Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation

The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation is the successor organization of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC), which was created by Congress and the President of the United States to plan the commemoration of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday in 2009. The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission sunset on April 30, 2010^[1]

The foundation is committed to initiating and supporting innovative and historically meaningful national, state, and local programs that commemorate the memory and sustain the ideals and historic impact of America’s sixteenth president, particularly during the five-year observances of the American Civil War sesquicentennial. Building on the ALBC’s original focus on early education, professional scholarship, online access, publications, public programs, and community-based programming, the foundation will offer support, sponsorship, expertise, and encouragement to non-profit initiatives devoted to sharing knowledge, preserving historic sites and artifacts, and engaging diverse audiences on the subjects of leadership, freedom, equality, and opportunity.

History

During its nine years of active existence, the ALBC created a foundation to raise private funding to support its events, publications, educational outreach, and website activities. Former U.S. Congressman

In 2009 and 2010, the foundation reconstituted itself, electing an expanded board and a new chairman, historian Harold Holzer of New York, who had co-chaired the ALBC. The foundation announced its new board and extended mission on February 10, 2011, at an introductory event at the Willard in Washington, the hotel where Abraham Lincoln and his family resided in the ten days immediately preceding his inauguration as President 150 years earlier in 1861^[2]

The foundation also announced that it had committed in its initial round of funding to co-sponsor and provide financial support for two planned Washington-based activities and one Lincoln-related historic site in Pennsylvania.

• An all-day 150th commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the National Peace Conference at the Willard (February 1861), the last major effort to reverse secession and civil war. Funding for “The Peace Convention at 150: A Call to Compromise” at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, Washington, will help support an all-day scholarly symposium, the creation and installation of a commemorative plaque, and performance of Lincoln’s speeches by actor
  Stephen Lang
  . The project was initiated and is organized by the Lincoln at the Crossroads Alliance.
• Conditional support and co-sponsorship of a 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s first inauguration (March 4, 1861), scheduled for Saturday, March 5, 2011, with a ceremony and re-enactment at the U.S.
  Capitol Visitors Center
  in Washington, and a luncheon program and historians’ remarks at the Willard Hotel. The event was initiated and will be organized by the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia.
• Support to help staff and maintain for one year the Historic
  Gettysburg Railroad Station, the landmark depot still standing along the tracks where Lincoln arrived on November 18, 1863, to deliver his most famous speech. Scheduled to be acquired by the National Park Service
  , the building became a visitor destination in 2007, but was threatened with a shutdown pending NPS takeover.

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  .
• Dr. Darrel Bigham, Evansville, IN, professor of history emeritus at the University of Southern Indiana, and Director of Historic Southern Indiana; former member of the ALBC (chair, education committee) and Lincoln States Bicentennial Task Force; author of several books; has served as president of Vanderburgh County Historical Society, Evansville Arts & Education Council, and Indiana Association of Historians.
• Dr.
  University of Illinois; currently Professor of History and Director, Clemson University Cyberinstitute; also president elect, Southern Historical Association
  .
• Thomas Campbell, Chicago, IL, senior counsel at Chicago office of
  Baker & McKenzie law firm; noted litigator and appeals lawyer specializing in antitrust actions, mergers, mediating business disputes, and Federal Trade Commission rulings; historian of Chicago abolitionist movement; author of book on antebellum Chicago
  ; lecturer and writer on antitrust legal issues and developments; serves as Treasurer of ALBF.
• David Lawrence Jr., Coral Gables, FL, retired publisher of the Miami Herald, is President of the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation, and University Scholar for Early Childhood Development and Readiness at the University of Florida; member, governor’s children’s cabinet, board of several childhood development organizations; former publisher of Detroit Free Press, and editor of The Charlotte Observer.
• Dr.
  Lincoln Presidential Library
  ; leading authority on African-American and U.S. 19th-century history; pioneer leader of the African Burial Grounds project, advisor to the ALBC, author of several books and well-known lecturer, winner “Order of Lincoln,” 2009.
• Emmys
  .
• Charles Scholz, Quincy, IL, is the former mayor of Quincy (1993–2005) and currently practices law in his hometown with the firm of Scholz & Scholz LLP; previously served as Illinois Assistant Attorney General, and as downstate political director for late U.S. Senator
  Lincoln-Douglas debate
  site); previously served on the ALBC advisory board; serves as ALBF Secretary.
• Jean Powers Soman, Pinecrest, FL, author/editor, direct descendant of Jewish Union Col.
  American Jewish Archives, advisory board of Jewish Museum of Florida
  .
• Hon. Frank J. Williams, Hope Valley, RI, former member of the ALBC, founding chairman of The Lincoln Forum, former President of the Abraham Lincoln Association and the Lincoln Group of Boston, serves as President of the Ulysses S. Grant Association, leading Lincoln collector, lecturer, editor, writer, author of more than a dozen books on Lincoln; retired Chief Justice of Rhode Island Supreme Court.

Applying for sponsorship and support

The Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation has issued a call for further requests for support, sponsorship, and endorsement, and announced that it would consider such proposals at its regularly scheduled quarterly meetings.

Accredited not-for-profit organizations and societies are encouraged to seek support and sponsorship from the ALBF for relevant projects and events. All requests that meet the spirit of the Foundation mission will be seriously and respectfully considered.

References

External links

• Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission final report, and the initial online reports from the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation.
• Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation