carefully pore over the extant resources when doing research, even recognizing the huge Lincoln bibliography. The obvious sources, such as periodicals published around February 1909, should have come to someone's attention in the Lincoln field -- which hasn't lacked for participants -- in the subsequent years long before the 2009 bicentennial. [Perhaps my frustration over this is heightened by my current reading of a Lincoln-related book -- which I will not name -- that has a very disappointing and limited bibliography.]

Restored Lincoln Carriage Back on Display

Yesterday, a new exhibit at the Studebaker National Museum opened featuring the carriage Abraham Lincoln rode to Ford's Theatre on the fateful night of April 14, 1865. The dark green carriage was made especially for Lincoln and presented to him earlier in 1865.

Last year, the carriage underwent a careful restoration, funded by a Save Americas Treasures (SAT) Grant, which revealed Lincoln's initials on both doors in an elaborate raised golden pattern. The restoration also revealed that the carriage, which appeared to be painted black, was originally a dark green.

The carriage was sold after Lincoln's assassination, and was eventually purchased by Clement Studebaker and added to the company's collection. Now, evidently, the carriage is owned by the city of South Bend, Indiana (where the museum is), though it is a permanent part of the Studebaker National Museum collection. (This is only partially explained on the museum's website.)

A few years ago, the carriage was part of a fantastic temporary exhibit on Lincoln's assassination at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The first such exhibition at the then-brand new museum was "Blood on the Moon," which commemorated the 140th anniversary of the assassination. Along with the carriage, the exhibition also featured the Lincoln death bed (and other furniture from the Peterson House room in which Lincoln died) on loan from the Chicago Historical Society (while they were renovating their space), numerous photographs and documents from the Taper Collection (some of which may have since been donated to the ALPLM as part of Louise Taper's large donation of material to the museum), and other artifacts.

In this impressive exhibit (which may never be topped in regards to having so many significant items related to the assassination in one place), I felt that the carriage was the most touching piece. Partially this was because it was unexpected -- somehow I had overlooked that it was included when I read about the exhibit before my visit -- and suddenly I was face to face with it. Unlike the parts of the exhibit that were related to Lincoln's death, this was also related to Lincoln's life. I recalled the famous story of the carriage ride Lincoln and his wife Mary took the afternoon of April 14, speaking about their future, including their need to find happiness -- likely a reference to the fact that both still grieved the death of their son Willie three years before.

Perhaps when displayed by itself, the carriage does not conjure such melancholy emotions. Still, it will always be more associated with Lincoln's death than with his life.