February 12, 2009
Abraham Lincoln's Birthday
The Galesburg community is invited to celebrate the 200th birthday of President Abraham Lincoln on February 12, with a birthday party at the Orpheum Theatre. The event will include birthday cakes, giveaways, and a screening of the acclaimed movie “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” starring Raymond Massey and Gene Lockhart. Lincoln's Bicentennial is cause for celebration in Galesburg, site of the fifth of Lincoln's famous debates with Stephen A. Douglas and home to Knox College, which gave Lincoln an honorary doctorate –- and his first degree of any kind.

The Bicentennial festivities will begin at noon with a state-wide “Ringing of the Bells.”  Churches around the state have been invited to ring their bells for two minutes in honor of Lincoln's 200th birthday. During the evening, the “Galesburg’s Lincoln” Bicentennial Commission will host a traditional birthday party at the Orpheum, complete with cake and movie screening. There will be exhibits about Lincoln’s time in Galesburg and activities for all ages.

“Abe Lincoln in Illinois” is a 1939 film starring Raymond Massey as Lincoln and Gene Lockhart as Douglas. The movie was adapted from Robert E. Sherwood's Pulitzer Prize-winning play and earned Academy Award nominations for Massey and cinematographer James Wong Howe. The film covers much of Lincoln’s life, from his early years in Springfield to his election as the 16th President of the United States.

The party is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the movie starts at 7:00 p.m. The party is sponsored by NAIER, the Bondi Building Corp, and HyVee.


June 6, 2009
Knox College Commencement
Event details TBA

October-November 2009
Illinois Artist Laureate's Lincoln Exhibit
Paintings of Lincoln and Lincoln historic sites by Illinois Artist Laureate Kay Smith at the Galesburg Civic Art Center.

Prior Events

June 7, 2008
Knox College Commencement
Speaker:  Madeleine Albright
More about Knox's 2008 Commencement

June 7, 2008
Concert on the Lawn
Featuring the Knox Galesburg Symphony on the South Lawn of Old Main

September 16, 2008
Civil War Roundtable / Galesburg Public Library
"The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the Manhunt for His Killer," slide-lecture by George Hopkins, professor emeritus of history at Western Illinois University. Location: Galesburg Public Library.

October 2-5, 2008
Exhibit - Abraham Lincoln: Self-Made in America
The “Abraham Lincoln: Self-Made in America” Bicentennial Tour, a mobile museum exhibit developed by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, will stop at Sandburg Mall in Galesburg on October 2-5, 2008. Housed in a  53-foot long trailer, the exhibit uses interactive graphics, facsimile documents and artifacts to commemorate the Lincoln Bicentennial.

The Galesburg visit of “Self-Made in America” is sponsored by Carl Sandburg College, Knox College and District 205. It was funded in part by a grant from the Illinois Bureau of Tourism and developed by ALPLM curators and historians working in concert with Mobility Resource Associates of Michigan.
Location: Sandburg Mall

October 4, 2008
Lincoln-Douglas Reunion Tour comes to Galesburg
In an updated presentation of the key issues from the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, actors portraying Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas re-enact excerpts of the seven debates, including the one at Knox College's Old Main, the only remaining original debate site building. Location: Old Main, Knox College.
Lincoln-Douglas Reunion Tour Home Page
More about the Reunion Tour on the Lincoln Studies Blog 

October 7, 2008
Sesquicentennial of the Fifth Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Old Main at Knox College.

October 9, 2008
Galesburg Public Library Book Club
Discussion of "The Madness of Mary Lincoln," by Jason Emerson, co-sponsored by the Galesburg Public Library. Location: Kaldi's Coffeehouse.

October 11, 2008
23rd Annual Lincoln Colloquium
A private event hosted by the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College and featuring talks by leading Lincoln scholars. http://www.knox.edu/x21517.xml

October 13, 2008
Class: "Abraham Lincoln and the Eighth Judicial Circuit
Taught by Guy Fraker, this one-day class will cover Lincoln's formative years as an attorney who "rode the circuit" through central Illinois. Location: Educational Technology Center at Sandburg Mall.

October 13 & 20, 2008
Galesburg Public Library Film
Parts 1 and 2 of a film based on Gore Vidal's book on Abraham Lincoln. Location: Galesburg Public Library

October 14, 2008
Galesburg Public Library Book Club
Discussion of the book "Stealing Lincoln's Body," by Thomas J. Craughwell.  Location: Galesburg Public Library

October 15, 2008
Train Excursion: "Quincy, The Sixth Debate"
A week after the Galesburg debate, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas met in Quincy for the sixth of their debates. This all-day train ride travels departs from Galesburg and travels to Quincy. Activities in Quincy include lunch; a talk by Gary DeClue, professor at John Wood Community College and expert on Stephen Douglas; visit to Washington Park, Woodland Cemetery and an Underground Railroad site.

October 18, 2008
Knox Galesburg Symphony Concert
Bruce Polay conducts the KGS in Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait," Morton Gould's "American Salute," and other selections inspired by the Civil War. Featuring guest narrator Harry Bulkeley and guest violinist Felix Parra.
Location: Orpheum Theatre More about the KGS

November 20, 2008
Lecture: "John Henry Stevenson's Connection with John Wilkes Booth," by Gladys Mittman. Stevenson, who died in 1890 in Iowa, claimed to have been a friend of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. Stevenson's memoir has led some historians to argue that Booth was not really executed, but escaped to India. Mittman grew up on the farm in Iowa where Stevenson is alleged to be buried. 
Location: Carl Sandburg College

January 20, 2009
Lecture: "The Lincoln-Douglas Debates," by Rodney Davis and Douglas Wilson, co-directors of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College and co-editors of a new edition of the debate texts. Sponsored by the Civil War Discussion Group.
Location: Carl Sandburg College