National Lincoln Essay Contest Announced

There was a news item in my hometown newspaper over the weekend about a national essay contest about "Lincoln And Liberty" being held by The Lincoln Highway National Museum and Archives organization, which is based in Galion, Ohio.

This contest is the first annual essay competition being put on by the organization and is loftily titled "Liberty Enlightening The World." Unfortunately, not much guidance is given to would-be essayists other than the basic "Lincoln And Liberty." I suppose it's open to interpretation, but were I to enter an essay, I would base it on how Lincoln's leadership molded a divided collection of states, half-slave and half-free, into a true nation based on liberty and freedom. For me, Lincoln's very gradual road to Emancipation led to America at last fulfilling its promise of "all men (and women) being created equal."

The website contains rules about the essay, the most intriguing of which is that it must be 272 words or less, 272 being the length of the Gettysburg Address, of course. The contest contains various categories of age and is open to everyone. The Grand Prize winner will have his or her name engraved on a bust of Lincoln.

The Lincoln Highway was America's first true National Road, going from coast-to-coast along more than 3,000 miles. It predates the famous "Mother Road," Route 66, but is not nearly as famous.

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Own A Piece Of Abe Lincoln History

Here is your chance to own a piece of Abraham Lincoln history. I found this story here about how the new owner of the farm last owned by Lincoln's father and stepmother is going to sell tiny pieces of the farm to the general public. I mean "tiny" as in 1 square-inch pieces. The money raised will be used to help restore a reproduction log cabin at the site in Illinois, and to also build a visitor center.

The Lincoln Log Cabin state historic site in Illinois, located near Lerna, was the last farm owned by Thomas Lincoln and his second wife, Sarah Bush Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln actually purchased part of this land from his father as a way to help out Thomas with finances. Abe never lived there, but did supposedly visit his father and step-mother there from time to time.

Obviously, these square-inch pieces, coming with a "deed," will be of historical interest only and will hold no real value. Reminds me of the square-inch plot of Connecticut my grandma bought me from "Bicentennial Acres" during the nation's bicentennial celebration in 1776. Kind of cool in a way, but not worth the paper the deeds are printed on. Still, this Lincoln project will serve a purpose and is in the end worthwhile.

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Lincoln's Clothing

A few weeks ago, I posted an article about how curators at Ford's Theater moving the clothing that Abraham Lincoln wore the night of his assassination from the museum at Ford's to safe storage during the renovation of the theater.

Here's a very detailed photo of the gloves that Lincoln wore on that fateful night. One can still see the blood stains more than 140 years after the fact. Also shown is the handkerchief he had that night. This photo was taken at the Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois last year. I'm not sure if the gloves are on permanent display there, on loan from Ford's, or if they are from a private collection. This photo is part of a series in today's edition of the paper.

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UPDATE - Lincoln Dig A Bust

Just yesterday, I posted about the archaeological dig going on at Knob Creek, the boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln in Kentucky. I had speculated what archaeologists might find, including glassware or plates, or even the footprint of the original cabin.

Alas, today brings news that the search for anything related to Abraham Lincoln and his family recovered nothing. They couldn't locate the true site of the original cabin at all. The only significant items found were some stone chippings from Native Americans, who would chip at larger rocks or stones in order to shape them into tools or weapons. The chippings are remainders of those items.

The archaeologists believe that development over the last 100 years likely erased any traces of the Lincoln farm. The only item known to exist from the original home is a family bible.

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Archaeologists Diggin' For Lincoln

Found a story here about archaeologists from The National Park Service beginning an excavation at Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home site at Knob Creek, Kentucky. Lincoln and his family lived at this farm from the time he was 2 years old until he was almost 8 years old.

The article doesn't specifically state what the archaeologists hope to find. Certainly they would hope to find any "footprint" of the cabin itself, even though the original cabin has long since vanished. Archaeologists are trained to recognize any depressions in the ground, post holes where any logs might have been sunken into the ground, and so on. Recovered nails could be used to help determine the location as well. Original records of the property deeds would be researched to help place the location.

Believe it or not, the archaeologists would love nothing more to find a trash pit from the farm, or even the location of any outhouses! These types of pits can hold virtual treasure troves for archaeologists, for they typically include glass bottles, plates, eating utensils, pipe bowls, children's toys, and so forth. Families of the era and of earlier times would use outhouses as trash pits in addition to the more obvious use. Any unpleasant reminders of the main use for the outhouse would have long since solidified.

A real find, of course, would be something which archaeologists could identify positively as being associated with the Lincoln family. It's unlikely, though, that the family would have had any monogrammed glassware or plates since it was so poor. Such items are more typically found in well-to-do areas of the U.S. such as Williamsburg.

Obviously any wooden items and clothing would be long-since vanished. Wood and textiles decay rapidly in wet climates such as Kentucky's. Those are more likely to be recovered in the American west and other dry climates.

Let's hope the archaeologists uncover something significant. One of my many other interests besides Lincoln is the field of archaeology and I've participated in a couple of digs. This story will hold my interest.

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What Would Abe Drive?

A driver's license for Abraham Lincoln? One of the more interesting, if slightly amusing, souvenirs being issued for the upcoming bicentennial celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birth are "driver's licenses" showing his image, address, and vital statistics.

While doing my daily search for Lincoln news, I came upon this page from Webwire that talks about how Carolyn Martinette created these "licenses" as a way to both commemorate Lincoln's birth and provide some basic facts to the public. Licenses for the various states and Washington, D.C. in which he lived are available. Each state license depicts his "address" and then other facts on the reverse. Ms. Martinette is selling these items from her website. Sort of a clever idea, really. Good for kids who would like to know more about the 16th U.S. president. And who knows? They might become highly collectible Lincolnania items in the distant future.

Please note that I am in no way associated with Ms. Martinette or the licenses. I just try to bring interesting (hopefully) Lincoln news to my readers.

So what would Abe drive? Why, a Lincoln, of course!

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New Photos Of Lincoln's Second Inauguration Discovered!

Just a couple of months after the recent discovery of the "new" photographs of what is potentially Abraham Lincoln in the crowd at Gettysburg, comes the announcement tonight from the Library of Congress that "new" photos of the crowd at Lincoln's Second Inauguration have been discovered!

In the article available at the Library of Congress website, the story is told about how these three "new" glass negatives were discovered. These photos were previously known, but had been mislabeled as the Grand Review of The Armies, or of President Grant's inauguration ceremony. But then a sharp-eyed customer of the Library noted that these visually similar negatives had drastically different captions in the Library's Civil War catalogue. Then the curator of photography, Carol Johnson, reviewed the log book and found the caption "Lincoln" in the margins. Careful comparison between the only other known photos (just two existed) show these mislabeled photographic negatives to actually be crowd scenes at Lincoln's Second Inauguration.

The website containing this article provides links to the other recently identified photographs. None are known to show Lincoln, so technically these are not new Lincoln photos. But they most certainly help historians and other researchers gain more knowledge about the events of that day, just a few short weeks before the tragedy at Ford's Theater. Per the Library of Congress web page about this discovery, Lloyd Ostendorf's indispensable "Lincoln's Photographs" (1998 edition), pages 200-201, was used to help positively identify these new photos. I just finished consulting my volume of the book, and sure enough, the curator is correct. The photos in Ostendorf's book are from a different angle than these new ones, but the building and crowd scene are identical. What an important find!

What other Lincoln artifacts are out there just waiting to be discovered? I can't wait to find out!

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