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FF oo rr TT hh ee PP ee oo pp ll ee A NEWSLETTER OF THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN ASSOCIATION VOLUME 11, NUMBER 4 WINTER 2009 SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS HAROLD HOLZER 2010 BANQUET SPEAKER Richard E. Hart manities Medal by President Bush. GOOD-BYE, BICENTENNIAL His latest books are The Lincoln Anthol- After February 12, 2009, many Lincoln ogy (2009), a Library of America collec- aficionados took a deep breath and se- tion featuring 150 years of great writers cretly thought, ―Thank goodness that is on the subject of Abraham Lincoln; In over.‖ But it was only the beginning of Lincoln’s Hand (2009), a Library of Con- the many Bicentennial celebrations of gress book featuring Lincoln‘s original Lincoln‘s birth. The annual ALA banquet manuscripts with commentary by distin- in Springfield on February 12, 2010, will guished Americans; and Lincoln Presi- mark the conclusion of that year. Then dent-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the you may take a deep breath. Great Secession Winter 1860-1861 (2008), which won the Barondess/Lincoln HELLO, SESQUICENTENNIAL Award and the Award of Achievement of the Lincoln Group of New York. The But take your deep breath quickly, as latter book opens with a fitting overture to there is little time between the Bicenten- the Sesquicentennial of Lincoln‘s Presi- nial‘s conclusion and the beginning of the HAROLD HOLZER dency: five-year Sesquicentennial of Lincoln‘s Presidency. On November 6, 2010, we Harold Holzer, Senior Vice President for The cannon salvo that thundered over will observe the 150th anniversary of Lin- External Affairs at The Metropolitan Mu- Springfield, Illinois, to greet the sunrise on coln‘s election to the Presidency and the seum of Art, serves also as co-chairman November 6, 1860, signaled not the start of beginning of a five-year Sesquicentennial of the U. S. Abraham Lincoln Bicenten- a battle, but the end of one. The bitter, commemoration of his Presidency. nial Commission, appointed by President raucous, and exhilarating six-month-long Clinton. He is the author, co-author, or campaign for president of the United States We are pleased that our friend and former was over at last. Election Day was finally editor of 33 books and more than 425 Board member Harold Holzer will be our dawning. articles on Lincoln and the Civil War era. 2010 banquet speaker. Harold is well Among them are The Lincoln Image, The known in the Lincoln community and is Ignited to rouse the Republican faithful to Confederate Image, The Lincoln-Douglas the perfect segue from the Bicentennial to the polls that morning, the explosions were Debates, Lincoln as I Knew Him, Dear the Sesquicentennial. He is one of three soon augmented by other “manifestations Mr. Lincoln: Letters to the President, of popular feeling” designed to “enliven” co-chairs of the U.S. Bicentennial Com- Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: The Civil the city. Crowds of boisterous partisans mission and the author of the splendid War in Art, The Lincoln Family Album, took up positions outside the city’s one and recently published Lincoln President- Lincoln on Democracy (co-edited with only polling place and began a long day Elect. Mario Cuomo), which has been published devoted to outshouting each other. Pro- in four languages, and Lincoln at Cooper viding clamorous accompaniment were As we say a fond good-bye to the Bicen- Union: The Speech that Made Abraham bands of musicians parading through the tennial, and what a Bicentennial it has Lincoln President, which won a 2005 streets aboard horse-drawn wagons, giving been, we look forward to the many future ear-shattering performances while waving Lincoln Prize. events that will commemorate and cele- banners like the one that proclaimed, “A brate Lincoln‘s election and ensuing Home President for Springfield.” There Holzer has won research and writing Presidency. was little danger that Abraham Lincoln’s awards from the Illinois State Historical hometown would slumber through this Society, the Manuscript Society, the Civil Information on the 2010 symposium and decisive day of days. War Round Tables of New York and Chi- reservations for the banquet and luncheon cago, and the Lincoln Groups of New may be found in this issue. Please make Holzer and his wife, Edith, who live in York, Peekskill, and Washington. In your plans to attend these 2010 events as Rye, New York, have two grown daugh- 2008 he was awarded the National Hu- soon as possible. ters and a grandson. FOR THE PEOPLE A NEWSLETTER OF THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN ASSOCIATION 3 2 A NEWSLETTER OF THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN ASSOCIATION FOR THE PEOPLE CHRISTOPHER SMITH GERMAN GRAVE MARKER DEDICATED The Abraham Lincoln Association has placed a grave marker at the previously unmarked grave of Lincoln photographer Christopher Smith German. On the rather chilly late afternoon of October 2, 2009, members of the Abraham Lincoln Association Board and guests gathered at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield to dedicate the marker. After brief remarks by President Richard E. Hart, Dr. James M. Cornelius, Curator, Lincoln Collec- tion, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Li- brary, gave remarks highlighting Ger- man’s life. The dedication ended with a blessing by board member Dr. Stewart Winger. Dr. Cornelius’s remarks follow. Good afternoon, and thank you for at- tending today. In the next few minutes I will attempt to give you a snapshot of the life and work of C. S. German, whose mortal remains lie here. Yet the life of Christopher Smith German Photograph of the Board of Directors and Friends at German Dedication is not so well captured in a snapshot or photograph, as it could be deemed a mov- seems to have stopped in to have his pho- total of $12,000. To put that figure into ing picture. Wayne Temple documented tograph taken by German; that was in context, Lincoln as one of the better-paid his itinerant life in an article in the Illi- September 1858. More certainly, Ger- lawyers was making something roughly nois State Historical Society‘s magazine man‘s name was made when he took over around $6 to $8,000 a year in the late Illinois Heritage in July 2006. German an existing studio on the west side of the 1850s, and was making $25,000 a year as was born in Canada on Christmas Day, square just in time for president-elect president. 1814, to a family of Loyalists, that is, Abraham Lincoln to patronize him, possi- British colonists who fled to Canada dur- bly for the second time. That was in German had a few other partners in later ing the Revolution rather than live under January 1861. One image exists from years, and some of his children began American rule. He concealed this fact for each of these sittings. Mr. Lincoln came helping in the store at his original site, most of his life, admitting it to a census back three weeks later and sat again, this above Chatterton‘s Jewelry Store, on the taker only in 1880, at the age of 65. Here time for what seems to have been two west side of the square. This occurred in Springfield in 1860, we think, he mar- distinct poses. Nor had Lincoln‘s face or after his return to Springfield after an ried an Irish-American woman who self-regard been stable in that period. For apparent six-year absence in the 1870s. seems not to have been monogamous in he had begun to grow a beard. German His wife died in 1878, and he continued her habits. He divorced her and then at was the second photographer, and appar- to work there, as well as live there, and the age of 49 married a 21-year-old ently the only one from Springfield, to finally die there. That was in 1896, when woman with a young child. They went have captured the New Look Lincoln he was 81 years old. He was buried from on to have five children together. through the miracle of chemically sensi- the Methodist Church, and all six of his tized glass, and he captured him at his pallbearers were fellow photographers – Nor was German‘s professional life quite most hirsute, before age and cares had marveling, perhaps, at how German had settled. Evidently he was most active in taken their toll. Both men were, after all, not succumbed to mercury poisoning at a Springfield from about 1858 to 1873, in their different ways, artists and scien- younger age, as many in his profession between the two economic crashes of that tists. We do not expect them to have kept did. era, when people had money for his craft, steady habits or unchanging views. and he moved about. He seems to have What kind of fame ought to attend such a had at least three different partners in a And both of them did well: photographs man? He scrambled a bit in early life, year or two, was operating two or three were popular and fairly cheap, and Ger- galloped along in what Lincoln was wont different studios at the same time at man must have worked hard. He bought to call ―the race of life,‖ absented himself points during the Civil War, and may a couple of buildings very near the Public have really made his historical mark Square during the Civil War, paying a (Continued on page 3) when Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln FOR THE PEOPLE A NEWSLETTER OF THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN ASSOCIATION 3 (Continued from page 2) that he was out of town for a spell in the 1870s – as was the case with our friend C.S.