By Edward Epstein
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 2021
Well over a dozen Lincoln Group members traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, this week for the three-day Lincoln Forum, a gathering that's all about studying the 16th president and hearing from some of the leading scholars in the field.
The event marked a return to an in-person Lincoln Forum, after two years of the Covid pandemic. In all, about 300 people attended the event at the Wyndham Gettysburg Hotel.
Above is a photo of 13 of our members gathered at the Wyndham. We rounded up as many of our members as we could find for the shot, which was taken after one of the Forum's dinners. But others had already scattered. From left, the crowd includes Steve Koppelman, Jon Willen, Tom Peet, Ed Epstein, Rachel Riley, Debbie Jackson, Vicky Schwartz, Carolyn Landry, Scott Schroeder, Janet Saros, David Kent, Bob Willard and Michelle Krowl.
For several of us, the Forum began early, on the brisk morning of Tuesday, Nov. 16 as we met at the historic Gettysburg rail station on Carlisle Street for a walking tour led by member Scott Schroeder, the tall fellow in sunglasses in the center of the photo to the left. Scott has put together a well-researched tour about President Lincoln's one-evening stay in Gettysburg that climaxed with his Gettysburg Address on Nov. 19, 1863. Scott has done a lot of detective work in trying to answer the elusive question of where exactly Lincoln delivered his speech.
Other in the photo, from the left, are Debbie Jackson, Michelle Krowl, Ed Epstein and David Kent.
Back at the hotel, Scott engaged in conversation with another group member, noted author Ed Steers, who appeared on a few panels at the Forum. Ed, by the way, never missed an opportunity to talk up the Lincoln Group and our many member activities.
Group president David Kent met with the Forum's chairman Harold Holzer during a break in the sessions.
Members Rachel Riley and Debbie Jackson were caught as they entered the Wyndham's ballroom for a Forum session.
One of our long-time members, Howard University historian Edna Green Medford, was surprised at the Forum's closing banquet on Nov. 18 by being awarded the Richard Current Award, one of the leading honors in the field of Lincoln scholarship.