An Award, A Breakout, and A Feature at the Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg

November 19, 2022 marked the 159th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. As is traditional, a commemoration is held on that date, along with a remembrance of “these honored dead.” The three days leading up to the event is also the annual Lincoln Forum, one of the premier Abraham Lincoln conferences in the nation. This year was special because I accepted an award, ran out breakout session, and in addition to a short presentation, was featured in the Lincoln Forum Bulletin. If that wasn’t enough, my book launch presentation from September also premiered on C-SPAN, appropriately enough on the morning of the Gettysburg remembrance.

Let’s start with the award. As president of the Lincoln Group of DC, I was honored to accept the prestigious Wendy Allen Award given to the group by the Lincoln Forum. The annual award is given “to a Lincoln or Civil War institution or organization that has achieved widespread recognition for bringing learning, scholarship, and enlightenment to a wide public. The award comes in the form of a framed color print of an original Lincoln painting by acclaimed Gettysburg-based artist Wendy Allen, who generously makes her work available for the honorees.”

The Lincoln Group of DC was honored for its 87 years (and counting) contribution to Abraham Lincoln scholarship and public education. I was happy to acknowledge that long history and our most recent presidents going back a dozen years: John O’Brien, the late John Elliff, Karen Needles, and the late Buzz Carnahan, as well as at least a couple more former presidents present in the room. As one might expect from a group based in Washington, D.C., our membership has included congressmen and other key figures in government. But the group itself goes way beyond the district. Our members are located nationwide and have had far-reaching influences. Among our many accomplishments is the official naming of the old post office room in the U.S. Capitol the Lincoln Room,” complete with a bipartisan resolution, a sign, and a ceremony. We also organized in collaboration with the National Park Service and with co-sponsorship by the Lincoln Forum, the Lincoln Memorial Centennial commemoration in May 2022 (watch the C-SPAN recording of the event here). The group has done much, much more over the years. Membership is open to everyone interested in Abraham Lincoln, with local dinner meetings and monthly Zoom presentations. Our website is Lincolnian.org.

In addition to accepting the award on behalf of the Lincoln Group, I was kept busy with several personal and professional events during the three-day Forum. I participated in the book signing for my new book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, along with other Forum presenters. I found myself seated in between two of the great Lincoln scholars of all time: Frank Williams, the past chairman of the Forum, and Harold Holzer, the current chairman of the Forum. Also at my table was prolific Lincoln and Civil War author Jonathan W. White (vice chairman of the Forum), and Forum presenters/authors John Rhodehamel and Michael Green.

I also led a breakout session about my book. About thirty people gathered to discuss Lincoln’s interests in science and technology. Joining me was Ed Steers. Like me, Ed had a full career as a scientist (he was at the National Institutes of Health) before turning to Lincoln scholarship. He is a renowned expert on Lincoln’s assassination as well as his early life and ancestry. Questions from the participants led us into discussions not only about my book, but also the broader issues of how scientific and historical research are similar and dissimilar, a topic I wrote about back in June in a post called “The Science of History.”

Like the scientific conferences I used to attend (SETAC was going on in Pittsburgh when I was in Gettysburg, with my book raising money for students in their silent auction), much of the benefit of in-person conferences like the Lincoln Forum is the chatting with other researchers about history in the hallways. This year led to some interesting new ideas for future research, plus a couple of invitations to present about my book in the spring. On Thursday night, immediately after accepting the award, I gave a brief recap of the Lincoln Memorial Centennial program we organized in May.

And that wasn’t everything that happened last week. I’ll have more on recorded presentations in the next post.

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

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David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.