Historian Dr. Stacy Lynn visited Columbia College’s main campus on Tuesday, Oct. 14, to discuss writing Loving Lincoln, her acclaimed new book. Columbia College faculty member Dr. Sarah Lirley wrote the following reflection about the event.
The Humanities Department recently invited Dr. Stacy Lynn to discuss her latest book, Loving Lincoln: A Personal History of the Women Who Shaped Lincoln’s Life and Legacy. Students, faculty and staff gathered in the New Hall Event Center as Lynn shared how she combined her personal experience and historical expertise to explain Lincoln’s life in a new way. Highlighting the stories of women in Lincoln’s life is just one way in which Lynn emphasized that there are “no great men” in history without women.
Lynn brought history to life as she shared her experiences of studying Lincoln for over 30 years. She described how Lincoln is a “living, breathing, life force” in Springfield, Illinois, where one might run into a Lincoln impersonator around town. She herself developed a relationship with Lincoln in her 20-year career with the Papers of Abraham Lincoln—first as an editor and, later, as assistant director of the project.
Her love for Lincoln informs her book, as does her experience with loss. Her own grief over personal and professional losses shaped her work as she edited Mary Lincoln: Southern Girl, Northern Woman, as Lincoln’s wife experienced unimaginable loss and grief in her lifetime. Lynn shared that her work during this challenging time reminded her that we are all connected. Sorrow is a universal human experience.
Pandemic lockdowns in 2020 gave Lynn time to reflect and to write her story of Lincoln, she shared. When she visited the numerous notes that she had kept throughout her career, she realized that they centered on the women in Lincoln’s life. She proceeded to write a new kind of book about Lincoln — one told through the eyes of approximately 90 women who influenced him in some way. Lincoln valued his relationships with his biological mother and stepmother, friends, legal clients, and, the most influential woman in his life, his wife, Mary Lincoln.
Upon completion of the first draft of her manuscript, Lynn told the audience, she was shocked to realize that she, too, was present in the book as another woman who loved Lincoln. While initially “terrified, but thrilled,” she realized that she could help readers “feel history, not just read it.” She sought to write a history that affects the reader and has “an empathetic component,” which, she observed, is part of a growing trend in the humanities.
Lynn challenges standard narratives of presidential biographies. Instead of following a traditional cradle-to-grave telling of Lincoln’s life story, she divides the book into six sections, each focusing on different points in his life and the women he interacted with during those times.
Vinnie Ream, the famous CC alumna, is one of those women. Lynn concluded her talk by reading a portion of her essay about Ream. She shared the story of Ream’s famous sculpture of Lincoln, highlighting details of her work and challenging misconceptions about Ream that were prominent in the 19th-century press. She concluded her talk by connecting Ream and Lincoln to Jane Addams, who gave a famous speech next to Ream’s sculpture in the Capitol rotunda. Lynn now serves as the associate editor of the Jane Addams Papers, but her love for Lincoln continues to impact her work.
