by Leon Reed Like many other organizations sponsoring conferences, tours, festivals, parades, and other in-person activities, the Lincol Forum was profoundly affected this year by the pandemic and the travel restrictions that went along with it. One year after holding their largest and most successful conference ever in Gettysburg over the 2019 Dedication Day/Remembrance Day weekend, the Forum was forced to postpone its multi-day live event until Nov. 16-18, 202 But the Forum, led by chair Harold Holzer, director of Hunter College’s Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute and author of The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battl Between the White House and the Media, and Vice Chair Dr. Jonathan White, associate professor of American Studies at 38 – American Battlefield Trus 47 – Advertiser Index 10 – Black Powder, White Smoke 40 – Book Reviews
Christopher Newport University and author of Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln, organized a one day virtual conference that brought together some of the leading historians and writers about Lincoln and broader Civil war topics. The online forum was held on Saturday, November 14. Attendance was very good, with 291 unique users, suggesting that, allowing for multiple people attending through a single sign-in, attendance undoubtedly exceeded last year’s live a tendance of 325. White said the feedback received from speakers and attendees was positive: “We received a lot of emails fro people who really appreciated being able to participate in the virtual Forum experience. They were grateful that we put this together so that people could have a sense of continuity and connection with one another 34 – Central Virginia B 32 – Emerging Civil War 22 – The Graphic War 24 – Inspection, ARMS!
spaper For Civil War Enthusiast Lincoln Forum Hosts Online Conference Top left-right: Harold Holzer, during this time.” The Forum began with the presentation of the 2020 Lincoln Forum Book Prize to Ted Widmer for his recent book Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington. Widmer is a Distinguished Lecturer at Cit University of New York and edited a book/collection of the New York Times series Disunion. White asked Widmer how many places linked to the journey he
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had visited. Widmer listed a fe but said the pandemic had limited his travels. He said it’s goal to spend about six weeks traveling to retrace the journe see the places Lincoln stopped, and speak at some places where Lincoln spoke. He addressed the significance of the journey and the physical demands it placed on Lincoln, including frequent stops and shaking hands with thousands of people. Widmer Editor l War Institute 12 – T
pointed out that Lincoln’s hand and arms ached and at one point he lost his voice. Despit the grueling schedule, Widmer said, “even with no time for co templation or writing speeches, yet we have him saying things ever more beautifully.” Widmer pointed out that Lincoln praise the influence of the Declaratio