Tue Feb 09 2010
By JACK PALMER
A nationally recognized scholar and author on Abraham Lincoln will speak in Defiance on Sunday night as part of the Town and Gown Series.
Dr. Mark Neely, professor of history at Penn State University, will speak on his book, The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America, a political biography based on Lincoln's writings and speeches.
The program is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Schomburg Auditorium, located inside Dana Hall on the Defiance College campus. The event is free and open to the public.
An accompanying exhibit on display in the Women's Commission Gallery will focus on the manner Lincoln has been portrayed in sculpture, featuring a Leo Cherne bust of Lincoln given to the college by President Dwight Eisenhower.
"Mark is one of the top Lincoln scholars in the country," said city historian Randy Buchman. "He will focus on the idealism expressed by our 16th president, who had to balance the turmoil of the Civil War with executive pronouncements and actions in the field of civil liberties. Similar issues are very pertinent today in our post 9/11 world."
Neely is the author of several other books on Lincoln and the Civil War including The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties (1991), which won a Pulitzer Prize. He earned his undergraduate degree in American Studies at Yale University in 1966, and his Ph.D. in history at the same school in 1973.
He began his teaching career as a visiting instructor at Iowa State University. In 1972, he was named director of The Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, a position he held for 20 years.
"It was during his tenure in Fort Wayne that I first came to know Mark," said Buchman. "He is best known as an authority on the Civil War in general and Abraham Lincoln in particular. We are very fortunate to have Mark here in northwest Ohio to share his historical insights."
In 1992, Dr. Neely was named the John Francis Bannon Professor of History and American Studies at St. Louis University. Since 1998, he has served as the McCabe Greer professor of Civil War history at Penn State.
"Lincoln asked us to dedicate ourselves to 'the unfinished work' of our nation at Gettysburg," said Buchman. "We as a people need to reflect on that life and words of Lincoln, 'that this nation ... shall have a new birth of freedom.' "
Sunday's program marks the sixth of the year-long Town and Gown series to commemorate Lincoln's 200th birthday.
The next event on Oct. 29 features a presentation by Dr. Donald Buerk discussing "Counter Movements." The series concludes Nov. 12 with the Dodworth Saxhorn Band, which will present of concert of Lincoln-era music.
"This birthday celebration of Abraham Lincoln represents a unique historical journey for area residents," said Buchman. "Every program to date has been very well received and I'm certain Dr. Neely will provide us with important new insights on the multiple facets of arguably our greatest president."
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