Chronicle - Fall '08

Fall 2008

CHRONICLE CONNECTIONS. PERSPECTIVE. INSPIRATION.

beyond the log cabin kentucky’s Abraham lincoln

Kentucky’s www.history.ky.gov

Signature Lincoln Exhibition Thomas D. Clark Center for kentucky history October 20, 2008 - June 6, 2009

CHRONICLE CONNECTIONS. PERSPECTIVE. INSPIRATION.

Contents

Fall 2008

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lincoln events around the state A celebration of the Lincoln-Hanks wedding; boyhood statue unveiled

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jefferson davis symposium draws large crowd Civil War scholar William J. Cooper Jr. is keynote speaker

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annual boone day celebration Featured Churchill Weavers collection and exhibition

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new oral history grants kentucky museum alliance formed

special section

Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln

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Featured new acquisitions in the kentucky historical society collections Early Homer Ledford dulcimer, Torch Light newsletters and more

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National history day in kentucky More than 140 students participate

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Letter from the Executive Director Kentucky Historical Society News Kentucky Historical Society Featured Events

A moment in time KHS Executive Committee Board Chancellor, Governor Steven L. Beshear President, Robert Michael “Mike” Duncan, Inez First Vice President, Robert E. Rich, Covington Second Vice President, William “Bill” R. Black Jr., Paducah Third Vice President, Sheila Mason Burton, Frankfort Walter A. Baker, Glasgow Yvonne Honeycutt Baldwin, Morehead William Frederick “Fred” Brashear II, Hyden J. McCauley Brown, Louisville Bennett Clark, Lexington Judge William Engle, Hazard Charles English, Sr., Bowling Green Martha R. Francis, Stanford Richard Frymire, Madisonville Ed Hamilton, Louisville John Kleber, Ph.D., Louisville Ruth Ann Korzenborn, Edgewood Karen Cotton McDaniel, Frankfort Ann Pennington, Danville Richard Taylor, Ph.D., Frankfort J. Harold Utley, Madisonville KHS Foundation Board President, Warren W. Rosenthal, Lexington First Vice-President, John R. Hall, Lexington Sec. Vice-President, Henry C. T. Richmond III, Lexington Secretary, Kent Whitworth, Frankfort Treasurer, James Shepherd, Georgetown Ralph G. Anderson, Harrodsburg Hilary J. Boone, Lexington Lucy A. Breathitt, Lexington Bruce Cotton, Lexington James T. Crain Jr., Louisville Dennis Dorton, Paintsville Thomas and Clara Dupree, Lexington Jo M. Ferguson, Louisville Ann Rosenstein Giles, Lexington Frank Hamilton, Lexington James “Jamie” Hargrove, Louisville Raymond R. Hornback, Ed.D., Lexington Elizabeth Lloyd Jones, Midway James C. Klotter, Ph.D., Lexington Honorable Crit Luallen, Frankfort James H. “Mike” Molloy, Lexington Margaret “Maggy” Patterson, Frankfort Erwin Roberts, Louisville Martin F. Schmidt, Louisville Gerald L. Smith, Ph.D., Lexington Alice Sparks, Crescent Springs Charles Stewart, Frankfort John P. Stewart II, M.D., Frankfort William Sturgill, Lexington JoEtta Y. Wickliffe, Harrodsburg Buckner “Buck” Woodford, Paris

Executive Director Kentucky Historical Society Kent Whitworth Assistant Director Kentucky Historical Society Marilyn A. Zoidis Executive Director Kentucky Historical Society Foundation James E. Wallace Director of Communications Lisa Summers Cleveland

We are so pleased that our Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) members and friends enjoyed the new format introduced in the previous issue of the Chronicle. We continue to make minor adjustments to the layout, but the feedback thus far has been extremely positive!

The commemoration of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial is truly a special “moment in time” especially for the commonwealth of Kentucky. The Bicentennial is in full swing and KHS continues to be actively involved in many Lincoln-related programs, including the unveiling of the Boy Lincoln sculpture in Hodgenville and the Lincoln-Hanks wedding event in Springfield. KHS had an unprecedented presence at this year’s Kentucky State Fair. Our 8,000 square foot educational display, entitled “Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln,” introduced Fair goers to Lincoln’s lifelong connections to the commonwealth. Stay tuned for more about the Fair in the winter issue of the Chronicle.

In October, the Kentucky Historical Society will open Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln, the commonwealth’s signature Lincoln exhibition. We’re pleased to include a special commemorative insert in this issue about the exhibition and invite you to visit KHS when Beyond the Log Cabin opens to the public on October 21st. This exhibition is an ambitious undertaking for KHS because, in addition to being on display at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, it will travel to two additional venues over the next two years – the Speed Art Museum in Louisville and the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center in Ashland.

Speaking of “moments in time,” Boone Day 2008 was an opportunity for us to pause and express our sincere appreciation to you – our members, donors, and supporters. Please know how grateful we are for your continued interest and support that helps ensure the Kentucky Historical Society is the recognized leader in helping people understand, cherish, and share Kentucky’s stories.

Betty Fugate Chris Goodlett Gretchen Haney Rebecca Hanly Leah Hinson Darrell Meadows, Ph.D. Deborah Rose Andrew Stupperich James Wallace Julie Sutter Art Direction/Design Amy Crittenden Charley Pallos Kelli Thompson

Assistant Editor Stephanie Siria

Photography Kevin Johnson Charlene Smith W.L. McCoy Lee P. Thomas

Contributors Julienne Foster

Circulation Manager Betty Fugate

Editor Lisa Summers Cleveland

Executive Director

Fall 2008. The Chronicle is published by the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS), Frankfort, Kentucky. It is a periodical for KHS members and friends that builds awareness of the mission of the Kentucky Historical Society as it engages people in the exploration of the diverse heritage of the commonwealth. The Chronicle reports how the comprehensive and innovative services, interpretive programs, and stewardship of the Society are providing connections to the past, perspective on the present, and inspiration for the future. If you are interested in making a bequest to the Society’s work, use our full legal address: Kentucky Historical Society Foundation, 100 West Broadway, Frankfort, KY 40601. Send all address changes to: The Chronicle, Kentucky Historical Society, 100 West Broadway, Frankfort, KY 40601. Web site: www. history.ky.gov. Email: KHSmembership@ky.gov

The Kentucky Historical Society is an agency of the Tourism, Arts, and Heritage Cabinet.

www.history.ky.gov | 03

lincoln hanks wedding event Hundreds of people made their way to Lincoln Homestead State Park in Springfield to see the outdoor drama, Dearly Beloved: The Vows of a Lincoln Legacy, on June 14. The play celebrated the 202nd anniversary of the wedding of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, Abraham Lincoln’s parents.

The Museum Theatre program of the Kentucky Historical Society worked closely with the Kentucky Department of Parks and the Springfield/ Washington County community to produce the outdoor drama, which was the centerpiece of a day long event. The KHS HistoryMobile was also open to visitors.

“The Lincoln-Hanks wedding celebration is a premier Kentucky family historical entertainment experience,” said Kentucky Senator Dan Kelly, of Springfield. “Dearly Beloved: The Vows of a Lincoln Legacy, is a fun, exciting, and moving story about Abraham Lincoln and his Kentucky roots.”

In addition to the wedding ceremony, historical speakers performed throughout the day, including Dr. Thomas Walker, Governor Isaac Shelby, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. Food, music, and other activities provided a look at America in the early 1800s when Lincoln’s parents were married.

boy lincoln statue unveiled in hodgenville Kentucky Historical Society staff and the

Lincoln. The Kentucky Arts Council is a partner in the Lincoln Bicentennial

KHS HistoryMobile were on the scene

Commemoration.

on Saturday, May 31, as the Boy Lincoln sculpture was unveiled in front of a crowd of hundreds in Hodgenville.

initiative was unveiled, just in time for the summer heritage-touring season.

The Boy Lincoln statue was placed at

Lincoln sites.

ground level, allowing children to touch it, stand beside it, and be photographed with it. LaRue County Judge Executive Tommy Turner said the new sculpture “allows all to see that the greatest president was once a young Kentucky lad” and that it should “inspire all youth who see it to know they too can accomplish great things.”

The Boy Lincoln sculpture was funded, in part, by a grant from the Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, which is administered

by KHS. The grant was provided to the Kentucky Arts Council, which worked in an advisory capacity for the public art commission of the Boy

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Later that same afternoon, the Kentucky Lincoln Heritage Trail Passport The passport program offers travelers a fun way to explore Kentucky’s

Before the day ended, more than 700 visitors had toured the “Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln” exhibit in the KHS HistoryMobile.

“The sun was shining on Hodgenville on May 31,” said Kent Whitworth, executive director of KHS. “KHS was able to play a large role that day in sharing the Lincoln story with hundreds of people.”

The Kentucky Heritage Council, another partner agency in the bicentennial commemoration, oversees the Lincoln Heritage Trail Passport initiative. For more information about the passport program, see www.kylincolntrail.com.

Photo Courtesy of W. L. McCoy, McCoy’s Image Studio, Elizabethtown, Ky.

jefferson davis symposium draws large crowd “The Contested Legacy of Jefferson Davis,” a symposium held on June 27

participation. These discussions focused on Davis and the Civil War and

at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, drew more than 150

Davis and Lost Cause Memory. After lunch, participants viewed Civil War

people for a daylong discussion of Davis and his role in history.

era collections from the Kentucky Historical Society and purchased books written and signed by the scholars in attendance. The day ended with a

Nationally known Civil War scholar and author William J. Cooper Jr. of

presentation on ways to interpret issues related to these topics in Kentucky’s

Louisiana State University, was keynote speaker. Cooper gave his up-to-date

museums and historic sites.

interpretation of Davis based on the latest scholarship.

Marilyn Zoidis, assistant director of the Kentucky Historical Society, said KHS Other prominent speakers and panelists included Richard J. Blackett,

“was delighted with the response to this symposium.”

Vanderbilt University; Charles P. Roland, professor emeritus of history at the University of Kentucky; Anne Marshall, Mississippi State University; and John Coski, director of library and research at the Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. Panel moderators were Edward M. Coffman and James A. Ramage.

Throughout the day, speakers and panelists grappled with far-reaching topics related to Davis, including the Lost Cause, the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery, the Civil War, and Kentucky’s role as a border state. The majority of the members of the audience were not professional historians, but, rather, interested members of the Kentucky Historical Society and the general public. They presented questions that led to lively and often frank discussions.

Following Cooper’s address, panel discussions drew active audience

www.history.ky.gov | 05

BOONE DAY 2008

B

oone Day drew a near-capacity crowd to the Kentucky Historical Society this year. The Boone Day celebration, a proud Kentucky Historical Society tradition for more than a century, took place on Saturday, June 7, 2008, at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History in Frankfort. Boone Day has been held annually at KHS since 1897. It celebrates June 7, 1769, when Daniel Boone looked across at the rolling upland of the Bluegrass region from Pilot Knob in what is now Powell County.

Boone Day provides an opportunity for the Kentucky Historical Society to say a sincere thank you to all of our loyal members and donors who make our work—the work of cherishing Kentucky’s treasures—possible.

“I am proud to be a member of an institution that realizes the importance of preserving our history and culture.”

– Marilyn Dishman, Lexington

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Boone Day featured a variety of activities this year, many of which revolved around the temporary exhibition, Magic in the Weaving: The Churchill Weavers Collection Revealed. Visitors experienced this new preservation exhibition in the Keeneland Changing Exhibits Gallery along with KHS’s permanent exhibition, A Kentucky Journey in the Warren and Betty Rosenthal

Permanent Exhibits Gallery, in addition to tours of the Old State Capitol throughout the day.

Magic in the Weaving: The Churchill Weavers Collection Revealed exhibition opened May 10, 2008 and closed on September 6. For eighty-five years, Churchill Weavers produced distinctive hand woven clothing and home textiles in Berea, Kentucky. Talented owners and employees helped it become one of Kentucky’s most beloved handcraft businesses. Faced with foreign competition and downsizing, the business was auctioned in 2007. The Kentucky Historical Society, with generous support from donor Joan Cralle Day, was able to purchase the Churchill Weavers Collection, which includes over 250,000 fabric samples, tools, looms, photographs, business records, and more.

KHS members enjoyed complimentary admission to all exhibitions on the KHS history campus along with a complimentary Southern brunch featuring some traditional Kentucky favorites. Following the brunch, guests had the opportunity to meet and listen to Lila Bellando, former president and manager of Churchill Weavers, tell her story of commitment to the integrity and legacy of Churchill Weavers and why she chose KHS to preserve this important collection for future generations.

A new tradition that began last year was a special celebration of “Enduring Donors.” This acknowledges the leadership of those generous individuals who helped make possible so much of what we do at the Society to cherish Kentucky’s story. During a morning reception, enduring donors heard a

summary of recent accomplishments, such as the KHS Foundation’s success raising money for the 2008 Annual Fund and the Campaign for Kentucky: The Thomas D. Clark Education Challenge.

Members and donors were also able to take a behind-the scenes tour of the museum and archival storage areas at the Center. These tours provided a sense of the depth of the KHS collections. Included in the tour was a look at the processing area for the Churchill Weavers collection.

A number of members and donors also participated in two brick dedications which took place at the Broadway entrance to the Center and in the Cralle Day Garden. The bricks allow for a family name or an organization to become part of a pathway through history. The dedication was a chance for families and groups to come together and enjoy this important occasion of laying their brick.

“My visits to the Kentucky Historical Society are always rewarding – a pleasant stop at Dr. Clark’s gateway to the past.”

what is an enduring donor?

The Kentucky Historical Society is fortunate to have a group of exceptional patrons who understand the importance of collecting and preserving the history of the commonwealth.

These supporters, known as Enduring Donors, consistently contribute to the Kentucky Historical Society Foundation by making an annual gift of $250 or more, helping KHS to fulfill its mission of engaging people in exploring the diverse heritage of Kentucky.

– Don Fowler, Covington

Throughout the day, visitors had an opportunity to learn about the resources offered by the Martin F. Schmidt Research Library, as well as resources available online through the KHS Web site at www.history.ky.gov. The KHS research library houses over 90,000 published works, dealing primarily with history and genealogy, as well as over 12,000 reels of microfilm and over 20,000 vertical files of collected and contributed research. The KHS Special Collections manages five collection programs: manuscripts, maps, oral history, photographs, and rare books. These collections document most major issues in Kentucky history, as well as the day-to-day lives of Kentuckians.

History came to life on Boone Day with several KHS Museum Theatre performances. Visitors enjoyed “Diary of the Depression: A Day with Mary Ruth Dawson,” which explores rural Kentucky life during the Great Depression through the eyes of a farm woman, and “Bound for Freedom: The Story of Frontier Slave Monk Estill,” which shares the challenges of frontier life from the point of view of an enslaved man whose bravery earned him his freedom. Both plays offered visitors an opportunity to connect audiences with the sights, sounds, and stories of the past.

Since 2007, Enduring Donors have been honored at our annual Boone Day member-anddonor recognition event. They enjoy sneak previews of KHS collections and exhibitions; and they meet with Society curators and leaders at the Enduring Donors reception to socialize and to share their love of Kentucky history.

We invite you to become an Enduring Donor and to ensure that the Kentucky story is cherished and shared with Kentuckians of tomorrow.

During the afternoon, children tried their hand at weaving on a table loom. They were weaving their own pieces to take home using homemade looms during the History Zone program “Wonderful Weaving,” located outside the entrance to the Churchill Weavers exhibition.

www.history.ky.gov | 07

Kentucky Oral History Commission Offers New Preservation Assistance The Kentucky Oral History Commission is now offering a new set of grants

acclaimed authors. The Commission’s goal is to record and preserve these

to help institutions preserve their oral history collections.

and other diverse stories that are part of Kentucky’s rich and colorful history.

“In Kentucky and in the nation, most of the oral history collections are

The Commission is governed by a 12-member board and receives input

on cassette tape,” said Commission Program Coordinator Sarah Milligan.

from an advisory board, consisting primarily of oral historians from across

“Cassette tapes have about a 30-year lifespan and in many cases we’re

the commonwealth. In addition to the two new grants, it also offers a grant

hitting that 30-year mark now.”

program that provides financial and technical assistance to academic and community oral historians. These historians are responsible for the collection

The new grants include a competitive cash grant of up to $3,500 to

of the majority of interviews. The Commission also holds workshops and

institutions to be used to preserve, clean, or digitize their oral history

conferences to support oral history collection and preservation.

collections. The application deadline is October 15.

The oral history collections, undertaken by support from the Commission, The second grant provides for the use of a mobile workstation and training,

are located at repositories throughout Kentucky. KHS has a collection of

allowing institutions to digitize their collections in-house. This application has

nearly 8,000 interviews, which are available to the public at the Thomas D.

no set deadline, and submissions will be accepted beginning October 15.

Clark Center for Kentucky History in Frankfort. Recordings and transcriptions may be accessed in the Special Collections Research Room and requests

The Kentucky Oral History Commission is an outreach program of the

can also be made by submitting a signed user application.

Kentucky Historical Society. Since its inception in 1976, it has provided for the collection of more than 25,000 oral history interviews, ranging

For more information, visit www.history.ky.gov/oralhistory.

from tenant farmers and lay midwives to political leaders and nationally

Kentucky Museum and Heritage Alliance Begins to take shape The Historical Confederation of Kentucky

Dr. J. Blaine Hudson of the University of Louisville was the keynote speaker.

(HCK) and the Kentucky Association of

His presentation focused on interpreting controversial topics at museums

Museums (KAM) held their joint annual

and historic sites. He also discussed the issue of slavery and why it is

meeting in Elizabethtown, June 1-3. Members

important to present it openly and honestly. He pointed out that no matter what

of both organizations voted to create the

the particular issue of controversy may be, museums and historic sites should

Kentucky Museum and Heritage Alliance.

not avoid interpreting relevant issues that might seem painful or upsetting.

The vote was the final step of a two-year process led by over 30 museum and heritage

The City of Elizabethtown also hosted activities to promote their city’s sites,

professionals across the state. They worked

culture, and history including tours of central Kentucky’s Lincoln heritage

diligently to plan a course of action that would

sites, connections to the Coca-Cola Company, and railroad history. For a

benefit the memberships of both HCK and KAM and continue programming

complete list of members and sponsors, visit www.kymuseums.org.

that would serve all museum and heritage organizations across the commonwealth.

The 2009 annual meeting of the new Kentucky Museum and Heritage Alliance will be May 31 - June 2 at the International Bluegrass Music

In addition, the 2008 annual meeting consisted of several professional-

Museum in Owensboro.

development workshops and sessions on the theme “Kentucky Past and Present: Interpreting Our Stories.” The presentations focused on the unique ways our museums and historic sites present our culture and heritage to the public.

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Please visit www.kymuseums.org for updates.

ON EXHIBITION Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, Frankfort October 20, 2008 - June 6, 2009 The Speed Art Museum, Louisville June 28, 2009 - September 6, 2009 Highlands Museum & Discovery Center, Ashland October 2, 2009 - February 19, 2010

Cover: Images courtesy of Lee P. Thomas Photography, Inc. and the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

BY R. DARRELL MEADOWS

As the subject of over 14,000 books in just over 140 years, Abraham Lincoln would top anyone’s shortlist for the most-written-about person in history. And yet, despite numerous attempts to uncover the “real” Lincoln, he remains an elusive figure. When historian Merrill D. Peterson surveyed the vast cornucopia of Lincoln monuments, books, images, and popular songs, he found that most all of these representations boiled down to five essential stories, or “Lincoln myths.” In our major traveling exhibition, Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln, we hope to “unpack” the dominant images of Lincoln the son of the frontier, Lincoln the self-made man, Lincoln the great statesman and savior of the Union, Lincoln the emancipator, and Lincoln the martyr. Each contains essential truths, yet none of them, on their own, tells the whole story. How Lincoln is remembered at any given time—and by whom—sheds as much light on the history of Kentucky and our nation as it does on Mr. Lincoln.

From Town to Country Abraham Lincoln’s father, Thomas Lincoln, was born in Virginia, the son of Revolutionary War veteran Abraham Lincoln and Bersheba Herring. In Kentucky, Thomas lived in Elizabethtown, where he was active in community and church affairs and worked as a carpenter. Money earned from these endeavors fueled his plans to become a farmer and landowner. By the early 1800s, Thomas ranked among the top twenty percent of taxpayers in Hardin County.

Frontier Kentucky and the Lincolns By the time Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809, AngloAmerican settlement of the Kentucky frontier had already proceeded for several decades. The Lincolns lived in a rapidly maturing agricultural and commercial society.

Overland routes to Nashville and Louisville, and by extension New Orleans, connected seemingly isolated households in south-central Kentucky to the outside world. Locally, farmers and townspeople alike participated in a dense web of economic and social connections. Entirely typical of many households in this period, the Lincolns lived a rough-hewn, though not materially deprived, existence. Because of the difficulties of Kentucky land law, disease, and relatively high infant mortality, they faced many uncertainties. Overall, their experiences in Kentucky and their migration to Indiana in 1816 were far from extraordinary and in many ways exemplified the broad sweep of change that transformed the trans-Appalachian West in these years.

Originally called the Severn’s Valley settlement, by the 1790s Elizabethtown served as a trade and service center for the surrounding countryside. It is there that Thomas Lincoln met his future wife, Nancy Hanks. The couple married in nearby Springfield in 1806, in the presence of Nancy’s kinfolk. Little is known about Abraham’s mother Nancy.

Like her future husband, Thomas Lincoln, she was born in Virginia and came to Kentucky as a child. Nancy died of a common frontier disease known as “milk sickness” in 1818, after their removal to Indiana, when Abraham was nine years old. No images of Nancy are known to exist. In 1963, artist Lloyd Ostendorf made a “composite portrait” based on descriptions by people who knew her and photos of relatives.

In fall 1808, Thomas Lincoln moved his wife and one-yearold daughter Sarah to a 348-acre farm at the Sinking Spring near Hodgen’s Mill. There Abraham was born the following

winter. By 1811, the rightful ownership of the farm had come under question, and Thomas moved his family to thirty acres of “bottom land” he leased at Knob Creek—the site of Lincoln’s earliest childhood memories. At the “Knob Creek place,” Lincoln later recalled, he lived in a log cabin, helped plant pumpkin seeds, and with his boyhood friend Austin Gollaher played and fished in the nearby stream. Unable to secure title to the Sinking Spring farm, Thomas decided in late fall 1816 to pull up stakes and try again in nearby Indiana, which had achieved statehood earlier that year.

Unable to secure the prosperity he sought north of the Ohio, Thomas Lincoln’s future never again appeared as promising as it had in 1808.

Frontier Education and Slavery Children raised on the transAppalachian frontier rarely attended school. For brief periods in Kentucky and Indiana, Thomas Lincoln paid for Abraham and his sister Sarah to attend “blab” schools, where children learned through recitation.

The bulk of Abe and Sarah’s learning, as with most frontier children, came through reading, listening, telling stories, and playing. Lincoln’s earliest-known writings are six large manuscript pages he penned at about age fifteen. On one of these pages, Lincoln solved math problems copied from Thomas Dilworth’s Schoolmaster’s Assistant.

The historical record may never yield the true meaning of Lincoln’s observation, made in 1860, that his father chose to leave Kentucky “partly on account of slavery.” We do know that during the years Thomas Lincoln sought title to the Sinking Spring farm (1808-16), more than one thousand enslaved African Americans resided in Hardin County, and slaves being sent overland to markets further south passed by the Lincoln’s cabin on the Cumberland Pike. Throughout the Green River Valley (and increasingly across the Bluegrass), slave laborers were integral to the early development of Kentucky as they worked alongside homesteaders to transform forest to farmland. Many believe this tacit knowledge of slavery in Lincoln’s childhood years must have stuck with him all his life—though we have no record of his actual experience of slavery from these years.

CLOCKWI SE, FROM LEFT

Lloyd Ostendorf, composite portrait of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, (1784-1818), 1963 ©1995 by Lloyd Ostendorf and Walter Olesky.

Used by permission from the Lloyd Ostendorf Collection

Thomas Lincoln (1778?-1851), ca. 1845-50 Courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum of Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee

Araham Lincoln, page from student sum book, ca. 1824-26 Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division

Table, attributed to Thomas Lincoln, date unknown Private Collection

Bette Rowe Pallos, Knob Creek mural, 2007 Private Collection

ARISTOCRATIC EDUCATION AND URBAN SLAVERY Mary Todd’s family valued education. Her mother, Eliza, had briefly attended Beck’s Lexington Female Academy, while Robert Todd attended and later supported Transylvania University. They, in turn, provided each of their daughters with a well-rounded education. Mary attended exclusive boarding schools for nine years and then worked with a tutor for another year. At Ward’s and Mentelle’s schools, Mary obtained a solid education in reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, natural science, and religion. By her eighteenth birthday, Mary was one of the best-educated women of the entire antebellum period.

FOUNDING FAMILY AND KENTUCKY’S URBAN FRONTIER Located at the center of overland trade and migration routes leading west and south, the Kentucky Bluegrass could not have existed without Lexington.

Likewise, Lexington would not have existed without the entrepreneurial spirit of its founding fathers, among whom figured both of Mary Ann Todd’s grandfathers, Levi Todd and Robert Parker. By the time of her birth in 1818, Lexington had emerged as the leading and wealthiest city in Kentucky. Some called it the Athens of the West—a center of learning and culture built on a foundation of commerce and manufacturing.

If Abraham Lincoln’s father had no choice but to make his own way in the world, Robert S. Todd, his future father-in-law, inherited a legacy. As a community leader and wealthy businessman, and eventually a notable Kentucky politician, Todd could provide his children with opportunities most fathers could not afford.

This inheritance shaped Mary’s future prospects and helped form her keen interest in politics.

As the matriarch of a founding family of Lexington, Elizabeth Porter Parker (“Grandma Parker”) was an imposing figure who in 1810 oversaw a large household of twelve, including six slaves, plus that of her married daughter, Eliza. Reflective of her English-styled aristocratic tastes, Parker sought out exquisite examples of artisanal craft, such as an engraved spoon fashioned by one of the best silversmiths in Lexington. When her mother died in 1825 at the age of thirty-one, Mary was just seven years old. In the following years, Widow Parker, as her grandmother came to be known, was the most important female figure in Mary’s life.

From the slightly eccentric Charlotte Mentelle, Mary also received a lifelong fluency in French and French hauteur—and hauteur perhaps a bit of understanding and indulgence. Undoubtedly, Madame Mentelle served as a model of intelligence and independence. As an adult, Mary took pleasure (and perhaps a little pride) in her embroidery, using skills she learned from Madame Mentelle.

The Todds were slaveholders living at the center of what would become, by the 1820s and 1830s, a national hub of the internal slave trade. Like half of all households in Lexington, the Todd family employed slave labor. In her childhood, enslaved men and women served Mary at home and at school. By 1830, as many as ten slaves worked in the Todd household, and Mary Todd’s views of the institution were indelibly shaped by their presence. “Mammy Salley,” a domestic slave owned by Mary’s Grandma Parker, frequently worked in the Todd home and appears to have been the most constant adult presence in Mary’s early childhood.

CLOCKWISE, FROM LEFT

Asa Blanchard, silver spoon, date unknown Courtesy of the Mary Todd Lincoln House

View of Lexington, Kentucky, detail, ca. 1855 Collections of The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky

Miniature of Charlotte Victorie (Leclerc) Mentelle (d. 1860), date unknown Courtesy of the Mary Todd Lincoln House

Mary Todd Lincoln, silk embroidery, ca. 1865 Courtesy of Hildene, the Lincoln Family Home

Meissen porcelain compote, date unknown Courtesy of the Mary Todd Lincoln House Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee

Araham Lincoln, page from student sum book, ca. 1824-26 Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division

Lincoln met another native Kentuckian, Joshua Fry Speed, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship.

Both Stuart and Speed were members of the Springfield “clique,” a social circle that included some of the most prominent politicians in Illinois. They frequently met at the home of Stuart’s cousin, Elizabeth Todd Edwards, and her husband, Ninian Edwards, son of the former Illinois territorial governor. It was in the Edwards’ Springfield mansion, several years later, that Stuart introduced Lincoln to yet another cousin of his—Elizabeth’s sister, Mary Ann Todd.

A POLITICAL PARTNERSHIP LINCOLN’S STORY, AMERICA’S STORY No other individual in American history has come to embody the American dream so completely as Abraham Lincoln. Why this should be so is an interesting question—for his story was far from unique in nineteenthcentury America. As a child, Lincoln was born into a world in which ninety percent of households lived in log cabins. Like his own family, thousands of others felt the push and pull of migration north of the Ohio River. As a young politician in the Illinois legislature, Lincoln rubbed shoulders with numerous Kentuckians, and his embrace of Whig politics and Henry Clay’s American System mirrored thousands of his generation. In the example of Lincoln’s self-conscious effort to achieve respectability at home, at work, and in politics, we see the emergence of the American middle class.

THE INVISIBLE HAND OF MIGRATION We also see a world shaped by the flood of trans-Appalachian migrants who, like the Lincolns, passed through Kentucky into Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois (as well as Tennessee). This invisible but no less powerful influence of migration would shape Lincoln’s choice of occupation and his prospects for marriage. Serving briefly in the Black Hawk War in 1832, Lincoln met a number of young men who, like himself, had been born in Kentucky. One of these, a young lawyer named John Todd Stuart, encouraged Lincoln to study law, and in 1837, he made Lincoln a partner in his Springfield firm.

Upon arrival in Springfield,

Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln were married on November 4, 1842. As a young bride, Mary was both vivacious and refined. Still, some members of the Todd family thought Lincoln “mighty rough” and did not approve of the match. But Mary’s choice reflected the growing trend to marry for love and compatibility rather than wealth or family interests. Mary and Abraham proved intellectually compatible, sharing a deep affection for books, especially poetry, and an immense political ambition. Early on their marriage showed itself to be both a loving and a political partnership.

Mary’s most important contribution to her husband’s political career may have been her supreme confidence in his ability. But her practical engagement was also considerable, especially during Lincoln’s rise to national prominence in the 1850s (after which Mary played a much-diminished role). In spring 1849, with Lincoln’s term in Congress ended, she embarked on a letter-writing campaign to help secure the coveted position of commissioner of the General Land Office, signing “A. Lincoln” to over forty letters addressed to friends and associates closely connected to President Zachary Taylor. In fall 1854, when Lincoln decided to give up his seat in the Illinois state legislature in order to pursue one in the U.S. Senate, newspapers described it as “a family decision.” During the U.S. Senate race of 1858 against Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln found himself inordinately busy, traveling some 4,200 miles and giving no less than sixtythree speeches between August 12 and October 30. Back in Springfield, Mary worked diligently, reviewing editorials and interpreting his moderate

antislavery views in personal letters to inquiring friends and associates. But perhaps the most fitting testament to their political partnership occurred when Lincoln learned of his election to the presidency on November 6, 1860. Lincoln immediately left the telegraph office and headed for home.

As he approached the corner of Eighth and Jackson, Lincoln called out: “Mary, Mary, we are elected!”

RISING POLITICALLY When Mary and Abraham married in 1842, Lincoln had five solid years of experience working with two of the best lawyers in Illinois, John Todd Stuart and Stephen T. Logan, had already argued important cases before the Illinois Supreme Court, and had just completed his fourth and last term in the Illinois state legislature. As a leader of the Illinois Whig Party, Lincoln was an expert stump speaker, whose humor and storytelling were as perceptive as his language and probing logic were precise. Wherever he went, he engaged people with a combination of gregariousness, wit, fairmindedness, and probity, whether on the political or judicial circuit, and these qualities undoubtedly account for his everexpanding personal network of friends and associates. The most influential and long-lasting of these relationships formed in the decade between his arrival in Springfield and his election to the U.S. House of Representatives.

TOWARDS ANTISLAVERY In Congress, Lincoln would support legislation prohibiting slavery from the territories acquired during the recent war with Mexico and would consider proposing compensated, gradual emancipation in the District of Columbia. This public support for antislavery measures was a new, if tentative, departure for Lincoln, and likely stemmed as much from his personal relations with Kentuckians residing in Illinois as with the rise of the Free-Soil movement. Because so many of his early associations in Illinois – including, most prominently, those with the Todd family – involved slaveholding Kentuckians or relatives of slaveholders, it is reasonable to believe that these individuals must have influenced Lincoln’s decidedly gradualist antislavery views, which he professed as early as 1837. But we have no records, for example, documenting conversations that likely took place between Abraham and Mary on the subject of slavery— though she too appears to have held conservative antislavery views. Nonetheless, Abraham Lincoln’s thinking about the problem of slavery in the United States appears to have undergone a maturing process sometime in the 1840s, which coincides with Lincoln’s growing familiarity with his native state.

Aside from two trips to New Orleans in his twenties, Lincoln’s closest, if rare, observations of slavery occurred in Kentucky. The most extensive of these were the three weeks he spent at Farmington, the Speeds’ Louisville home and hemp plantation worked by dozens of slaves. Although Lincoln left no written record of what he may have observed walking the plantation grounds, contemporary paintings such as The Hemp Brake (ca.1840) suggest a range of possibilities.

Clearly the moral question of slavery hung over him, for on c o n ti n u e d o n n e xt p a g e

CLOCKWI SE, FROM LEFT

Teapot from the Lincolns’ tea service, ca. 1850-55 Courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum of Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee

Katherine Helm, portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln, ca. 1928 Courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum of Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee

Pocket watch owned by Abraham Lincoln, ca. 1860 Collections of the Kentucky Historical Society

Lincoln and Hamlin flag, ca. 1860 Courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum of Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee

George Peter Alexander Healy, Joshua and Fanny Speed, 1864 Courtesy of The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky

his boat trip back to Springfield, he wrote of the dozen slaves on board, severed from their families and chained together for sale further south. This same scene would appear again, fourteen years later, in a letter to Joshua Speed.

the disintegration of the Whig Party and the realignment of the two-party system. In Illinois, Lincoln would become a key player in the politics of antislavery provoked by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

We also know that after his return from Congress in spring 1849, Lincoln gave particular attention to Kentucky politics, where supporters of gradual emancipation – including James Speed, Cassius Clay, and the abolitionist John G. Fee – were campaigning for delegates to the upcoming Kentucky constitutional convention, where they hoped to add an antislavery amendment. When the death of Mary’s father, Robert S. Todd, provoked litigation over the estate, Lincoln timed his family’s visit to Lexington in late-October to coincide with the convention.

With the emancipationists unable to secure a single delegate, proslavery politicians defended and strengthened Kentucky’s slave provisions—including a declaration on the inviolability of slave property. Here, Lincoln witnessed firsthand how strongly even nonslaveholders would fight to secure the future of slavery.

The moderate antislavery position Lincoln staked out in his famous speech at Peoria, Illinois, on October 16, 1854, would remain largely unchanged until his presidency. This was Lincoln’s first major public statement against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and its underlying principle of “popular sovereignty,” which would authorize voters in each of the territories to decide whether to permit or exclude slavery. Citing the 1787 Northwest Ordinance, which had excluded slavery from the territories, Lincoln argued forcefully that the Founding Fathers had placed slavery on the path to ultimate extinction and that the Kansas-Nebraska Act overturned this principle in favor of a moral indifference to the extension of slavery. Hoping to build a bridge of support among both conservative and antislavery Whigs as well as “free soil” Democrats in Illinois, Lincoln did not blame southerners for slavery or for not knowing how best to end it. “They are just what we would be in their situation,” he said. Distancing himself as well from northern abolitionists who sought an immediate end to slavery, Lincoln advocated gradual emancipation and colonization of free blacks to Africa, the Caribbean, or Central America, as did his political hero, Henry Clay, saying that black equality was impossible in the America of his day. Finally, while stressing the moral wrong of slavery, Lincoln acknowledged the constitutional rights of slaveholders, including the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the inability of the Federal government to interfere with slavery where it already existed.

Despite his support for antislavery measures in Congress and his attention to Kentucky politics, the issue of slavery played little practical role in Lincoln’s political career thus far. As a committed Whig, Lincoln had pushed the platform of “internal improvements” (roads, canals, railroads), tariffs, and a national bank, as he would again as president. And in the years after his return from Congress, Lincoln mostly concentrated on his law practice, riding the judicial circuit, and improving his personal finances.

ANTISLAVERY POLITICIAN But the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, as Lincoln later said, “aroused him as he had never been before.” Introduced by Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas, the act laid the groundwork for the organization of these two territories as new states and, while overturning key provisions of the 1850 Compromise, opened vast areas to legal slavery by popular referendum. Cutting a new fault line in American politics, the Kansas-Nebraska Act accelerated

This would remain Lincoln’s position when he delivered his First Inaugural Address on March 4, 1861. With his election, however, the sectional crisis in the United States had come to a head, with South Carolina leading the charge of secession. By the time of Lincoln’s inauguration four months later, six other southern states had followed suit— Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. By April, the nation was at war.

C L O C K W I S E , F R O M L E F T:

“Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men” campaign lantern, ca. 1858-60 Courtesy of the National Park Service, Lincoln Home National Historic Site

Louisville Public Advertiser, August 19, 1826 Courtesy of University of Kentucky Libraries

Bugle used by John Washington Payne, Second Kentucky Regiment, Confederate States of America Collections of the Kentucky Historical Society

The Hemp Brake, attributed to Samuel I.M. Major, ca.1850 Collections of the Kentucky Historical Society

KENTUCKY’S CIVIL WAR Kentucky voters overwhelmingly rejected Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1860. Yet their rejection of Lincoln was not a rejection of the Union. In fact, some two-thirds of Kentucky voters chose Union candidates John Bell and Stephen A. Douglas. This pro-Unionism was consistent with the Whig political tradition in Kentucky. But Kentucky was also a slave state, and the vote against Lincoln reflected a strident anti-Republican fear that Lincoln would interfere with the institution of slavery. When civil war broke out in April, Kentuckians sought to avoid becoming a battlefield and initially opted for armed neutrality. But the room for neutrality soon disappeared and by fall the majority of Kentuckians had sided with the Union. With a small but vigorous Confederate minority, Kentucky soon became what all hoped to avoid—a civil war within the Civil War. Between 25,000 and 40,000 Kentuckians wore Confederate gray uniforms, while some 90,000 to 100,000, including 25,000 black soldiers, served in Federal blue.

But as recent studies have discovered, Kentucky’s Civil War, as with much of the Upper South and West, was also shaped profoundly by guerrilla warfare. In perhaps no other aspect of this period do we see how divided Kentuckians were all across the state, including the eastern Appalachian region. Opposed even by Confederate president Jefferson Davis and members of the Confederate Congress, guerrilla warfare was very much a local affair.

From the earliest stages of the war, local bands of Confederate, and to a lesser degree, Union, guerrillas

often operated outside of any larger command structure, pitting neighbor against neighbor and posing a difficult challenge for both local and Federal authorities.

FEDERAL POLICY IN KENTUCKY Through summer 1862, Lincoln had insisted that his commanders take a conciliatory approach toward southern civilians, including strict nonintervention with southern slavery. But as the war deepened and guerrilla warfare expanded, Congressional leaders, northern civilians, and Union troops urged Lincoln toward harsher treatment of secessionists and pushed slave emancipation and confiscation of Confederate property. Continued Border State intransigence toward Lincoln’s repeated offers of voluntary, compensated gradual emancipation emboldened his steps in this direction.

In large areas of Kentucky, John Hunt Morgan’s Confederate raids of 1862-64, which often employed civilians as informants and participants, catalyzed the growth of local guerrilla bands led by local men with local support. To suppress these bands, as well as other activities deemed acts of treason, on July 31, 1862, Brigadier General Jeremiah T. Boyle assumed responsibility for the establishment of Federal military government in Kentucky. Unable to stem this tide, by summer 1864, Confederate guerrillas were active throughout the state. It was in this context that Lincoln imposed martial law and suspended habeas corpus in Kentucky and Union commander Stephen G. Burbridge implemented his harsh “counter-insurgency” campaign.

Throughout the war, the crisscrossing of armies and the constant presence of guerrilla “irregulars” weighed heavily on the civilian population. But Union actions in Kentucky, though ultimately successful, and the president’s tardy response to charges of military misrule also left a legacy of bitterness toward Lincoln’s administration.

EMANCIPATION AND BLACK RECRUITMENT IN KENTUCKY In 1860, Kentucky held over 225,000 slaves, more than Maryland and Missouri combined, and had more slaveholders than any other state except Virginia and Georgia.

Conflicts over slave policy thus shaped the Civil War in Kentucky as much as they drove national policy. From the outset, Kentucky regiments generally adhered to Lincoln’s conciliatory policy of noninterference with slavery, while officers and soldiers of Midwestern regiments–the vast majority of Union regiments serving in Kentucky–were more apt to defy it. By April 1862, radicals in Congress, who that month abolished slavery in the District of Columbia, increasingly voiced their opposition to Lincoln’s appeasement of the Border States. Even as Lincoln moved toward military emancipation in summer and fall 1862 and extended black recruitment to all of the other Border States during 1863, strong proslavery resistance in Kentucky forced Lincoln to tread cautiously for most of the war.

In late September 1862, Abraham Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and in December announced his plan to enlist African Americans into the Federal army. Both measures signaled a major shift in war aims. Out of military necessity, Lincoln now intended to harness the manpower of former slaves and a general attack on southern slavery to the larger end of saving the Union. Both measures provoked a firestorm in Kentucky.

Although the proclamation did not apply to Kentucky slaves, slaveholders feared slave insurrection, while many of the enslaved believed it signaled their impending freedom.

Over the next year, Lincoln felt the relentless backlash from Kentucky – from its congressional delegation, through his network of Kentucky informants, in newspaper editorials, in reports of the Kentucky legislature – and postponed black recruitment there until Congress forced his hand in early 1864.

The U.S. Conscription Act of February 24, 1864, included recruitment of “all able-bodied colored persons” of military age “resident in the United States.” In Kentucky, the measure faced bitter opposition, despite the assurance of compensation to loyal slaveholders. In Lexington on March 10, Colonel Frank L. Wolford called black soldiers “an insult and degradation” and denounced the policy as “unconstitutional and unjust,” provoking counter-speeches

by Unconditional Unionists Robert J. Breckinridge and Green Clay Smith. Governor Thomas E. Bramlette drafted a proclamation advising the people of Kentucky to forcibly

The social and economic impact of this de facto end of slavery in Kentucky and the bitterness engendered on all sides of the conflict would linger for decades, and greatly shape how Kentuckians would remember Abraham Lincoln ever after.

CLO C K WI S E , F R O M L E F T

“War in Kentucky . . . portions of the town burnt by the rebels,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 15, 1862 Courtesy of the Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University

“Freedom to the Slave,” recruitment poster, ca. 1863-64 Courtesy of the Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University

resist black recruitments, but he relented after a March 15 meeting with Breckinridge and several other staunch Unionists. The revised proclamation, published the next day in the Frankfort Commonwealth, recommended compliance, thereby avoiding open conflict between federal and state authorities. By mid-April, the congressional demand for 10,000 Kentucky recruits had failed by half, and Burbridge issued his General Orders No. 34, extending recruitment to free blacks and slaves, with the owner’s authorization.

Many slaveholders responded with violence toward slaves seeking to enlist, but Kentucky slaves proved determined to enlist and secure their freedom. By June, over Bramlette’s repeated protests, Burbridge had removed all restrictions on African American recruitment, and Kentucky tobacco farmers soon faced a major labor shortage. Resistance to black recruitment by armed guerrillas appeared in many districts, especially southern and western Kentucky, provoking Lincoln to impose martial law in Kentucky.

By fall, some 5,400 slaves had enlisted at Camp Nelson alone. Thousands of others fled the state to enlist in Ohio, Tennessee, and to a lesser degree, Illinois. By summer 1865, nearly half of all eligible African American men in Kentucky–about 25,000–had enlisted in the Union army.

Sword, presented March 10, 1864, to Colonel Frank L. Wolford, First Kentucky Cavalry, date unknown Collections of the Kentucky Historical Society

U.S. M1855 cartridge box Collections of the Kentucky Historical Society

THE CONTEXT OF LINCOLN MEMORY IN KENTUCKY An understanding of how Lincoln has been remembered in Kentucky since his assassination in April 1865 cannot be divorced from the difficult relationship of Lincoln to Kentucky, beginning with his election as president. In 1864, Kentuckians again rejected Lincoln, preferring the Democratic candidate, George B. McClellan, by a ratio of 2.3 to 1. But Lincoln’s national victory helped to ensure that Unconditional Unionists like Robert J. Breckinridge would remain an important force in Kentucky politics through the early postwar years.

Despite their occasionally vociferous anti-administration criticisms, such men had counted among Lincoln’s staunchest supporters, and over thirty Kentucky Unionists attended Lincoln’s funeral in Springfield on May 5, 1865. Just two weeks earlier in Louisville, Governor Thomas E. Bramlette, despite his recent criticisms, urged Kentuckians to accept the “revolution” that had lately swept over Kentucky. Lincoln’s ultimate aim, he reminded his audience, had been to preserve “the institutions of our country—to preserve all that is worth preserving and that could possibly be preserved from the wreck of this revolution.” Through the 1866 state elections, Unconditional Unionists (who, like Bramlette, urged Kentuckians to accept emancipation as a fait accompli) would continue to struggle, though unsuccessfully, for ratification of Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution. With the return of ex-Confederate politicians to the Democratic Party, members of which considered the Thirteenth Amendment unconstitutional, Kentucky Democrats reunited into a cohesive bloc, able to push state’s rights and to voice opposition to Congressional Reconstruction.

In the wake of such enormous challenges and significant anti-administration and anti-Congressional sentiment, white Kentuckians began to embrace a pro-Confederate public culture as early as 1866-67. In the following decades, enthusiasm among white Kentuckians for the memory of Abraham Lincoln (or the Union) receded from public view. In other ways, the development of a pro-Confederate identity in Kentucky was a by-product of the social and economic dislocations engendered by the war. For example, exploiting the economic potential of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad became crucial, since Louisville had lost ground to Cincinnati’s growing east-west trade. Thus, some of the first promoters of Confederate public culture were local businessmen and politicians in Louisville, who mounted a major marketing campaign to gain new southern markets and attract southern businessmen to their city. Later, organizations such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy added a public dimension to this pro-Confederate cultural movement through the building of Confederate monuments in counties across the state and, more profoundly, through the insertion of proConfederate narratives in textbooks.

KENTUCKY’S LINCOLN CENTENNIAL Despite the Confederate public culture of Kentucky, the state was a major site of commemorative activities honoring the one-hundredth anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. In 1909, Kentuckians and other visitors to the state joined President Theodore Roosevelt at the “Lincoln Memorial Farm” for a ceremony to lay the cornerstone of the new memorial in Hodgenville. The following May, Kentucky notables, including guest of honor Emilie Todd Helm, again gathered in Hodgenville to unveil one of the two Lincoln sculptures that Adolph A. Weinman would produce for the state. The other, a gift of the Speed family, would be placed in the rotunda of the new state capitol in Frankfort and dedicated in November 1911. And in February

1911, President William Howard Taft was on hand for the dedication of the completed Birthplace Memorial.

At all of these events, images of Lincoln the Great Emancipator contrasted uneasily with the more dominant images of Lincoln the great statesman and frontier American—a reflection of the difficult transition from slavery to freedom in Kentucky and the recent adoption of Jim Crow segregation. The remarks of President Roosevelt at the Lincoln Memorial Farm on February 12, 1909, were indicative of this moment in American history and the tendency to extol Lincoln’s role in saving the Union while downplaying the issue of slavery. Drawing attention first to Lincoln’s frontier origins, the president called Lincoln “This rail splitter, this boy who passed his ungainly youth in the dire poverty of the poorest of the frontier folk” and marveled at the dramatic rise of this unlikely savior of the Union: “After long years of iron effort, and of failure that came more often than victory, he at last rose to the leadership of the Republic, at the moment when that leadership had become the stupendous world-task of the time.”

But the image of Lincoln the Emancipator was not absent from the 1909 Lincoln Centennial in Kentucky. In the less-public commemorative events sponsored by members of the African American community, the Emancipator took center stage. On February 13, 1909, for example, an audience of several hundred African Americans held an event in honor of Lincoln at the Odd Fellows Hall in Frankfort. The most powerful of the three speakers that night was Dr. Edward E. Underwood, a member of the Negro Peoples’ Centenary Committee. Offering due praise for Lincoln’s frontier origins and the effect of Kentucky soil and air on the wouldbe president, Underwood turned to the larger significance of Lincoln’s actions for former slaves. If, like Roosevelt, Underwood stretched the “real” Lincoln story just enough to make his point, he differed in his strident defense of

Lincoln the Emancipator: “And so it was that when Abraham Lincoln saw four million of his fellow creatures in subjugation and chains he felt that it was but an act of mercy to strike the shackles from their limbs and bestow upon them the deathless boon of freedom.” The name of Abraham Lincoln, Underwood observed, “shines out with imperishable luster,” his memory among African Americans was “holy ground.”

DISCOVERING KENTUCKY’S LINCOLN AT THE BICENTENNIAL Today, Kentucky and the nation little resemble what they were in 1909. Funding appropriated by the state legislature places the Kentucky commemoration among the largest in the nation. In 2009, Kentucky chose this bicentennial moment to revisit its own past while exploring the life and accomplishments of its native son, Abraham Lincoln. In examining this past, we continue to pay tribute to Lincoln’s frontier origins and his remarkable rise from log house to White House. But unlike 1909, we are better positioned to understand our sometimes-difficult past and recognize that, in ending slavery, our nation took an important step toward forming a more perfect Union. Exploring the complex relationship between Abraham Lincoln and his native state of Kentucky can deepen our understanding of this extraordinary, yet ordinary, man and the state that reluctantly came to embrace him. In revisiting the life and character of Abraham Lincoln, we find a source of inspiration for our collective future.

CLO C K WI S E , F R O M L E F T:

The Apotheosis, ca. 1865

Courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum of Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee

Lincoln Centennial Souvenir Program detail, February 12, 1909 Collections of the Kentucky Historical Society

Ed Hamilton, Slavery, photographic print of clay model, 2007 Private Collection

Elsie at the Lincoln Birthplace Memorial, 2007 Private Collection

This exhibition is made possible by

www.history.ky.gov

The Kentucky Historical Society is an agency of the Tourism, Arts, and Heritage Cabinet.

Kentucky Historical Society Collections Kentucky Historical Society Acquires Early Homer Ledford Dulcimer An exciting recent addition to the Kentucky Historical Society collections is

Four pieces of evidence support the claim that this is one of the first two

an early dulcimer made by the nationally–known Kentucky luthier, Homer

Ledford dulcimers. First, it is labeled “Made by Homer Ledford, Ivyton,

Ledford. As a maker of stringed instruments, Ledford is considered among

Tenn.” Therefore, we know that the dulcimer was made before Ledford

the finest in the United States. This piece is an exceptional example of his

moved to Kentucky. Second, it is unnumbered, and Ledford did not number

early work and will help KHS share Ledford’s art and story with our visitors.

his early instruments. Third, the label is handwritten in pencil on the inside of the instrument. Ledford biographer R. Gerald Alvey in his 2003 book,

Born in Ivyton, Tennessee, in 1927, Ledford made his first musical

Dulcimer Maker, the Craft of Homer Ledford, states that “to identify his first

instrument, a matchstick fiddle, when he was only twelve years old. While

dulcimers, Homer merely signed his name with a pencil on the inside of

attending the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, eighteen-year-old Ledford crafted his first dulcimers as commissions for a store in New York. His life in Kentucky began when he attended Berea College in 1949. With wife Colista, he settled in Winchester where he taught industrial arts for several years. By 1965, Homer was making instruments full-time. Highly productive, Ledford crafted over 6,500 instruments including 6014 dulcimers.

The story of how KHS came to acquire this special piece bears telling. A

the back. After he returned to Tennessee from the John C Campbell Folk School, he whittled his own name stamp out of red cedar and dipped it in ink to make the impression on the inside of his dulcimers.” Fourth, we know that Ledford’s first two dulcimers were commissioned in 1946 for a shop in New York. This piece had been purchased in New York in the early 1950s by one of its prior owners.

The Kentucky Historical Society is proud to add this important Ledford

few months ago, the Kentucky Historical Society received word that an

dulcimer to the collections. Ledford’s work has been recognized by

early Ledford dulcimer was for sale on eBay. KHS staff was contacted by

many, including the Smithsonian, the Southern Highlands Guild, and the

the seller who generously agreed to pull the instrument off auction to give

Governor’s Awards for the Arts. This is an integral part of Homer Ledford’s

KHS a chance to examine it. Initial research suggested that this could be

legacy and its aquisition enables KHS to share that legacy with the people

one of the first two dulcimers that Homer Ledford ever made. Excited that

of Kentucky.

this could be a significant find, the staff approached the Kentucky Historical Society Foundation for money to purchase the dulcimer. The request was wholeheartedly endorsed – this was an opportunity not to be lost.

www.history.ky.gov | 25

Museum & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

ACQUISITIONS

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Tobacco Baler, ca. 1977 Maurice Corn of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, began constructing tobacco balers after working with one provided by the University of Kentucky. Convinced of the labor-saving capability of the baler, he constructed this baler, his first. By 1998, the last year he made balers, he had assembled over 5000.

Donated by Mr. Maurice Corn, 2008.5.

The View-Master Model C, 1946-55 Produced by Sawyer’s Incorporated of Portland, Oregon, this popular educational toy let families explore far-off places. Parents and children could, with the aid of the viewer, travel to Jerusalem, Bermuda, the Grand Canyon, or even Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.

Donated by Mrs. Ann Gabhart, 2007.34.

Service Banner, ca. 1942 The practice of displaying service banners can be traced to World War I and was popular during World War II. This banner belonged to the Masonic Lodge Hiram #4 of Frankfort. Each star represented a lodge member in military service. Lodge tradition states that this banner dates from World War II. Donated by Hiram Lodge #4 Free and Accepted Masons, 2008.9.

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Doll, “Jimmy,” ca. 1910 Won at a Harrison County carnival by LeRoy Bland in 1910, this doll features battery-powered light-up eyes.

The doll was dressed in this uniform when three of the Bland family’s sons went to serve in World War I. Donated by Lucia Bland Lister, 2008.6.

Colonel James H. Hutson Postcards and Pamphlet Collection This collection contains 12 postcards of various locations in Kentucky, including Mammoth Cave, Fort Knox, and the Lincoln National Memorial. Also included is a pamphlet entitled “Brown-Forman’s Old Forester Derby Dope Book” from 1941.

Donated by Danny Hutson, 2008.006.

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Torch Light Newsletters This collection contains approximately 31 issues of Torch Light,, a newspaper published by the First Colored Baptist Light Church in Danville, Ky. The issues are dated from June 1902 through May 1903.

Donated by Rowena Hooks-Bush, 2008.013.

Major Benjamin Graves Order Book, 1812 This collection contains an order book kept by Major Benjamin Graves and his staff while serving with the Kentucky militia during the War of 1812. Graves was captured in 1813 at the Battle of the River Raisin and was never heard from again. Information in the order book includes troop movements, battle strategies, promotions, disciplinary actions, and other items related to camp and military life.

Donated by Andrew Leighton, 2008SC08.

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Representative Brent Spence Letter This letter was written by the representative of Kentucky’s sixth Congressional District, Brent Spence, on August 25, 1961, in response to Kathy Gunther’s suggestion that Kentucky should have “Birthplace of Lincoln” inscribed on the automobile license plates.

Donated by Kathleen J. Gunther Hanas, 2008.014 Commemorating the Sixty-Sixth Anniversary of the Sixty-Six Harrodsburg Tankers, 940.5472 T863 This pamphlet provides a history of the 66 men from Harrodsburg, Kentucky, who served as part of the 192nd Tank Battalion in World War II, and their attempt to defend the Philippines from Japanese attack from December 1941 to April 1942.

Donated by John M. Trowbridge, 2008.015.

Hawkins Family Bible This donation includes a Bible belonging to the Hawkins family, Ohio County, Kentucky, and an Almanack printed in Dublin, 1814.

Donated by Robin Reams, 2008.002.

Wilbert Riehemann Collection, ca. 1943 This collection includes materials from the World War II era collected by Wilbert Riehemann while serving with the 12th AAA Group. Items include a photograph, information about the 12th AAA Group, and several World War II Memorial certificates.

Donated by Geneva Riehemann, 2008.005.

Annie Wayne Scrapbook, ca. 1910-20 Using an old 1870s store ledger, Annie Wayne created a scrapbook of newspaper clippings. These clippings include important news stories, poetry, images of celebrities, and information on crafts, local entertainment, and happenings.

Donated by Thomas Rogers, 2008.010.

Kentucky National Guard 50th Anniversary Remembrance, 1958-2008: The Prestonsburg School Bus Disaster, 2008 This pamphlet commemorates the history of the Prestonsburg school bus disaster of 1958. It includes primarily images of the students involved in the accident and soldiers who worked at the scene.

Donated by John Trowbridge, 363.1259 T863.

Salyers Family Films The Salyers Family films consist of twenty-one reels of 16-mm film, one reel of 8-mm film, and one DVD. The films were shot by James R. Salyers from the 1930s to 1960s while working for the United States Army on the National Recovery Act as well as the United Mine Workers as a claims evaluator. Some of the films are family home movies in Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky, including Louisville’s Standiford Field during the 1940s and 1950s.

Other reels are of the Eastern Kentucky coal fields and footage of miners, their homes, and families. The family portion of the films was transferred onto a DVD. Donated by David and Fran Salyers, 2008.003.

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Acquisitions

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KENTUCKY Students Participate in 2008 National History Day Competitions The Cuban Missile Crisis.” Alec Henthorne, a student at the Lexington Traditional Magnet School in Lexington, placed thirteenth overall in the Junior Web Site category for “The Missouri Compromise: The Pathway to Abolition.” Shelby Detring and Sara Grashel placed fourteenth overall in the Junior Group Documentary category for “Emmett Till: The Beginning of a Revolution.” Detring and Grashel are students at Clark Middle School in Winchester.

Two projects also won the Best of State-Kentucky award in the junior and senior divisions. In the Junior Division, Hannah Durbin won in the Junior Web Site category for “The Nuclear War That Never Happened: The Cuban Missile Crisis.”

Students at the “Parade of States,” College Park, Maryland

Student historians from across the commonwealth attended the Kentucky National History Day contest, held on Saturday, April 26, at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History.

One hundred forty students from 14 counties across the commonwealth in grades 6-12 prepared projects in various categories, including documentary, historical exhibit, performance, research paper, and Web site connected to the theme of “Conflict and Compromise in History.” The topics of the student projects ranged from local and state history to American and world history. Students participating in the 2008 state contest were from 19 schools in Boone, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Floyd, Harlan, Henderson, Jefferson, Kenton, Madison, Perry, Pike, Rockcastle, and Spencer counties.

“Students who participate in National History Day not only achieve

In the Senior Division, Sarah Berge, Laura Chiarot, and Ayla Murrell won in the Senior Group Performance category for “Bra Burners vs. Homemakers: The Conflict Over the Equal Rights Amendment and the Social Compromise That Ensued.” Berge, Chiarot, and Murrell are students at The Academy for Individual Excellence in Louisville.

In all, 47 students representing eleven schools in Boone, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Jefferson, Kenton, Madison, Pike, Rockcastle, and Spencer counties represented Kentucky at the National History Day national contest.

The National History Day program is an annual, year-long program designed to promote the teaching and learning of history. Students analyze the historical significance of their topics and present conclusions in dramatic performances, imaginative exhibits, multimedia documentaries, Web sites, and papers to audiences throughout the country.

academically, but they also become very enthusiastic about history,” says NHD State Coordinator Kate Hesseldenz of the Kentucky Historical Society.

“Students get so immersed in their topics that they become engaged with history.”

For a list of the 2008 Kentucky’s National History Day state contest winners, visit www.history.ky.gov and click on “Programs.”

Seven student historians from Kentucky were recognized at the National History Day national contest held at the University of Maryland campus in College Park, Maryland, June 15-19.

Four Kentucky students reached the national finals. Hannah Durbin, a student at Madison Middle School in Richmond, placed seventh overall in the Junior Web Site category for “The Nuclear War That Never Happened:

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Students from the Academy for Individual Excellence, Louisville, with their teacher, Gillian Langley.

| News KHS Partnership Awarded $1 Million Grant from U.S. Department of Education The successful partnership between the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS),

“This program, which fully reimburses all travel expenses and substitute

professors from the University of Kentucky, and school districts in eastern

costs incurred by teachers and provides all materials free of charge, will

Kentucky was awarded a fourth $1 million grant from the U. S. Department

be a lifesaver for these districts whose professional development budgets

of Education Teaching American History program to provide an intensive

have been slashed and with gas prices on the rise,” says KHS project

professional-development training program in American history for teachers

administrator Rebecca Hanly. “This program provides much-needed funding

in that part of the state.

for professional development in history, a content area not often found on the menu of workshop offerings available to teachers locally.”

The grant project, entitled “Democratic Visions: From Civil War to Civil Rights,” began in July 2008 and will conclude in June 2011. Each

For more information or to inquire about participating in the “Democratic

year of the project, teachers will participate in two separate two-day

Visions: From Civil War to Civil Rights” grant program, contact Rebecca

seminars, a one-week summer institute, an online book discussion, and

Hanly at 502-564-1792, ext. 4475 or by email at rebecca.hanly@ky.gov.

a videoconference. The summer experiences will include a bus trip to Civil War sites in Kentucky, a digital history lab/archival workshop, and an in-depth study of the civil rights movement using the city of Memphis, Tennessee, as a case study.

The grant, which also includes Berea College and the Kentucky Heritage Council as partners, is based at Powell County Schools in Stanton, and also includes Bath, Carter, Estill, Fleming, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan, Pulaski, Rockcastle, and Rowan County Schools.

Kentucky Finalist for Preserve America History Teacher of the Year Keely Green, an eighth-grade American

elementary and middle/high school teachers each year of competition.

history teacher at North Oldham Middle School, is the 2008 Kentucky finalist in

Green, who holds master’s degrees in history and education from the

the Preserve America History Teacher of

University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville, will be part of the

the Year contest sponsored by the Gilder

national selection pool of state winners. She will receive a prize of $1,000

Lehrman Institute of American History.

plus an archive of books and other teaching materials from the Gilder Lehrman Institute. These materials will be used for Green’s school library.

The Kentucky Historical Society has served

The national winner will be announced in late fall.

as the state coordinator for this program since it began in 2004 as a facet of the Preserve America initiative of the White House. Intended to recognize outstanding American history teachers, the contest alternates between

www.history.ky.gov | 29

Dr. John P. Stewart II to be honored at Lincoln Society Gala On Monday evening, October

intellectually disabled children and adults from around the world with a one-

20, members and friends of the

of-a-kind community where they are appreciated and enriched.

Abraham Lincoln Society will gather at the 2008 Lincoln Gala

Dr. Stewart, current chairman of the board and resident physician at the

in the Thomas D. Clark Center for

school, has long had a love of Kentucky history, and he and his son Charles,

Kentucky History to honor Dr. John

have been involved in various leadership roles at the Kentucky Historical

P. Stewart II and to celebrate

Society since the early 1990s. The Society is pleased to acknowledge

the debut of Beyond the Log Cabin:

and to recognize the Stewarts for helping ensure that Kentucky heritage is

Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln, the

preserved and cherished.

state’s signature exhibition on Kentucky’s native son and the

The Abraham Lincoln Society recognizes and honors individuals,

16th president.

corporations, and foundations that treasure Kentucky history and have expressed their commitment through generous major gift support of the

Dr. John P. Stewart II represents

Kentucky Historical Society. Each Lincoln Society donor has made a

the fifth generation of his family

cumulative gift of at least $25,000.

to operate The Stewart Home School. The school’s origins

Annually, Lincoln Society participants gather at the Lincoln Society Gala to

date to 1893 when Dr. John Q. A.

acknowledge the contributions of new, incoming honorees and to celebrate

Stewart founded Stewart Home School to protect and to nurture people with

the continuing generosity of existing members. If you would like more

disabling conditions. It occupies the historic campus of the old Kentucky

information on becoming a Lincoln Society member, contact the Society

Military Institute, as well as an adjoining 850 acres of serene rural farmland

development office at 502-564-1792 ext. 4449 or e-mail james.wallace@ky.gov.

in Frankfort, Kentucky. Today, the Stewart family continues to provide

Cemetery-Preservation Program Helps Preserve Kentucky History The cemeteries of Kentucky have a story to tell about our history and the

Often, family cemeteries are in disrepair with crumbling gravestones or

people who helped build our communities. The Kentucky Historical Society’s

they are threatened by encroaching development. Through the cemetery-

Cemetery Preservation Program plays an important role in assisting

preservation program, Johnson provides both hands-on training and

communities and individuals across the commonwealth in preserving pieces

educational resources on topics including repair, cleaning headstones,

of the past.

mapping cemeteries, headstone rubbings do’s and dont’s, and applicable Kentucky law.

Through workshops, seminars, and other educational resources, the KHS Cemetery Preservation Program focuses on the best practices in

KHS also maintains a Kentucky Cemetery Records Database, which is

preservation and provides educational materials that offer guidance and

online and contains hundreds of thousands of names transcribed from

instruction to local citizens who wish to preserve family burial plots.

gravestones across Kentucky and an in-house database that contains records of more than 11,000 Kentucky cemeteries, including their locations

“Many people begin with an interest in genealogy and then develop a

and historical information.

passion for cemetery preservation,” said Ann Johnson, KHS Cemetery Preservation Program Coordinator. “One of the first places people who are

For more information or to request a workshop, please contact Ann Johnson

conducting genealogy research go to is their family Bible and then they go

at 502-564-1792, ext. 4404, or by email at AnnG.Johnson@ky.gov.

to the family cemetery.”

30 |

| featured events September 27

November 7

Protecting and Preserving Family Burial Grounds Workshop

Kentucky Historical Society Annual Meeting & Reception

8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History Frankfort, Kentucky Join genealogists, preservationists, archeologists, and government officials in a public discussion of the increasing problem of safeguarding the cemeteries and burial grounds of the commonwealth. The fee is $25, which includes a boxed lunch and postworkshop reception.

October 20

EXHIBITION OPENING & KHS FOUNDATION ABRAHAM LINCOLN SOCIETY GALA Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History Frankfort, Kentucky Featuring the premier of the state’s signature Lincoln exhibition, Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln and the KHS Foundation’s Abraham Lincoln Society Gala. The Gala honors both new inductees into the Lincoln Society and long-term KHS donors and supporters. Beyond the Log Cabin explores the complex relationship between Abraham Lincoln and his native state (opens to the public on October 21).

Old State Capitol Frankfort, Kentucky Learn more about the Society and the programs it offers by attending the annual business meeting, and end the day with a reception and viewing of Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln, the state’s signature exhibition in commemoration of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial. Guest will also enjoy a KHS Museum Theatre performance of “Lincoln’s Life through Kentucky’s Eyes.” Reservations required by November 3. Contact Julia Curry, ext. 4414.

November 13

candlelight tour 5-9 p.m.

Downtown Frankfort and the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History Celebrate the beginning of the holiday season at the Kentucky Historical Society.

Enjoy an evening of entertainment for the family, including traditional and gospel music. Experience the Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln exhibition. Children and adults alike will enjoy the Lionel “O” gauge train display at the Center, as well as the Kentucky Treasures Tree, the Cornelia Vanderbilt Whitney dollhouse, and performances by the Squallis Puppeteers.

Donors like you help us make history.

Because of your support last fiscal year, the Kentucky Historical Society Foundation had the highest number of donors ever to the KHS Annual Fund. With your help, we’d like to beat that record again.

Although state funding supplies a portion of the facilities and staff needed to accomplish the work of the Kentucky Historical Society, it is your donations that bridge the gap between state funding and the actual cost of KHS exhibitions, collections, education programs, and outreach services. Your support helps students discover their family and community heritage, preserves Kentucky treasures, aids scholarly research, and enables KHS to make connections to the past, offer perspective on the present, and provide inspiration for the future.

special Holiday hours November KHS exhibitions, library, and store, will be closed to the public on Thursday, November 27, and open to the public normal hours on Friday, November 28.

December KHS exhibitions, library, and store, will be open to the public normal hours on Wednesday, December 24, and closed to the public on Thursday, December 25. KHS exhibitions, library, and store will be open to the public normal hours on Wednesday, December 31, and closed to the public on Thursday, January 1, 2009.

For more information about how you can help support our mission of engaging people in the exploration of the diverse heritage of the commonwealth, go to www.history.ky.gov or call the Kentucky Historical Society Foundation at 502-564-1792 ext. 4451.

www.history.ky.gov |

31

100 W. Broadway Frankfort, KY 40601 502.564.1792 www.history.ky.gov

2008

Fall

CONNECTIONS. PERSPECTIVE. INSPIRATION.

CHRONICLE

Visit GoodSearch.com, choose Kentucky Historical Society Foundation as your designated cause, and then search the Web. The Kentucky Historical Society Foundation receives a contribution each time you do a search on this site.

The Kentucky Historical Society is an agency of the Tourism, Arts, and Heritage Cabinet.