Lincoln Scholars Honored by Illinois

Rodney Davis and Douglas Wilson, co-directors of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College, are among 30 individuals from around the world who will receive a special Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial edition of The Order of Lincoln, the highest honor from the State of Illinois.

Governor Rod Blagojevich announced the awards on October 6. "These distinguished citizens of the world will be honored for the lasting and significant ways they have preserved the memory of Abraham Lincoln and have contributed to Lincoln's defining influence on the American spirit," Blagojevich said.

Davis and Wilson are among the nation's foremost Lincoln scholars. They recently released the first critical edition of the texts of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. They also co-edited "Herndon's Informants," which assembles first-hand recollections from people who knew Lincoln, and "Herndon's Lincoln," a biography by William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner in Springfield.

The awards will be formally presented by The Lincoln Academy of Illinois at a ceremony on Saturday, February 7, 2009 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois. Events throughout Illinois and the nation celebrate 2008 as the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates and 2009 as the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 48 states and 42 nations. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

Douglas Wilson and Rodney Davis, shown here in the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College. They have collaborated on a number of widely acclaimed Lincoln projects, including a new edition of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

Debate Podcasts

Debate Book