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Special Programs

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 Lincoln Colloquium

A nationally recognized annual program featuring leading Lincoln scholars, the Colloquium originated at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois, and is currently co-sponsored by the Lincoln Studies Center, the Lincoln Boyhood Home Nation Memorial in Southwest Indiana, the Indiana Historical Society, and the Chicago History Museum. The site of the colloquium rotates annually and was last hosted by the Lincoln Studies Center in October 2008 as part of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Speakers on that occasion were Rodney O. Davis, Allen C. Guelzo, James M. McPherson, Garry Wills, and David Zarefsky.

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), James Oakes and Gerald Prokopowicz (2007), Matthew Pinsker (2009).

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, and were produced by Peter Bailley. Listen to the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Podcasts now, or download them to take along on a visit of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate sites.

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 careers and historical connections between 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).

Student Research

Knox College 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.