Public Events --

Brownbag Lectures: Wicked Springfield: Crime, Corruption, and Scandal During the Lincoln Era

Brownbag Lectures: Wicked Springfield: Crime, Corruption, and Scandal During the Lincoln Era

• Location: ISM Research & Collections Center, Springfield
• Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2010, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Presented by Erika Holst, Curator of Collections, Springfield Art Association

In the twenty-four years that Abraham Lincoln lived in Springfield, the city saw its share of crime, corruption, and scandal, much of it at the hands of Lincoln's law clients and acquaintances. This talk sheds light on these shady characters, from the man being sued for divorce who claimed that he caught his venereal disease from an outhouse to Governor William Bissell, whose near duel with Jefferson Davis almost made him ineligible to hold office.

Erika learned about the seedier side of Lincoln's Springfield while working for the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, formerly the Lincoln Legal Papers. 

One of our Brownbag Lectures

Weekly lectures held at the Museum's Research and Collections Center. Lectures are usually held during lunchtime on Wednesday. The RCC is located at 1011 E. Ash Street in Springfield. Access to the building is from 10 ½ Street (between Ash and Laurel Streets), where there is ample visitor parking in the west parking lot. For more information, please call 217-785-0037. Brown Bag Lectures are free and open to the public.

Also, if you want to be informed of upcoming lectures by email, you can sign up for the brownbag announcement list.