by David J. Kent
Washington, D.C.
Monday, August 12, 2024
The Lincoln Group of DC book study forum met in person for the first time in four years on Saturday, August 10. We also added a hybrid Zoom link to bring in people who couldn't make it downtown. We learned a few lessons and made some decisions for the future.
Recall that the LGDC study forum hit its 10-year anniversary last year, as I noted in this previous post and a more comprehensive article in the Lincolnian newsletter. Most of that time we met in person, first at the Martin Luther King Jr. library in Washington, DC, and then for many years in the Ford's Theatre Center for Education and Leadership building. When COVID hit in early 2020, we moved online and have been meeting virtually ever since. These Zoom-based meetings were more convenient for all members (no commute to DC) and had the added benefit of allowing participation by LGDC members living across the United States. We routinely get people who live in Washington State, Indiana, California, Ohio (now Maine), and elsewhere, plus John O'Brien has been moderating the monthly discussion sessions from Colorado over the last few years.
Repeated suggestions that we move back to an in-person meeting format with a hybrid Zoom link for remote participants led to the decision to meet last weekend. Ford's has been renovating their buildings across the street from the main theater, so our old haunt was not available. The Martin Luther King Jr. library had undergone its own renovation several years ago, so we were able to reserve a meeting room there, literally around the corner from Ford's.
So, what did we learn?
The initial meeting garnered less participation, both in person and on Zoom. Since there was no built-in conferencing ability in the room, we used a laptop as our Zoom connection. While the internet link was strong, the small screen at the end of the table made it hard to see and hear the people attending remotely, and those remote people had a hard time hearing and seeing the people in the room. It wasn't ideal, which told us that we will need a better setup if we choose to do future meetings this way. One thing was clear: we need to be able to include study forum members from everywhere, not just those who live locally.
We also discussed potential books to cover next in the group. Back in July, we selected the next two books to be discussed (my own Lincoln: The Fire of Genius from September to November, followed by Edward Achorn's The Lincoln Miracle to begin in December). Thinking ahead, we had a list of 20+ more books that members had suggested in the past. After discussing options, however, it became evident that there were many good choices, but we had at least the next six months already set with the two books we had already selected. In addition, there were suggestions that we might want to get a sense of what other Lincoln-related topics are out there that we haven't yet covered in depth. One example was looking closer at Mary Lincoln or the marriage, although admittedly there wasn't an overwhelming consensus to do so. Another was whether we should tackle the broader discussion of Reconstruction, which started under Lincoln but obviously extended well beyond his demise. We just finished a book on Lincoln's foreign policy, a topic we had as yet neglected, while other topics we've missed are sure to arise.
What did we decide?
First off, nothing we decided is permanent, but on the two main discussion topics noted above, there was general agreement to:
For the foreseeable future, continue with the fully virtual Zoom-based monthly meetings that have been our mainstay for the last several years. Participants in the study forum almost universally live far away, or, even if local, in Maryland or Virginia, and thus need to commute to downtown DC. The virtual format resolves all the issues. What we miss are the lunches and in-person interactions. For the long term, solving the hybrid linking problem to improve remote/local interaction is needed.
Hold off on selecting any additional books beyond the two already scheduled. In the meantime, members are invited to offer their suggestions for any topics that we should consider covering in future books. That will at least give us a framework to find books that meet our desire to learn more about Lincoln. Alternatively, we can continue our current practice of selecting from books suggested more ad hoc by study forum members. In either case, we'll start the process of selecting books to read early next year.
A quick reminder that the LGDC study forum is open to all Lincoln Group of DC members. We meet once a month, currently via Zoom, on Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Any LGDC member interested in joining (there is no charge) can reach out to either the current moderator, John O'Brien, or forum coordinator, Debbie Jackson. More information is on our website.
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