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Current News

Lots of Lincoln Activities at the 2023 Illinois State Fair
Saturday, June 24, 2023

Looking for Lincoln is proud to bring our 16th president to the Illinois State Fair again in 2023, along with other Lincoln-era activities on the lawn of the Illinois Building near the main gate.

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Looking for Lincoln on NPR
Saturday, February 18, 2023

NPR Illinois and Looking for Lincoln are joining forces all week long, Feb 20-24, 2023 to tell a handful of the lesser-known stories of early Illinois.

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Bronzeville-Black Metropolis is Illinois' newst National Heritage Area
Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Congratulations to Bronzeville-Black Metropolis for becoming Illinois’ newest National Heritage Area. Welcome to the NPS family!

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Upcoming Events

Lincoln Assassination
Wednesday, April 10, 2024 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

On the evening of April 14,1865, when President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Ford's Theatre, an entire audience was witness to the tragedy. Tim Good will present a program on the Lincoln Assassination based on his book, We Saw Lincoln Shot: One Hundred Eye Witness Accounts.  From diaries, letters, depositions, affidavits, and periodicals, the book is a collection of accounts from a variety of theatergoers-who by chance saw one of the truly pivotal events in US history. Providing minute firsthand details recorded over a span of ninety years.

Timothy S. Good, a thirty-four year National Park Service veteran, is currently the superintendent at Lincoln Home National Historic Site. Good has served at over a dozen assignments including: Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Ford’s Theatre, the National Mall, Cuyahoga Valley, Dayton Aviation, Ulysses S. Grant, Agate Fossil Beds, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, Pictured Rocks and Acadia.

Good received a Bachelor of Arts from Valparaiso University, Master of Arts from the University of Durham, England, and earned a diploma from the United States Naval War College.

He has authored six published books: The Allied Air Campaign Against Hitler's U-boats: Victory in the Battle of the Atlantic (2023), The American Eagle Squadrons of the Royal Air Force (2020), American Privateers in the War of 1812: The Vessels and Their Prizes as Recorded in Niles’ Weekly Register (2012), Lincoln for President: An Underdog’s Path to the 1860 Republican Nomination (2009), The Lincoln-Douglas Debates and the Making of a President (2007) and We Saw Lincoln Shot: One Hundred Eyewitness Accounts  (1996). 

This program will livestream on Looking for Lincoln's Facebook page and YouTube Channel. The event is FREE. 

 

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Water Under the Bridge Abraham Lincoln and the Effie Afton Case
Wednesday, May 8, 2024 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

The Effie Afton Case (Hurd v. Rock Island Bridge Co.)  is one of Lincoln’s most famous cases. Pitting the established river interests of St. Louis versus the burgeoning railroad interests of Chicago, the case has traditionally emphasized Lincoln’s support of the railroad and new technologies. Recent scholarship shows that might not be the case. Join John Lupton and Dr. Samuel Wheeler from the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission to discuss what happened when the Effie Afton crashed into the first railroad bridge to span the Mississippi River at Rock Island.

John Lupton is the Executive Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission. Samuel Wheeler is the Director of History Programs for the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission.

This program will livestream on Looking for Lincoln's Facebook page and YouTube Channel. The event is FREE. 

 

 

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Full Schedule of Events

Regional Highlight

On May 29, 1856 Abraham Lincoln gave the "lost speech" at the Illinois State Republican Convention in Bloomington, Illinois to a group of over 1,000 people. The speech lasted 90 minutes and so transfixed his audience that the reporters in attendance forgot to take notes. The speech addressed the need to prevent the expansion of slavery. The speech helped rejuvenate the fledgling Republican Party in Illinois.

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