By David J. Kent Washington, D.C. Monday, December 1, 2025 Ronald Rietveld passed away  on November 27, 2025, at the age of 88. Rietveld was a professor of history at California State University–Fullerton for many years, although he is best known for his discovery at the age of 14 of the only known photograph of Abraham Lincoln in his coffin, taken April 24, 1865, as he lay in repose in New York during the long train ride back to Springfield. Rietveld's discovery shocked hist

By Ed Epstein Washington D.C. Friday, November 21, 2025 What does the visiting governor of Illinois get the first Chicago-born pope as a gift when he visits the pontiff at the Vatican? Lincoln: The Life and Legacy that Defined a Nation in 100 Object s, a new book featuring dozens of objects from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield. The book, authored by Christina Shutt, the ALPLM's executive director, and Ian Hunt, director of acquisitions, was

By Ed Epstein Washington, D.C. Thursday, November 20, 2025 Lincoln Group member Michelle A. Krowl became the first woman to read out Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address yesterday at the annual Dedication Day ceremony in the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Holding American flags presented to them on Wednesday are Jonathan W. White and Michelle A. Krowl. The reading of the address, first delivered on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the new cemetery where Union soldiers k

By Ed Epstein Washington, D.C. Tuesday, November 11, 2025 Names by the thousands were read aloud today as the Lincoln Group joined in honoring the 209,154 men -- mostly freed slaves -- who enlisted in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War to fight against the pro-slavery Confederacy. USCT names were read aloud simultaneously at 10 microphones. The reading of names went on for long hours on a cold, blustery Veterans Day at the African American Civil War Memoria

By Ed Epstein Washington, D.C. Monday, November 3, 2025 It's been a few weeks since Lincoln250.org and Instagram's A.Lincoln250 launched to spread the word--next year's 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is very much about Abraham Lincoln, who was a fierce advocate of the Declaration's daring proposition that "all men are created equal." The logo for Lincoln250.org . Help spread the word. We assume that if you're reading this, you are interested in Lincoln