History Club Visits Springfield

From the desk of History Club at EIU President Emily McInerney:

Each academic year the History Club at EIU takes at least one trip to visit historic sites. This year club members decided to visit Springfield, IL. On April 11, 2015, club members and club advisor Professor Brian Mann visited many locations in the state capital.

The day began early with a now-traditional stop at Starbucks.  After the much needed caffeine boost and a long drive, we arrived at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, within the only National Park in Illinois. During a tour led by a Park Ranger, we got to walk through the only house the Lincoln family would ever own. Even though the house was occupied by others after the Lincolns went to Washington D.C., there remained some original furniture, toys (like Tad’s stereoscope), and “modern” luxuries (such as the Lincolns’ cast iron stove).

History Club at EIU at the Lincoln Home

Taylor Coffman (Robert) and Prof. Mann (Tad)

Conveniently, there was a coffee shop across the street from the National Park.  While we re-caffeinated, members were able to hear about Prof. Mann’s undergraduate and graduate school experiences.

Coffee break #2

We then visited the New State Capitol, which, many of us learned during the tour, was the filming location of Legally Blonde 2. Who says that recent history is not made in Central Illinois? At the capitol building we were able to see where both the Senate and House of Representatives meet, though they were not in session. Our tour guide explained how votes were tallied, where the public can sit during open sessions and how to know the days they meet.

At the New State Capitol

In the gallery

After a short walk and drive, we headed over to the Old State Capitol in the heart of downtown Springfield. Here we saw where some of the Illinois legislative traditions began. We toured the reproductions of rooms where a young Abraham Lincoln studied for his law degree, worked as a state representative, and where his body was laid in state during the last stop of the funeral procession before being buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery. Aside from Lincoln history, the building tells stories of women’s rights, politics, and military history as seen through displays and artifacts.

Heading to the Old State Capitol

Emily points out the original desk in the Auditor’s Room before explaining how they made lint during the Civil War

After the Old State Capitol, we went across the street for a a visit to the Korean War National Museum before taking the obligatory group photograph in front of Lincoln’s law office next door.

Quentin Spannagel reenacts the Battle of Inchon at the Korean War National Museum

Brandon West and Taylor with the Lincoln family

Brandon and Nick Waller at the KWNM

Next we headed up to the north end of Springfield to the Illinois State Military Museum. Seeing the famous leg of General Santa Anna, members were taken through a timeline of the Illinois militia and wars in which it was involved.

Tom Travis on the grounds of the Illinois State Military Museum

Prof. Mann begrudgingly agrees to sit in a flight simulator for student amusement

Taylor, Cayla Wagner, and Emily at the ISMM

We then drove less than half a mile to Oak Ridge Cemetery. Here we visited the Lincoln Tomb and final resting place of Abe, Mary, and three of their four children. Each aspect of the tomb’s interior represented a part of American history; from flags, to stars, and the quote, “Now he belongs to the ages”, uttered by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton when he found out Lincoln was assassinated.

Ryan Lawler showing EIU and Union pride

Cayla touching Abe’s nose for good luck

What was very exciting was that each Lincoln historic site clearly was preparing for the reenactment of the Lincoln funeral train, marking the 150th anniversary of the funeral procession, taking place two weeks after our trip.

For lunch, the group went to Dublin’s Pub, giving everyone the opportunity to get a Springfield-famous horseshoe meal.

Ordering horseshoes at Dublin’s

The History Club left Springfield with many photographs, inside jokes, and a new trivia team name.  Until next year!

Professor Receives High Honor, Completes Agricultural History Society Triple Crown

Debra A. Reid received a high honor from the Agricultural History Society at that organization’s awards banquet on Saturday evening, June 6, 2015. AHS president Sally McMurry announced Reid as a Fellow of the Society, an honor that recognizes high standards of scholarship in agricultural history, broadly defined, and in service to the society and to the study of agricultural history. For information on the Agricultural History Society, see: http://www.aghistorysociety.org/

Melissa Walker and Debra A. Reid, named as Fellows of the Agricultural History Society, June 7, 2015, Lexington, Kentucky. Photograph by Chuck Reback.

The context for receiving this award became even more memorable given the location – Lexington, Kentucky – and the timing – the running of the Belmont Stakes. David Hamilton, chair of the AHS local arrangements committee, and faculty at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, timed the reception preceding the banquet perfectly, to coincide with American Pharaoh’s bid to be the first Triple Crown winner since 1978. Deb took her post at a table a distance from but with a perfect view of the large-screen TV in the Hyatt in Lexington, Kentucky. Deb grew up watching horse racing, and reveled in the wins of Secretariat in 1973. But the break-down of Ruffian in a match race in 1975 destroyed the aura of the sport. Thus, the ascendance of Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmed in 1978 to Triple Crown status did not have the same romance as Secretariat’s win for her.

But Deb got to relish her own AHS Triple Crown of sorts, at the 2015 AHS on the same day as American Pharaoh’s win. . . Deb received 1) the John T. Schlebecker Award for Excellence from the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM) in 2000, an award named for AHS president, former curator at the Smithsonian Institution, and ALHFAM founder, John T. Schlebecker; 2) the Gilbert C. Fite Dissertation Award from the AHS in 2001 (named in honor of a prominent historian of southern agriculture and EIU president from 1971-1976); and now 3) recognition as a Fellow of the Agricultural History Society. And the circle, it goes round and round. It’s been a long run, but Deb looks forward to many more years of racing!