Special Programs

Lincoln Studies Center

To encourage interest in Lincoln and his world, the Lincoln Studies Center supports special programs for students, scholars, and others with an interest in Lincoln.

The Real Issue - The Real Debates
A series of podcasts with Rodney Davis and Douglas Wilson, discussing each of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. The programs are based on their book, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The Lincoln Studies Center Edition, the most authoritative edition ever published of the texts of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Listen to the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Podcasts now, or download them to take along on a visit of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate sites. 

The Lincoln Colloquium
A nationally recognized program of presentations by leading Lincoln scholars, the Colloquium originated at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site and is currently co-sponsored by the Lincoln Studies Center, the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Indiana Historical Society, and the Chicago Historical Society. The site of the colloquium rotates annually and will next be hosted by the Lincoln Studies Center as part of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in October of 2008.

Jefferson and Lincoln
This Knox College course, initiated by the co-directors of the Lincoln Studies Center in 1989, is a comparative exploration of the historical and political factors that connect these two great American statesmen. An outgrowth of this course and its comparative method appeared as a cover story in The Atlantic Monthly: Douglas L. Wilson, "What Jefferson and Lincoln Read" (January 1991).

Public Lectures
Lectures on Abraham Lincoln and other Lincoln-related topics are sponsored at least twice each year. Presented by recognized scholars, the lectures are free and open to the public. In addition to lectures by co-directors Rodney O. Davis (1997) and Douglas L. Wilson (1998), speakers have included John Y. Simon (1999), Michael Holt and William E. Gienapp (2000), Michael Burlingame and Cullom Davis (2001), Thomas F. Schwartz and Gabor Boritt (2002),  Harold Holzer and John Sellers (2003), Richard Norton Smith and William Lee Miller (2004), Frank J. Williams and Lucas E. Morel (2005), and Richard J. Carwardine and Jennifer Fleischner (2006).

Student Research
Knox students are regularly employed as research assistants and summer interns to work on the Center's projects. Preference is given to students with a pre-professional interest in historical research. For more information, contact lincolnstudies@knox.edu