Events

Join Looking for Lincoln Conversations on the 156th Anniversary of the Lincoln Funeral Train.  Host Chris Vallillo will have a conversation with Bill Thomas, Ron Keller and Justin Blandford to discuss Abraham Lincoln’s Funeral Train through the eyes of the three communities where Lincoln lived and worked Atlanta, Lincoln, and Springfield, Illinois.

Bill Thomas currently serves as the Chairman of the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership and lives in Atlanta, Illinois.  Ron Keller is the Associate Professor of History and Political Science at Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois and Justin Blandford is the Superintendent of the State Historic Sites in Springfield Illinois.  This program is funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council Agency and will livestream on Looking for Lincoln's Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

Looking for Lincoln Conversations welcomes the heroic civil war nurse Clara Barton to the conversation! Nationally known historical interpreter Leslie Goddard will bring Clara Barton to life to be followed by an informative discussion of the impact of women in the Civil War. The presentation will be hosted by musician and folklorist Chris Vallillo.

Leslie Goddard is an actress and historian who has been portraying famous women in history for more than fifteen years. In addition to both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in theater, she has a Ph.D. from Northwestern University and currently works full-time as a historical interpreter and public speaker.

This program is funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council Agency and will livestream on Looking for Lincoln's Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

Abraham Lincoln’s most important work as a lawyer occurred at the Illinois Supreme Court although his circuit riding has long attracted interest and attention from biographers.

Join John Lupton and Samuel Wheeler of the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission, who will have a conversation about Lincoln’s legal career, specifically as it relates to his appellate practice. The program will be hosted by musician and folklorist Chris Vallillo.

This program is funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council Agency and will livestream on Looking for Lincoln's Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

Abraham Lincoln signed the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act which made building the first Transcontinental Railroad possible. He believed that such a railroad was important to the war effort, but he had long been a supporter of American railroads. This presentation will explore Lincoln's history with the railroad and his role in promoting rail in the west.

The program will be hosted by musician and folklorist Chris Vallillo in collaboration with the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa.  This program is funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council Agency and will livestream on Looking for Lincoln's Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

The event is FREE. Please do not click on any links that take you to pay page. Our free Facebook events will never ask you for a credit card. If you have trouble finding the event, check the main news feed on the page, and do not click on links in the comments. 

Join us for “Stephen Foster and the Rise of Popular Music” featuring Chris Vallillo. From his first hit with “Oh Susannah” in 1848 through his death in 1864, Stephen Foster created music that touched millions and lives and live on to this very day. In his lifetime, his songs were known and sung around the world, performed by classical musicians and sung by slaves in the fields of Georgia. Foster’s music played a large part in the creation of an emerging popular American culture. One of his songs even topped the charts of the hit parade some 75 years after his death!

Award winning folksinger and multi-instrumentalist Chris Vallillo performs nine of Foster’s best loved songs and explores the impact of this legendary American icon and his music on American culture.

This program is funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council Agency and will livestream on Looking for Lincoln's Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

The event is FREE. Please do not click on any links that take you to pay page. Our free Facebook events will never ask you for a credit card. If you have trouble finding the event, check the main news feed on the page, and do not click on links in the comments.

Join us for a conversation with Cordelia Harvey.  Cordelia was appointed Wisconsin's representative to the Western Sanitary Commission by Governor Salomon. She traveled up and down the Mississippi River visiting Union hospitals and helping thousands of soldiers from Wisconsin and other northern states. 

During her travels, she became a passionate believer in the need for hospitals away from the battlefields and the hot, humid South. She traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Lincoln who was opposed to the idea of northern hospitals. Through perseverance and determination, she was able to convince President Lincoln of the merits of northern hospitals.

The program will be hosted by musician and folklorist Chris Vallillo in collaboration with the Civil War Museum in Kenosha, Wisconsin. This program is funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council Agency and will livestream on Looking for Lincoln's Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

The event is FREE. Please do not click on any links that take you to pay page. Our free Facebook events will never ask you for a credit card. If you have trouble finding the event, check the main news feed on the page, and do not click on links in the comments.