Board of Advisors

Lincoln Studies Center

The Board of Advisors is appointed from the ranks of accomplished Lincoln scholars. It consists of eight members who serve four-year terms. The Board meets annually to advise the co-directors on the Center's projects, policies, and programs.

Michael Burlingame, Connecticut College
Sadowski Professor of History Emeritus at Connecticut College, Prof. Burlingame is the author of The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln(Illinois, 1995) and editor of important Lincoln source materials by John G. Nicolay, John Hay, Noah Brooks, William O. Stoddard, Walter Stevens, and Jesse W. Weik. His two-volume Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Johns Hopkins, 2008) is the most thoroughly researched biography of Lincoln ever written.

William C. Harris, North Carolina State University
An acknowledged authority on the Civil War and Reconstruction, Professor Harris is professor emeritus of American history at North Carolina State University and the author of a number of scholarly works, including With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union (Kentucky, 1997), Lincoln’s Last Months (Harvard, 2004), Lincoln’s Rise to the Presidency (Kansas, 2007).

James M. McPherson, Princeton University
Currently George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of history at Princeton, Professor McPherson has served as President of the American Historical Association and is considered the leading authority on the American Civil War. His many works include a comprehensive history of the war, Battle Cry of Freedom (Oxford, 1988), the winner of a Pulitzer Prize, and his study of why Civil War soldiers fought, For Cause and Comrades (Oxford, 1998), which received the Lincoln Prize.

Edna Greene Medford, Howard University
Associate Professor of History, she is a specialist in nineteenth century African-American history
and has served as Director for History of New York's African Burial Project. She is an authority on Lincoln's relationship with African-Americans and serves as a scholarly advisor to many libraries, museums, and other agencies. Her most recent Lincoln publication is The Emancipation Proclamation: Three Views (2006).

Matthew Pinsker, Dickinson College.
Associate Professor of History and Pohanka Chair in American Civil War History, Professor Pinsker specializes in partisanship in the Civil War era, American constitutionalism, the Underground Railroad, as well as Abraham Lincoln. He is the author of Lincoln’s Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers’ Home (Oxford, 2003).

Gerald J. Prokopowicz, East Carolina University
Before joining the history department at East Carolina, Professor Prokopowicz was for nine years the Lincoln Scholar at the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he edited the quarterly bulletin Lincoln Lore. He is the author of All For The Regiment: The Army of the Ohio, 1861-62 (North Carolina, 2001), and Did Lincoln Own Slaves? (Pantheon, 2008).”

John R. Sellers, Library of Congress
A Civil War Specialist in the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress since 1982, Dr. Sellers has curatorial responsibility for the Abraham Lincoln Papers. In this capacity, he has assisted countless Lincoln scholars and contributed to major exhibitions at the library. Among his publications is the award-winning Civil War Manuscripts: A Guide to Collections in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress (Government Printing Office, 1986).

Ronald C. White, Jr., San Francisco Theological Seminary
Professor Emeritus of American Religious History, and a fellow at the Huntington Library, he is the author of Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural (2002), The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words (2005), and A. Lincoln: A Biography (2009).

Past Members
Mark E. Neely Jr. (1998-99), Robert W. Johannsen (1998-2000), William E. Gienapp (1998-2003), Cullom Davis (1998-2002), John Y. Simon (1998-2002), Thomas F. Schwartz (1998-2001), Gabor Boritt (2000-2004), Allen C. Guelzo (2000-2004), Harold Holzer (2001-2005), Lucas E. Morel (2002-2006), Kenneth J. Winkle (2002-2006), William Lee Miller (2003-2007), Phillip S. Paludan (2001-2007), Jennifer Fleischner (2004-2008).