A single painting or photograph. His class is about 70 minutes. Do you recognize this . Do you recognize this statue . Were all chicagoans. Im going to shame you a little bit. We should know. Its, like, maybe the best sculpture of lincoln from the 19th century, and its in lincoln park, right behind the chicago history museum. And just like the fact that you have free admission to the art institute, you also have free admission to chicago history museum. Step outside next time and take a look. This is a fantastic sculpture by augustus saintgaudens. Lincoln, the man, or the standing lincoln is what its called. But well get back to this. I love this material. I got to tell you. I am so moved by lincoln and by his era and by the art and imagery about him, photographs of him. I know it sounds creepy. Im in love with his body. And well snow photographs of him, theres lots to say. And by the way, i know im, like, old and thin and tall. I did not dress up like Abraham Lincoln. Maybe one day. B
One that i find the most absolutely fascinating and interesting is the one were going to discuss tonight. James garfield. For quite a number of reasons. First of all, garfield is one of the most intelligent president s we have ever had. I mean he is up there in the top half dozen, and when we go through his life by the end of it or the middle of it, youre going to start laughing because youre just going to say no, that cant be. He cant be that good in that field. Its just not possible. And then well find something else, and youre going to say no. He is just incredibly bright, and the hope for his presidency was enormous. And so were going to discuss an absolutely brilliant human being. I was chatting with a friend before, and he asked me if i thought garfield was the most intelligent. I dont know how you test Something Like that. I mean, its not as if you give president s iq tests. Its a lot easier with things that are easy to measure. Tall and short i mean, we all know that madison wa
Have been coming to again and again this month. This is the fourth installment of the series. We have focused mostly on architecture. You might recall we had House Speaker on the folklife, but this one is different to me. It speaks very clearly and closely to my heart as a historian. I know visitors that come to d. C. , they want to go to library of congress, they are in on and they should be. Researchers cannot wait to read in the main reading room. It lands a certain something lends a certain something to the seriousness of what they are doing. Scholars that really know the score walk right past the Jefferson Building and go into you may not like the way it looks, but the madison ling is where it is at. That is where the manuscripts is where it is at. That is where the manuscripts are. I am getting this from the website. 60 million items over 11,000 separate collections, truly the greatest manuscript treasure of American History and culture. To talk to us about that collection is Jef
In the main reading room. It lends a certain something to the seriousness of what they are doing. That is the way it should be, but scholars are really know the score walk right past the Jefferson Building and go into you may not like the way it looks, but the Madison Building is where it is at. That is where the manuscripts collection is, and there are 60 million items. This is from the website. 60 million items over 11,000 separate collections, truly the greatest manuscript treasure of American History and culture. To talk to us about that collection is Jeff Flannery, an old friend of the society in particular friend of scholars who work in American History, like my former colleagues and i. For 40 years, put together a document history project, and it brought us to jeff virtually every week. He and his staff helped us produce those volumes. Jeff is the head of the reference and services section. He has been in the management for 31 years, and that is all i will say. I know you are mu
Through conversations with experts, and questions from cspans audience, we tell the stories of americas 45 first ladies. Now, Mary Todd Lincoln, on first ladies influence an image or go. Born in 1818 in lexington kentucky, mary todd grew up and lived to see her husband issued the emancipation proclamation 45 years later. A mother of four sons, she witnessed the death of three of those sons as well as her husbands assassination. Her life was filled with tragedy, but as lincolns political partner, she relished in his success. A look at the life and times of Mary Todd Lincoln, one of the most complex first ladys. Thank you for joining us on first ladies influence and image. we invite to of our academic advisers. Rosalyn penn is a history professor at meredith and morgan state university. At the table again is the director of five president ial libraries including the Abraham Lincoln library in springfield illinois and a president ial biographer. Thank you for being here. We will start wit