(Updated, from an article by David Amor in The Knox Alumnus)

"At last I have gone through college."

Since 1858, every Knox College student has learned the story of Abraham Lincoln's memorable visit to its Old Main building and the famous remark he is said to have made as he stepped through a window and onto the platform to debate Stephen A. Douglas. Though his visit created a lasting legend, Lincoln never returned to Knox, not even to receive his first honorary degree, awarded him at the Knox Commencement in 1860.

Abraham Lincoln is now finally back at Knox, this time to stay, thanks to the Lincoln Studies Center, established by Knox Lincoln scholars Rodney O. Davis and Douglas L. Wilson.

Both Davis and Wilson are longtime members of the Knox faculty, who retired from full-time teaching in the 1990s. Davis is Szold Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History, while Wilson is George Appleton Lawrence Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of English. For four years before returning to Knox in 1998, Wilson served as Saunders Director of the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

The two have been studying Lincoln collaboratively since the late 1980s. Their major work, Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews and Statements about Abraham Lincoln, published in November 1997 by University of Illinois Press, has been hailed as "a monumental achievement of scholarship" (James McPherson, New York Review of Books). Two books by Wilson, Lincoln Before Washington: New Perspectives on the Illinois Years (University of Illinois Press, 1997) and Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln(Alfred A. Knopf, 1998) appeared slightly later. They have completed a new edition of the Lincoln biography published in 1889 by Lincoln's law partner, William H. Herndon, and his collaborator, Jesse Weik.

Herndon's Lincoln appeared in 2006 as the first volume in the newly established Lincoln Studies Center Publication Series. Subsequent volumes already in preparation are a critical edition of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and a compilation of Herndon's own letters, lectures, and interviews on Lincoln. Wilson's study of Lincoln' s presidential writing, Lincoln's Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words, was published by Alfred Knopf in 2006.

The Lincoln Studies Center's statement of purpose commits it to promoting "the study of the life and work of Abraham Lincoln" through "research, publications, public events and classroom instruction," objectives that are all being faithfully honored. What was not contemplated at the inception of the Center was its involvement in collaborative arrangements with other Lincoln scholars and with other institutions, but such has been a substantial part of the Center's activity since 1999. In that year the Center agreed to collaborate with the Library of Congress and signed a contract to produce annotated transcriptions of the Library's Lincoln Papers for presentation on the World Wide Web. An expansion of staff was necessary for this project, which was completed in 2001.

A Board of Advisorscomposed of accomplished Lincoln scholars meets annually to advise the co-directors, who in turn oversee the center's policies and programs. The Center regularly provides student interns with the opportunity to develop skills in research and documentary editing. It also brings distinguished speakers to campus and sponsors colloquia on topics relating to Lincoln. All of these activities are scheduled to be centralized in a common area in Alumni Hall, an 1890 campus building that is currently being renovated.

Actor Michael Krebs portrayed Lincoln in a debate re-enactment at Knox College in 1994.