UIS Lincoln Legacy Lectures: Scholars to discuss Lincoln's death and funeral

The 12th Annual Lincoln Legacy Lectures presented by the University of Illinois Springfield will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, October 16, 2014 in Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library at UIS.

This year’s topic is “Lincoln’s Funeral,” in anticipation of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s death and funeral in 2015. The lectures, and a reception and book signing that will immediately follow, are free and open to the public. No reservation is required.

The Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series brings nationally known scholars to Springfield to present lectures on topics that both engaged Abraham Lincoln and the citizens of his era and are still timely today.

This year’s featured speakers are James L. Swanson, senior legal scholar at The Heritage Foundation, and Dr. Richard Wightman Fox, professor of history at the University of Southern California. Dr. Michael Burlingame, Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at UIS, will give opening remarks on “Why Lincoln was Murdered,” and serve as moderator.

Swanson will present a lecture titled “I give you my sprig of lilac”: The Death and Funeral of Abraham Lincoln.” In his lecture, “What We’ve Forgotten about Lincoln’s Funeral, and What We’ve Never Known,” Fox will examine what the loss of Lincoln signified to citizens of his time.

Swanson is the author of Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer (Wm. Morrow, 2006), its sequel Bloody Crimes: The Funeral for Abraham Lincoln and the Chase for Jefferson Davis (HarperCollins, 2011), and End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (Wm. Morrow, 2013). Fox is the author of the forthcoming Lincoln’s Body: A Cultural History (Norton, 2015). Burlingame is the author of the two-volume biography, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008).

The Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series is sponsored by the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership in cooperation with the Lynn Chair in Lincoln Studies. Co-sponsors of this year's event are the Abraham Lincoln Association, UIS College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, UIS College of Public Affairs and Administration, Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund, UIS Engaged Citizenship Speaker Series, Laurie and David Farrell, Jim and Linda Gobberdiel, Illinois State Historical Society, Illinois State Library, Staab Funeral Home, University of Illinois Alumni Association, and WUIS/Illinois Issues.

Seating in Brookens Auditorium is limited; however overflow seating will be available in the Public Affairs Center, Level 1, Conference Rooms C/D and G, where the audience can watch a large-screen live video feed. Those unable to attend in person can watch a live webcast by going to www.uis.edu/technology/uislive.html at the time of the event.

For more information, contact Barbara Ferrara in the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership at 217/206-7094.