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Doug Wilson and Rod Davis © Abraham Lincoln Online

Research Projects at the Lincoln Studies Center Rodney O. Davis and Douglas L. Wilson, co-directors of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, have three important research projects in motion. Fittingly, their office is in Old Main, a historic Lincoln site -- the location of the fifth Lincoln-Douglas debate on October 7, 1858. The speakers' platform rested against the east side of the building.

In this historic setting, these emeritus college professors are preparing the new edition of the Herndon-Weik biography of Lincoln, compiling William Herndon's writings about Lincoln, and directing work for the Library of Congress.

New Edition of Herndon-Weik Biography

William H. Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, originally published a Lincoln biography with Jesse W. Weik in 1889. Called Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, it immortalized Herndon and became a classic. Davis says their new annotated edition soon will be ready, replacing a 1930 edition.

William Herndon's Writings about Lincoln

Davis and Wilson are best known for their collaboration on the monumental Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln, an edition of biographical Lincoln materials collected by William H. Herndon. Although Herdon's Informants seems like a hard act to follow, these authors are now collecting everything about Lincoln that William H. Herndon wrote or gathered together, most of which is unpublished.

Wilson says the Herndon papers should represent the whole range of Herndon's thinking about Lincoln. He cautions that the Lincoln revealed in Herndon's letters and other writings is a "perceived Lincoln," but nonetheless "a Lincoln as perceived by the man who seems to have been closer to him for a longer time than any other." He calls this project "even more important than the Herndon biography" and says it will be more revealing.

The Herndon biography, of course, was heavily influenced by Jesse Weik, his collaborator. Fully one-third of the new Herndon materials come from the period before he met Weik, making them even more significant.

Wilson explained that Herndon used to write about Lincoln and say he had exhausted his memories, but then become reminded of another incident, and yet another. "He was a 24-hour-a-day student of everything," he remarked.

Virtual Lincoln Library Project

Off campus, three staff members have been added to assist with the transcription of about 20,000 Lincoln documents for the Library of Congress. These historians are working on all the Lincoln documents in the Library's Manuscript Division, which includes letters to and from Lincoln, plus his drafts for speeches such as the First Inaugural and the Gettysburg Address.

This work goes beyond the usual editing process. For example, on the First Inaugural, Wilson explains that the editor tries to determine what the final version of the text was and prints that. He says, "We transcribe and annotate all known versions (there are several), so that the reader of the Virtual Lincoln Library can track the successive changes as they occur, and of course, because the Library is posting an image of the manuscript as well as our transcription, the reader can see the changes in Lincoln's own hand."

The results will be published online through the Virtual Lincoln Library, with a completion date scheduled for 2001. Davis says this massive project "has swamped the enterprise," referring to the Lincoln Studies Center.

Valuable Teamwork

Davis and Wilson represent teamwork that is unusual in the Lincoln studies field, where researchers tend to labor individually. Wilson says their collaboration comes from years of team teaching at Knox College. "We stimulate each other," he explains. Davis agrees, "We find ourselves talking about these issues all the time."

Can we expect more from this prolific team? Davis says, "There are no end of projects. One is the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth in 2009, and another is the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 2008. The debates need scholarly editions to represent both political viewpoints."

Related Links
Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
Knox College

Related Books
Herndon, William H. and Weik, Jesse W. Herndon's Life of Lincoln: The History and Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln New York: Da Capo, 1942. Reprinted in paperback by Da Capo, 1988.

Wilson, Douglas L. and Davis, Rodney O. Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998.

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