Number 1922 Summer 2019
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NUMBER 1922 SUMMER 2019 Table of Contents Lincoln Lore is a publication of the Friends of the Lincoln Collection of Indiana Harold Holzer An Interview Regarding his New Book Monument Man: The Life and Art of Daniel Chester French.................................................................page 3 Mark B. Pohlad The Woman Who Found Lincoln At Gettysburg: Josephine Cobb of the National Archives..................................................................page 7 Frank J. Williams Edwin McMasters Stanton........................................page 11 Susannah Koerber Lincoln, Emancipation, and Civil Rights..............page 14 Jay Winik Interview.................................................................................page 16 Accessing Lincoln Lore’s Archive Kate Masur Interview on They Knew Lincoln........................................page 20 Ed Breen 200 Years Ago...........................................................................page 26 Visit www.FriendsoftheLincolnCollection.com/ lore-archive Select Years of Publication or Lincoln Lore Issue Number Click “PDF” next to the specific Lincoln Lore and read, download, save, and share the PDF. Upcoming Events Want to Search Lincoln Lore? Type your keywords into the Google Custom Search on the Lore Archive page to find specific topics. THIS HALLOWED GROUND: ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND Have Questions about Accessing Lincoln Lore? THE BATTLEFIELD DEAD Contact Emily Rapoza, Webmaster and Lincoln Lore Presented by Brian Dirck Designer, at [email protected] or (260) 421-1379. Sunday, November 17, 2019, 2:00 p.m. Meeting Rooms A-B Allen County Public Library, Main Library Allen County Public Library Fort Wayne, Indiana Jane Gastineau Free and Open to the Public Emily Rapoza [email protected] 2019 MCMURTRY LECTURE Friends of the Lincoln Collection Lincoln and April 1865: The Month that Sara Gabbard, Editor Saved America P.O. Box 11083 Presented by Jay Winik Fort Wayne, IN 4685 Thursday, September 16, 2019, 7:00 pm [email protected] Theater Allen County Public Library, Main Library www.acpl.info Fort Wayne, Indiana www.LincolnCollection.org Free and Open to the Public www.FriendsoftheLincolnCollection.org Lincoln Lore® 2019 LINCOLN FORUM ISSN 0162-8615 Speakers include: Gary Gallagher, Elizabeth Unless otherwise indicated, all images are held by Varon, Joan Waugh, and Jonathan White the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection (LFFC). November 16-18, 2019 Gettysburg, PA Member Discount For more information, visit Members of the Friends of the Lincoln Collection of www.LincolnForum.org Indiana receive a discount for books published by Southern Illinois University Press. To order, contact CHicago Distribution Center at: On the Cover 1.800.621.2736 Phone 1.800.621.8476 Fax Order online at www.SIUPress.com Proclamation of Emancipation [calligraphic print], 1930s. To see more items from the collection, see “Lincoln, Use promotional code FLC25 to receive a 25% Emancipation and Civil Rights” on pages 14-15. 2 discountSUMMER on your2019 order. An Interview with Harold Holzer regarding his new book, Monument Man: The Life and Art of Daniel Chester French Sara Gabbard Henry Clay, OC-0498 [“As one of the foremost living authorities different ways, often from others. In “Meadowlark,” the onetime second on Abraham Lincoln, Harold Holzer has this case, my friends at Chesterwood, studio French built across the road for long straddled the crossroads of history French’s home and studio in Stock- more privacy and more outdoor light. and art with his own inimitable brand bridge, MA, came to me and com- of scholarship. Not surprisingly, in this missioned the book. So it was writ- SG: Please describe Chesterwood. grandly illustrated and beautifully writ- ten under the aegis of the National ten biography, he proves to be the ideal Trust for Historic Preservation, which HH: In its present state—a nation- guide to the life of Daniel Chester French, owns the French property in the Berk- al trust site open to the public in the who transmuted Abraham Lincoln and shires, but left completely to me in warm months—it is a beautifully re- other historical figures into monumental terms of research and interpretation. stored home, artist’s studio, barn gal- sculptures of surpassing beauty, poetry, lery and gardens—looking very much and inspiration. This book will surely I began at the literal beginning—at as if DCF is still in residence. The great rank as the authoritative life of a man the Chapin Library at nearby Williams architect Henry Bacon—who later cre- whose creations in stone and bronze College, repository of French’s orig- ated the Lincoln Memorial—designed have become inseparable parts of our inal papers, to read the bird-watch- both the house and studio building, historical memory.” Ron Chernow] ing diary the future artist kept as a and there is a stately harmony be- teenager—which included an entry tween the two nearby structures. The Sara Gabbard: While I have read on the day Lincoln died (alas, with- home lets in summer breezes and most of your books, I wasn’t sure out mentioning the assassination combines luxury with a rustic bow about undertaking Monument Man at all). Concurrently I turned on the to the environment—beautiful views because the topic is so vast, and I visual experience—the remarkably everywhere, functionality together am woefully uninformed on it. De- vivid plaster models in the Chester- with striking design touches, much of ciding to “soldier on” after reading wood collection, the heroic statues in it collected and installed by French, Ron Chernow’s description of the Washington, Boston, and New York, who loved to haunt local flea markets. book, I am delighted to know more and the house and studio themselves. The studio is designed not only as a about this remarkable man. When I was reminded again why Mr. and workshop but a showplace—a site did you first realize that this story Mrs. French loved the Stockbridge where French could not only roll up should be told? How did you begin place—it is a truly magnificent setting, his sleeves (figuratively, of course— such a massive undertaking? a pedestal waiting for a monument as he was quite formal even with his they once described Capitol Hill—in hands in a vat of clay) and work but Harold Holzer: I wish I could say I French’s case, as it turned out, many also entertain and impress poten- thought of the project myself, but monuments. During one research tial clients and patrons; it’s filled not book inspiration comes in so many spree we even got to reside in the only with eclectic furniture and décor LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 3 AN INTERVIEW WITH HAROLD HOLZER And finally, when Dan returned to his the Emerson statuary and the memo- hometown after studies abroad, he rial to the Civil War Melvin brothers in produced a fine bust of old Bronson the local cemetery: Mourning Victory, Alcott. So he was very much involved a masterpiece. We regret that we ha- with the entire Alcott clan for sure. ven’t—yet—made it to Lincoln, Ne- braska (though a fine replica stands at Ralph Waldo Emerson: Emerson Chesterwood). We had one of our best was an early DCF champion—helping outings checking out the works closest him secure his first major commis- to home—the New York City statuary sion, for the Minute Man, without sub- from the Bronx (at the Hall of Fame) to jecting him to a formal competition— Columbia (Alma Mater) to the Hunt Me- openly favoring and encouraging the morial opposite the Frick Museum, to hometown boy even when his first the massive Custom House Continents proposed design failed to win approv- on the southern tip of Manhattan— al. Of course Dan wasn’t offered a fee not to mention the works across the for it, just expenses, so he more than bridge in Brooklyn. I trusted my mem- repaid their confidence by producing ory about John Harvard in the Harvard an icon. Emerson of course appeared Yard since out older daughter went to at its 1875 dedication—so the families school there and we encountered him remained close. Later, when DCF fin- many, many times. Happily, the col- ished an unrewarding post-Florence lections at my own professional alma stint as a government-paid (per diem!) mater—the Metropolitan Museum— John C. Johanesen, oil painting of Daniel Chester French, 1925 (Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA) sculptor in Washington, he returned boast wonderful bronze models, and to Concord and decided to sculpt Em- marble versions of his works, plus his from his Concord days and from erson from life. The result was one of last great statue, Memory—along with abroad, it not only includes a teeming his greatest achievements, and one of an obscure gem, a plaque dedicated workroom still filled with the tools of the best portrait busts ever created in to the Met’s onetime curator of arms the trade; it is connected to a lovely the 19th century. DCF later produced and armor, who advised French on his porch where I can just imagine this a larger seated statue for the Concord Washington Irving memorial (which canny artist-entrepreneur wining, Library. So their associations ran deep. of course we visited in Westchester). dining, wooing, and impressing his visitors. Just spectacular and well Theodore Roosevelt: TR bared his SG: Please describe the dedication worth a visit. The docents, by the famous teeth at DCF one day at the of the Lincoln Memorial on Memori- way, are extraordinarily welcoming White House—and both Mr. and al Day (May 30) in 1922. and well-informed. And so many of Mrs. French were smitten. TR want- French’s plaster models are on display ed French to help him organize a fine HH: It was one of the most anoma- it’s a rare encounter with creativity. arts commission that could take hold lous, indefensible public ceremonies of developing the Washington Mall in American history—worse in a way SG: What was French’s relation- and other public spaces in the cap- than the sometimes overtly racist ded- ship with the following: ital.