Lincoln Scholar Douglas Wilson, April 2

Douglas L. Wilson, co-director of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College, will give the 2009 Burkhardt Lecture, "Lincoln and Language," at 4 p.m., Thursday, April 2, in the Alumni Room, Old Main, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois.

The lecture is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Burkhardt Lecture Fund, established by Knox College graduates Richard and Dorothy Johnson Burkhardt.

A renowned Lincoln scholar, Wilson is the author of a several books on Lincoln, including the "Lincoln's Sword: the Presidency and the Power of Words." Among his many articles on Lincoln are "They Said He was a Lousy Speaker," featured in a special Lincoln issue of Time Magazine; and "Lincoln the Persuader," published in the journal American Scholar. He and fellow Lincoln Studies Center co-director Rodney Davis are co-editors of the first critical edition of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

Wilson is the George A. Lawrence Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of English. He joined the Knox faculty in 1961 and retired from active teaching in 1997. He also served for 19 years as the Director of the Library. Starting at Knox, and later as director of the International Center for Jefferson Studies, Wilson also did significant research on Thomas Jefferson.

The Burkhardt Lectureship is funded by an endowment established by Richard W. Burkhardt, former president and professor at Ball State University, and Dorothy Johnson Burkhardt, retired professor of modern languages at Ball State and a life trustee of Knox College, in memory of Mr. Burkhardt's parents, Edgar and Ruth Burkhardt.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 47 states and 48 countries. Knox's 'Old Main' is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.