The colloquium is expected to draw hundreds of Lincoln scholars and history buffs. Topics will include Lincoln's attitudes on race and slavery, his Second Annual Message and Second Inaugural Address, and an on-going project at Knox to transcribe all of Lincoln's presidential papers.

Admission is free to the Friday night keynote lecture. All-day admission for the Saturday lectures is $20 for adults and $10 for students, and free for Knox College students. Registration is available at the door.

Speakers will include Gabor S. Boritt of the Civil War Institute; Rodney O. Davis, Douglas L. Wilson, and Matthew D. Norman of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College; Allen C. Guelzo of Eastern College; Phillip Shaw Paludan of the University of Illinois at Springfield; and Ronald C. White, Jr., of San Francisco Theological Seminary.

Prior to the keynote address at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, Knox College and the Lincoln Studies Center will present a plaque to Donald G. Jones, whose gift to the Library of Congress is supporting the transcription of Abraham Lincoln's presidential papers.

In addition, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) will address the Colloquium at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28.

"Donald Jones is being honored for his instrumental role in making the Lincoln papers in the Library of Congress publicly accessible on the Internet," said Douglas Wilson, co-director of the Lincoln Studies Center. "He has long been interested in Lincoln, and he wanted to ensure that Lincoln's papers would be accessible and searchable by scholars and the general public."

Lincoln's presidential papers, comprising more than 20,000 documents are currently being transcribed by the Lincoln Studies Center. The transcriptions, which enable full-text searching, are collected on the Library of Congress website.

Jones is president of Spirit Enterprise, an information technology firm in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He grew up in Springfield, Illinois, where founded Public Service Broadcasters, a media firm that grew to include radio and cable television stations. Jones is president of the Library of Congress Millennium Foundation and has been a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School and the University of Chicago.

Durbin is a co-chair, along with Congressman Ray LaHood and Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer, of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, a national panel appointed by the President, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The commission was created in 2000 to promote knowledge about Lincoln and to help plan the celebration in 2009 of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth.

Schedule of Events:

Friday, September 27 - 7:30 p.m.

• 7:30 p.m. - Recognition of Donald G. Jones for his support of the Library of Congress and Lincoln Studies Center project to transcribe Lincoln's presidential papers.

• Keynote Address - "Honky Lincoln?" Gabor S. Boritt, Director, Civil War Institute; Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies, Gettysburg College. Free admission.

Saturday, September 28 - Morning lectures begin at 10:30 a.m.

• "Lincoln's Sword" -- Douglas L. Wilson, Co-Director, Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College. The growth and development of Lincoln's writing into one of his strongest "weapons" as president.

• "Emancipation: Lincoln's Folly or Lincoln's Glory?" -- Allen C. Guelzo, Dean, Templeton Honors College, Eastern College. A discussion of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Saturday afternoon lectures begin at 1:30 p.m.

• "Mr. Lincoln Goes to Cyberspace: The Presidential Papers of Abraham Lincoln Online" -- Matthew D. Norman, Managing Editor, Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College. Norman will discuss the Lincoln Studies Center project to transcribe all of Lincoln's presidential writings.

• "The Second Annual Message: Propaganda or Policy?" Phillip Shaw Paludan, Chancellor and Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies, University of Illinois at Springfield. Lincoln's Second Annual Message, delivered in December 1862, laid the groundwork for the Emancipation Proclamation.

• "Both Read the Same Bible: Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address" -- Ronald C. White, Jr., Professor of American Intellectual and Religious History, San Francisco Theological Seminary. White, who recently wrote a book about the Second Inaugural, will discuss Lincoln's view of the theological aspects of the conflict over slavery that led to the Civil War.

The Lincoln Colloquium is held annually, rotating among three sites — Knox College, the Lincoln Home in Springfield, and the Lincoln Museum in Indiana. The 2002 colloquium is sponsored by The Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College; the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois; the Lincoln Institute; and the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with additional support from the Abraham Lincoln Association, Illinois State Historical Society, Knox College, Peoria Historical Society, and Quad-City Civil War Roundtable.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 48 states and 40 nations. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Related Pages
More about Donald G. Jones
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
Speakers' Biographies
Advance Registration (PDF)
Inquiries about the Lincoln Colloquium lincolnstudies@knox.edu