endur' ^act of Lincoln 1 ; 
 
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LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
THE ENDURING IMPACT 
 
 of 
 
 LINCOLN'S 
 
 GETTYSBURG ADDRESS 
 
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 DID AN APPALLING DISEASE 
 MAKE LINCOLN GREAT? 
 
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 THE PARADOX OF HIS RISE 
 TO THE PRESIDENCY 
 
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 IS THERE A SIXTH COPY 
 OF THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS? 
 
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 By DR. HERMAN BLUM 
 
 .2 
 
 Pennsylvania Member Civil War 
 Centennial Commission 
 
 Founder and Director, Blumhaven Library 
 and Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Jlg^ 4 ' 
 
 Member Board of Managers of Moore 
 College of Art, Science & Industry 
 
 
 Trustee of Philadelphia College 
 of Textiles and Sciences 
 
 
 Chairman of the Board 
 Craftex Mills Inc., of Penna. 
 
BLUMHAVEN LIBRARY AND GALLERY DISPLAY 
 
 of Douglas Volk's portrait of Lincoln, declared by Robert Todd 
 Lincoln to be the "best living likeness of his father" and the life mask 
 and hands of Lincoln by Leonard Volk. 
 
 Copyright, 1963, by Herman Blum 
 
 No part of this may be reproduced without permission of 
 
 Blumhaven Library and Gallery. Philadelphia 24, Pa. 
 
 Printed In U. S. A. by Allen, Lane & Scott 
 
I 
 
 THE ENDURING IMPACT OF 
 LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS 
 
 rHis year, the American people are observing with reverence 
 the 100th Anniversary of three significant historical events. 
 
 The first of these is the Emancipation Proclamation. The other 
 two are the Battle of Gettysburg and the delivery of Lincoln's 
 Gettysburg Address. 
 
 The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Lincoln 
 in September 1862, became effective on January 1st, 1863. The 
 concluding sentence of it reads : 
 
 "I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within 
 the States in rebellion, are and henceforth shall be free." 
 
 Today — a century later — freedom is still the great unfinished 
 business of the world. Lincoln said that this country could not 
 exist half slave and half free; so it may be said of the world today. 
 He did not claim all virtue for the North in this matter, nor all 
 evil for the South. But it has been amply demonstrated since 
 1863, that it was Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation that really 
 launched today's world struggle for freedom. It is fitting, there- 
 fore, that we pay a tribute to this historic milestone in the ad- 
 vancement of mankind. 
 
 On July 1st, 2, and 3, 1863, the Union Army of the Potomac 
 and the Confederate Army of Northern ^Virginia met at Gettys- 
 burg, Pa., in the bloodiest battle ever fought on the American 
 continent. Casualties: 23,049 for the Union Army; 20,431 for the 
 Confederacy; total losses at Gettysburg more than 43,000 men. 
 
 I choose to dwell on Lincoln's memorable speech on that occas- 
 sion, rather than on the other two events, important as they are, 
 not only because of my personal dedication to and affection for 
 the Great Emancipator, but because most historians agree with me 
 that the impact of the Gettysburg Address on world opinion is 
 of greater significance than the battle which was fought at Gettys- 
 
burg on July 1st, 1863. Charles Sumner said, "THE SPEECH 
 WILL LIVE WHEN THE MEMORY OF THE BATTLE 
 WILL BE LOST OR ONLY REMEMBERED BECAUSE OF 
 THE SPEECH." 
 
 The story of the Gettysburg Address is an utterly incredible 
 one. The devious preliminaries and uncertainty about its delivery 
 are seldom reflected in our history books. President Lincoln barely 
 missed being denied the opportunity to speak at the Gettysburg 
 ceremonies. Actually, it was by the merest chance that he deliv- 
 ered his speech at all. Today, a hundred years later, the surpass- 
 ingly simple words of that speech are still the rallying trumpet 
 call for people who yearn to "seize the burden and glory of 
 freedom." As we look upon our world, torn asunder by distrust 
 and fear, and living in the shadow of terrible destructive weapons, 
 perhaps we had better conclude that Lincoln's illuminating words 
 were divinely inspired and that it was Providence which provided 
 the occasion for his crucial message to mankind. 
 
 Now, to properly highlight the background of that speech, we 
 must emphasize that the Gettysburg Commission, in charge of the 
 affair, did not at first intend to ask Mr. Lincoln to speak at all. 
 When, subsequently, it just could not avoid asking him, it assigned 
 only a minor role to the President in its plans for the dedication 
 of the cemetery. 
 
 The orator of the day was to be Edward Everett, former Presi- 
 dent of Harvard University, former Secretary of State, and 
 Senator from Massachusetts. Everett had been invited on October 
 3rd to deliver an address on October 23rd. But Professor Everett 
 had other ideas. It seems that the 20 days' notice given him for 
 his speech was just insufficient. He had the effrontery to demand 
 the postponement of the dedication, in order to give him more 
 time to prepare his speech. Thus it was Everett who really fixed 
 the date of the dedication as November 19th. The Commission 
 merely acquiesced and changed its plans to suit Everett. 
 
 With the date finally settled, invitations were printed and sent 
 to the nation's dignitaries,- — to members of the Senate, the House, 
 the Diplomatic Corps, and Generals of the Army. One of these 
 printed invitations was sent to President Lincoln. Some of those 
 
who received the invitation ignored it, but President Lincoln 
 picked it right up and immediately let the Commission know he 
 would attend. 
 
 This stirred up no end of embarrassment among the members 
 of the Commission, who suddenly realized that, up to the time of 
 the President's acceptance of the invitation, no one had said 
 a word about asking Mr. Lincoln to speak at the ceremonies. 
 That situation was intolerable. To have the President of The 
 United States appear as a guest of honor on such a solemn occa- 
 sion and not be called upon to say something while he was on 
 a speakers platform, would certainly amount to a mortifying 
 affront. So after some more discussion, the commission decided 
 not to duck the issue. 
 
 But it was not until November 2nd, six weeks after they had 
 invited Everett, that the President was informed by letter, signed 
 by the Chairman of the Commission, Judge David Wills, that it 
 was the Commission's desire "to have you, as Chief Executive of 
 the Nation" formally set apart these grounds to their sacred use 
 by "a jew appropriate remarks." 
 
 The meaning of the invitation was plain enough. There could 
 be no doubt that the Commission intimated: Mr. President you 
 are, of course, expected to say something, but it really has to be 
 brief and please see to it that your few remarks are appropriate. 
 
 Despite the popular belief that Mr. Lincoln composed his 
 speech aboard the train from Washington to Gettysburg, writing 
 it on the back of an envelope, actually, he devoted considerable 
 time and worry to the speech some days before leaving Wash- 
 ington. Between November 2nd, when he received the invitation, 
 and November 17th when he packed up his carpet bag for his 
 trip to Gettysburg, he worked, off and on, to refine his speech. 
 After arrival in Gettysburg he revised some of the passages in the 
 first draft of the address. The next day, he rewrote the entire 
 second page of the speech. This revised draft is the one he de- 
 livered at the Gettysburg ceremonies. But to this final draft he 
 added extemporaneously, as he neared the close of his speech, 
 the momentous words — "This nation under God." These four 
 words do not appear in the first complete draft of the speech, in 
 
Lincoln's own handwriting, which is preserved in the Library 
 of Congress. 
 
 When Everett finally wound up his speech, there was perfunc- 
 tory applause. As Mr. Lincoln arose, the crowd became silent, 
 fascinated by this gaunt man, who was six foot, four inches high 
 and thin out of proportion. He gestured with his long bony arms, 
 but did not attempt dramatic oratory. Bareheaded, with rough 
 uncombable hair standing out in every direction, Lincoln glanced 
 only occasionally at his two-page text. Pale faced and utterly 
 haggard, it was evident that Mr. Lincoln had not completely 
 recovered from an attack of variola (a form of smallpox) from 
 which he had suffered shortly before his trip to Gettysburg. His 
 high-pitched voice had power but it was audible to only a few 
 hundred of the thousands milling about the grounds. 
 
 The address contained 10 sentences, 267 words. It took some- 
 what less than four minutes for its delivery. Before the crowd 
 realized it Mr. Lincoln was through. In fact, as the President 
 paused before sitting down, one of the reporters approached him 
 and asked if he was feeling all right, and was he going to continue. 
 The President replied that he had nothing more to add to what 
 he had already said. A photographer who had set up his tripod 
 camera, to take a picture of Mr. Lincoln and the dignitaries on 
 the speakers' platform, discovered that the President had already 
 sat down before the camera was focused. 
 
 How was the speech received? Few at the ceremonies realized 
 its significance or sensed its immortal character. With some notable 
 exceptions, among them the Philadelphia Bulletin, the newspapers 
 of the country mentioned the speech, but in a way that amounted 
 to saying, "The President also spoke." 
 
 Edward Everett's lengthy speech, dozens of copies of which had 
 been laboriously written in long hand and sent by messenger to 
 the editors of the leading papers of the United States, was set 
 up in type days in advance of its delivery. The New York Times 
 ran the complete text of Everett's speech in its issue of November 
 20th, 1863. It was eight solid columns. At the conclusion of its 
 report of the Everett speech, the Times ran a two inch paragraph 
 giving a summary of what Mr. Lincoln said. 
 
The day after the ceremonies, Everett wrote Mr. Lincoln, "I 
 should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the 
 central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes. 
 I congratulate you for the thoughts expressed with such eloquence, 
 simplicity, and appropriateness." 
 
 Aware of the criticism of Everett's long speech, Mr. Lincoln 
 graciously wrote Everett, "You could not have been excused to 
 make a short address, nor I a long one. I am pleased that the little 
 I did say was not entirely a failure. There were passages in it 
 which transcended my expectations." 
 
 And how was Everett's 2/2 hour long speech received by the 
 country? In spite of the fact that Everett was regarded as one 
 of the nation's great orators, not one out of 1000 readers of the 
 newspapers that published the speech, read more than a para- 
 graph or two of it. And today, our history books barely mention 
 the oration and nobody really knows what Everett said. The 
 record for Lincoln's speech, however, is vastly different. That 
 brief address is fondly remembered and memorized by many. 
 
 For Lincoln spells out the American philosophy that in a free 
 society a man can pull himself up by his bootstraps. His sorrows, 
 and joys; his faith in people, his gentleness, courage, and weak- 
 ness — these are the elements that challenge our enemies and 
 provide the best defense against them. America has never had a 
 spokesman like Lincoln, whose words are so universally under- 
 stood. He is the symbol of all that went before him in the building 
 of America, and everything for which we since have fought to 
 preserve. 
 
 Our State Department is called upon almost daily to supply 
 a copy of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to school children and 
 their elders in Korea, Katanga, Burma, Malaya, Saudi Arabia, 
 Iraq, and other distant lands. And we send out Lincoln's words 
 translated into some 50 languages and idioms. These translations 
 arc eagerly sought by Lincoln study groups and so-called "Eman- 
 cipation" clubs, hundreds of which flourish all over in India, 
 Formosa. Pakistan and some Latin-American countries, as well. 
 
Our most saleable diplomatic asset is the Gettysburg Address. 
 It is an essential feature of our U. S. Information Agency's "Voice 
 of America," which emphasizes that the basic philosophy of the 
 Gettysburg Address is that "A NATION CONCEIVED IN 
 LIBERTY AND DEDICATED TO THE PROPOSITION 
 THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL" must endure. 
 
 Although these words are arrogantly rejected by the Commu- 
 nists, they constitute our most convincing argument for Democ- 
 racy, and you may be sure they mean a lot to people who yearn 
 for freedom wherever there is oppression and tyranny. 
 
 When we are trying so hard to win the struggle for men's minds, 
 how can we overlook the fact that the heritage of idealism and 
 political wisdom Lincoln left for our nation, is being shared by 
 people the world over? Somehow, we don't dwell enough upon 
 Lincoln, just as we do not dwell enough upon the Declaration 
 of Independence, or our Bill of Rights. We take them for granted. 
 But is this putting our best foot forward before the world? Is it 
 getting our true story — our way of life — across to people who are 
 being hammered and brain-washed by Communist propaganda, 
 that Americans are vile Imperialists, War Mongers, Aggressors, 
 dirty Monopolists, and ruthless Reactionaries? 
 
 In spite of such name calling and expressions of scorn and con- 
 tempt for us, at which our Communist detractors are such experts, 
 dictators know that in due time they must fall into petty insignifi- 
 cance before the challenge of the Freedom Lincoln has enunciated. 
 In the vocabulary of Red terrorists, there is no word quite so 
 persuasive to the poverty stricken and the ignorant as "IMPERI- 
 ALIST," and no one calls us "IMPERIALISTS" more frequently 
 or louder than that Bearded Bigmouth in Cuba, but even his high 
 pressure tactics fail to keep his followers in permanent bondage. 
 Despite relentless suppression, they persist in seeking emancipation. 
 
 Said a United Nations delegate to me recently: "Don't hesitate 
 to tell the world about the benefits of capitalism or the attributes 
 of the free enterprise system. International Communism's aim is 
 to discredit both. As part of your intensified program of educa- 
 
 8 
 
tion to combat the Communist conspiracy and the 'cold war,' 
 you must, by all means, persevere in broadcasting to the world 
 the true story of Abraham Lincoln. Actually, your Lincoln is not 
 really known to the new nations of the world which have just 
 risen from their slumber and bondage today. These recently liber- 
 ated people are hungry to learn more about him. They instinc- 
 tively feel that here was a humble man who derived his power 
 and courage from the common people and they turn to him as 
 to an oracle, asking "what would Lincoln do?" How would he 
 go about to end racial discrimination? What would he do to 
 assure them security and freedom? They do not know the answers. 
 But they feel more secure and more free because the image of 
 Abraham Lincoln remains in their hearts." 
 
 To the people behind the iron curtain, there is one symbol of 
 American friendship they believe in and that is the name of Lin- 
 coln. He is our secret weapon against dictatorship. If "government 
 of the people, by the people, for the people" is not to "perish from 
 the earth", then neighborly relations of people to people must be 
 promoted to spread on this earth. When that is achieved, Gettys- 
 burg will be less a memorial of the past and more a preview of 
 man's destiny in a world of peace. 
 
 When Col. John Glenn orbited the earth on February 20th, 
 1962, he noticed an unexpected glow from the earth below. He 
 radioed his tracking station to ask the meaning of it. When 
 told that the little town of Perth, Australia, had turned on all 
 its lights in his honor, he said, "THANK YOU FOR LIGHT- 
 ING THE WAY." 
 
 W r e, too, have much for which to be thankful; for our free- 
 dom; for our unity; for our faith in God; and for the un- 
 paralleled example of Abraham Lincoln. We pray that we may 
 be given the light to keep these things, and to pass them on to 
 the next generation, so that in the fullness of all our hearts, we 
 may reverently say, "BELOVED LINCOLN, THANK YOU 
 FOR LIGHTING OUR WAY." 
 
DISPLAYS IN BLUM HAVEN 
 
 Lincoln Busts by Bissel and Volk. Original engraving of Francis B. 
 Carpenter's, Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to the Cabinet. 
 
 10 
 
LIBRARY MEMORIAL ROOM 
 
 HtlEl 
 
 Display of Lincoln portraits in antique frames; includes Currier & Ives 
 sketches, reproductions of paintings by DoctorofT, Healy, Volk, Schlaikjer, 
 Deall, Carpenter and other artists. 
 
 I I 
 
 UNIVERSITY & ^ 
 ILLINOIS LIBRARY 
 
THAT MARFAN'S SYNDROME 
 "AFFLICTION" OF LINCOLN* 
 
 "Did ILLNESS MAKE LINCOLN GREAT?" So reads a 
 1963 magazine headline, ironically appearing on February 12th, 
 Lincoln's 154th birthday. 
 
 The magazine article is based upon the research of a Kentucky 
 internist, who now, after 20 years study of Lincoln's physical and 
 mental traits, attributes his greatness to an uncommon disease, 
 known as Marfan's Syndrome. 
 
 In view of the following article about the PARADOX OF 
 LINCOLN'S RISE and the exalting spiritual qualities of our 
 16th President that it substantiates, it is in my opinion, sheer 
 vilification to attribute Lincoln's greatness to some frightful 
 disease. 
 
 Technically, Marfan's syndrome is defined as a hereditary dis- 
 ease of the body's connective tissues, the bones, muscles and liga- 
 ments, the symptoms occurring together, effecting the eyes, the 
 heart and the skeletal structure. As applied to Lincoln, it is said to 
 have produced the sturdy rail-splitter's "long sad face, sunken 
 chest, misshapen ears, loose, spidery arms, immense hands, gangly 
 appearance, uncouth movements, high pitched, almost girlish 
 voice." Some contradictions in Lincoln's personality, such as his 
 periodic shyness and his inclination to tell stories and jokes, and 
 shortly thereafter sink into a deep depression, seem to impress our 
 medical detective, who asserts that these characteristics are due 
 to the rare disorder, known as Marfan's Syndrome. (Marfan was 
 a French pediatrician who identified the ailment in 1896, 31 years 
 after Lincoln's death.) 
 
 So now, 98 years after Lincoln's death, we are asked to accept 
 a medical diagnosis that attributes Lincoln's superb intelligence 
 and leadership to a loathsome inherited disease. 
 
 * This article was reprinted in the Congressional Record, issue of April 
 8th, 1963, through the sponsorship of U. S. Senator Hugh D. Scott oi 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 12 
 
Such diagnosis, obviously, was never made. The disease was 
 unknown in 1860, and the patient, though described by a con- 
 temporary writer as the "offspring of a happy marriage between 
 a derrick and a windmill," did not submit to a physical check-up 
 <*nd certainly needed no medical attention. For want of more 
 scientific information, our diagnostician now says, he duly read 
 the description recorded by the "tailors and bootmakers" who 
 fitted Mr. Lincoln, and concluded that abnormalities were 
 indicated. 
 
 And how can a dedicated Lincoln student, a layman, dispute 
 a physician's verdict that the great emancipator's humanity, 
 understanding and compassion were part of what Lincoln 
 harvested from his ailment? 
 
 By the evidence, of course, evidence which happens to flatly 
 contradict Lincoln's medical detractors. 
 
 TWO VIEWS OF THE LIFE MASK 
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 MADE BY LEONARD W. VOLK IN 1860 
 
 Original bronze casting in Lincoln Memorial room of 
 
 Blumhaven Library and Gallery, Philadelphia. 
 
 In the Lincoln Memorial Gallery of the Blumhaven Library, 
 there is an original bronze casting of Lincoln's face, made by the 
 
 13 
 
sculptor Leonard Volk. It is a beardless face, with no structural 
 details concealed by the growth of hair. This impression of Lin- 
 coln's face was made in 1860 before he was nominated for presi- 
 dent. It reveals a relatively small head for a man 6 ft. 4 in. tall, 
 and there is no discernible deformity or disease visible in that 
 exact replica of Lincoln's face. The ears are not abnormal or 
 misshaped. There is no deviation of the eyes. They are normal. 
 A top ranking Philadelphia physician examined that bronze 
 mask recently and declared there is not the slightest deviation of 
 the eyes or a skeletal disorder indicated. This doctor also declines 
 to attribute the early death of Lincoln's children to the inherited 
 illness. There is no evidence to support that speculative diagnosis, 
 he declares. 
 
 In addition to the life mask, Blumhaven has a bronze casting 
 of Lincoln's hands. The fist of the right hand is powerful, not 
 spidery. The left hand, gripping a broom handle, is a striking 
 reflection of the man's strength and powerful physicial condition. 
 These replicas of Lincoln's face and hands tell us the truth about 
 Lincoln's physical being. 
 
 The medical verdict of 1963 will not tarnish the heroic image 
 of Abraham Lincoln, or rob him of the glory in history that is his. 
 To the medical profession, I respectfully submit Richard Wat- 
 son Gilder's classic description of Lincoln's bronze life mask: 
 "This bronze doth keep the very form and mold 
 Of our great martyr's face. Yes, this is he; 
 That brow all wisdom, all benignity; 
 That human, humorous mouth; those cheeks that hold 
 Like some harsh landscape all the summer's gold; 
 That spirit fit for sorrow, as the sea 
 For storms to beat on; the lone agony 
 Those silent, patient lips too well foretold. 
 Yes, this is he who ruled a world of men 
 
 As might some prophet of the elder day — 
 Brooding above the tempest and the fray 
 With deep-eyed thought and more than mortal ken. 
 A power was his beyond the touch of art 
 Or armed strength — his pure and mighty heart." 
 
 14 
 
THE PARADOX OF LINCOLN'S 
 RISE TO THE PRESIDENCY 
 
 i 
 
 When we recall that every candidate for the presidency in 1960, 
 was either a Governor, a U.S. Senator or Vice President, the para- 
 dox of Abraham Lincoln as our only PRESIDENT who had 
 never been a GOVERNOR, a U.S. SENATOR, a CABINET 
 MINISTER, a VICE PRESIDENT, a WAR HERO, or a 
 GREAT GENERAL, becomes all the more mystifying. 
 
 How did this extraordinary phenomenon come about? Barging 
 into the political arena in 1860 was this man, born in a log cabin, 
 on a site known as ''Sinking Spring Farm," deep in the wilderness 
 of Kentucky. He had about a year's schooling, and no formal 
 education at all. This tall, bony man arrived in Illinois in 1831, 
 friendless, penniless, powerless, ragged and alone, struggling for 
 the bare necessities of life. 
 
 That was Abraham Lincoln at the beginning of his career. And 
 when it came time for Lincoln to make his bid for the Presidency, 
 he had no multi-millionaire to back his candidacy; there was 
 nary a Wall Street tycoon among his sponsors. Nor did he have 
 a combination of big city political bosses who met in a smoke- 
 filled room to hand pick him! And no poll-taker buzzed around 
 to make a survey for candidate Lincoln or to advise him how to 
 alter his personality image to influence the voters. 
 
 Was he that well known that he didn't need organized political 
 support to win the nomination for the Presidency? Actually, when 
 he was nominated, he was so little known that some newspapers 
 kept misspelling his first name as "Abram." Some of the papers 
 printed phonetic pronunciations of his last name so people would 
 know how to say it. He was deeply etched in the mind of the 
 voters as a tall, awkward rail-splitter, a homespun lawyer who 
 told stories and jokes. 
 
 What was there about this backwoods lawyer, who had been 
 but a village postmaster, a state assembly man and a one-term 
 congressman, that indicated he was to be the preserver of America? 
 
 15 
 
II 
 
 When he became a candidate for President, Lincoln bore the 
 brunt of the attack of his political enemies. He endured personal 
 defamation and mean references to his father and mother. Car- 
 toonists savagely pictured him as a grotesque and almost diabolical 
 figure. 
 
 What about his personality? His contemporaries said he was 
 the homeliest man in Illinois. If Lincoln were to make an appear- 
 ance on television today, his rough-hewn features, framed by his 
 shaggy beard, would scare the bejabbers out of his viewers! 
 
 Lincoln was 6 feet 4 inches tall, ungainly in his movements. 
 He had a high pitched, thin voice, utterly different from the deep 
 voice of those who recite his words today. He was no politician's 
 politician. He was no spread eagle, whistle-stop, give-'em-hell 
 orator. His stump speeches were seldom extemporaneous, al- 
 though he was fast and sure on his feet, could think clearly as 
 he spoke and his delivery was engaging and at ease. While plain 
 spoken and timely, his talks were not always movingly expressive. 
 By no stretch of the imagination could we rate him a radio spell- 
 binder or "image-salesman" on TV today. 
 
 And was the nomination of Mr. Lincoln handed to him on a 
 platter, because nobody else wanted it? No indeed! There were 
 powerful contenders for the nomination. Among them was William 
 H. Seward, then U. S. Senator, and Salmon P. Chase, U. S. 
 Senator from Ohio. He was put in nomination as the "rail splitter 
 and giant-killer of Illinois." On the first ballot he received 102 
 votes against Seward's 173 J/2. On the second ballot there were 
 switches to Lincoln, the vote being, Lincoln 181, Seward 184^2- 
 On the third ballot Lincoln stood 231/ 2 , Seward 180. It was then 
 that Ohio switched the four votes needed to nominate him. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Well then, what power did pick this undistinguished lawyer 
 for the Presidency? How was it that this relatively untried states- 
 man, inexperienced in foreign affairs or diplomacy, untrained in 
 military science and war economy, was able to face the perils of 
 
 16 
 
his day and to carry out his staggering assignments? What force 
 was it that impelled this untrained man to make wise decisions 
 in frightfully crucial situations? What caused him to suddenly 
 generate leadership which he had not shown before entering the 
 White House? Was it the gigantic pressures of circumstances that 
 raised this man to the highest intellectual level or was it some- 
 thing else? 
 
 Do you suppose there is such a thing as fate? Do you believe 
 in destiny? Do you believe that Divine Providence, every now and 
 then, intervenes in the affairs of our nation, to pick a man to 
 meet a particular crisis? Are there not a number of these mystic 
 occurrences recorded in history — events for which there is no 
 other explanation than that Almighty God, in his wisdom, had 
 chosen a man as his instrument to avert the disaster that threat- 
 ened his people? 
 
 The prophets of old saw God moving through the events of 
 their time, and they were reviled by their compatriots. Prophetic 
 faith today is met with skepticism; communists refuse to see the 
 hand of God in history, yet people who suffer from tyranny and 
 exploitation, know that faith alone points the way to their re- 
 demption. In Isaiah, 14:27, it says: "The Lord of hosts has pur- 
 posed and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out and who 
 will turn it back?" 
 
 IV 
 
 The key to Lincoln's eternal position in history was the depth 
 of his spiritual feeling. It is true he was not a member of a regular 
 church. In Illinois he once rented a church pew, but it was Mrs. 
 Lincoln who usually sat in it. He was never baptized or made a 
 formal profession of faith. This has caused some to conclude 
 that, since he was not a member of a church, Lincoln could not 
 be considered religious. Some of his political enemies raised the 
 religious issue and insisted on calling him an infidel. This did not 
 dismay Lincoln, for he was not an unbeliever. He was opposed 
 to creeds, but he did say this : 
 
 "1 cannot without mental reservations assent to long and 
 complicated creeds and catechisms. If the Church would ask 
 simply for acceptance of the commands 'Thou shalt love the 
 
 17 
 
Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and thy 
 neighbor as thyself — that Church I would gladly join with." 
 Besides his own statement, there is other evidence that Lincoln 
 had deep religious convictions, and constantly sought Divine 
 guidance. Leaving Springfield for Washington, he said, "Without 
 the assistance of that Divine Being ... I cannot succeed. With 
 that assistance, I cannot fail." En route, he said, "I shall be 
 happy indeed, if I shall be a humble instrument in the hands of 
 the Almighty." He truly symbolized the passage in the Bible 
 which makes clear the nature of true religion: "What doth the 
 Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to 
 walk humbly with thy God?" 
 
 V 
 
 Lincoln memorized long passages from the Bible. Perhaps no 
 President who occupied the White House ever read the Bible as 
 much as Lincoln. The White House guards used to find him, 
 before he had had breakfast in the morning, turning the pages 
 of his Bible in the small room he used for a library. His two great 
 speeches — the Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural, are 
 filled with the rich word poetry of the King James Version of the 
 Bible. He prayed daily and called prayer "talking with God." 
 The day before the battle of Gettysburg, he was on his knees, 
 praying that he might have strength and wisdom to face the crisis. 
 In the Washington Cathedral, the beautiful bronze statue of 
 Houck's Kneeling Lincoln, recalls Lincoln's remark, "that man 
 is tallest on his knees." 
 
 William Wolf in his The Almost Chosen People wrote: "No 
 American President, before or since, had as profound an under- 
 standing of the Scriptures as Lincoln." 
 
 The new birth of freedom for our nation which he envisioned at 
 Gettysburg had its source in the r^-birth which Lincoln himself 
 experienced on coming to the Presidency. He perceived it to be 
 not the consummation of a politician's dream, but rather as the 
 awesome burden of saving the Union. He accepted his mission 
 and destiny — with the sublime faith of a religious hero-saint, 
 "trusting in Him who can go with me and remain with you," he 
 
told his neighbors before leaving Springfield for Washington, add- 
 ing with prophetic foreknowledge of martyrdom: "not knowing 
 whether I shall return!" 
 
 Lincoln's First Inaugural rises to the heights of a hymn; the 
 Second Inaugural is a document for which "history hardly affords 
 any model, except, perhaps, that of the Scriptures." 
 
 There is no doubt in my mind as to the source of Lincoln's 
 power. If he was not inspired of God, then there is no man who 
 ever lived on earth who was so inspired. 
 
 From Caesar to Napoleon, from Socrates to Albert Schweitzer, 
 men have risen step by step, according to well known principles. 
 That is not what we call being a man of destiny. They are men 
 of time, men of talent. The inspired men are fewer. Whence they 
 came, from whence they get their power, by what rule they get 
 that power, we know not. They arise from the shadow and vanish 
 in the mist. We see them but we know them not. Where did 
 Shakespeare get his genius, Mozart, his music, Burns, his poetry — 
 where but from God? And from the same source came Lincoln's 
 power to carry out his stupendous mission. It was from this same 
 Divine source that Lincoln derived his courage, endurance, judg- 
 ment and mercy. And no story told a thousand years from now, 
 will be received with greater interest than that which tells of the 
 life and work of Abraham Lincoln. "Lincoln is not a type. He 
 stands alone — no ancestors, no fellows, no successors." 
 
 
 A~>* . tf^^nMveo J 
 
 ^/AQU^tc^r^/ 
 
 19 
 
IN TIMES LIKE THE PRESENT 
 
 Many quotations attributed to Abraham Lincoln cannot be au- 
 thenticated. But these, his accepted views, may be considered 
 in the light of the many staggering problems that confront us 
 today. Lincoln's admonitions: 
 
 "IN TIMES LIKE THE PRESENT, MEN SHOULD UTTER 
 NOTHING FOR WHICH THEY WOULD NOT WILL- 
 INGLY BE RESPONSIBLE THROUGH TIME AND IN 
 ETERNITY." 
 
 HONESTY ... I have always 
 wanted to deal with everyone I 
 meet candidly and honestly. If I 
 have made any assertion not war- 
 ranted by facts, and it is pointed 
 out to me, I will withdraw it 
 cheerfully. 
 
 COMPASSION ... I can only 
 say that I have acted upon my 
 best convictions, without selfish- 
 ness or malice, and that by the 
 help of God I shall continue to 
 do so. 
 
 ACCOMPLISHMENT ... Pie 
 
 who does something at the head 
 of one regiment will eclipse him 
 who does nothing at the head of 
 a hundred. 
 
 GOOD AND EVIL . . . Stand 
 with anybody that stands right. 
 Stand with him while he is right, 
 and part with him when he goes 
 wrong. 
 
 INTERNATIONAL RELA- 
 TIONS . . . Can aliens make 
 treaties easier than friends can 
 make laws? Can treaties be more 
 faithfully enforced between aliens 
 than laws can among friends? 
 
 LABOR ... I am always for 
 the man who wishes to work. 
 
 SUCCESS . . . We can succeed 
 only by concert. It is not "can 
 any of us imagine better?" but, 
 "can we all do better?" 
 
 MOTIVES . . . Ready are we 
 all to cry out and ascribe motives 
 when our toes are pinched. 
 
 PATRIOTISM . . . Gold is 
 good in its place but living, brave, 
 patriotic men are better than gold. 
 
 LIBERTY . . . Let every man 
 remember that to violate the law 
 is to trample on the blood of his 
 father, and to tear that charter of 
 his own and his children's liberty. 
 
 FREEDOM ... As our case is 
 new, so we must think anew, and 
 act anew. We must disenthrall 
 ourselves, and then we shall save 
 our country. 
 
 PROPHECY . . . Fellow-citi- 
 zens, we cannot escape history. 
 We . . . will be remembered in 
 spite of ourselves. No personal 
 significance or insignificance can 
 spare one or another of us. The 
 fiery trial through which we pass 
 will light us down, in honor or 
 dishonor, to the latest generation. 
 
 20 
 
THE MISSING SIXTH COPY OF 
 LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS 
 
 After ten years of unrelenting search by the writer, I am sorry 
 to report that no evidence has been turned up to support my 
 theory that there is an additional copy of Lincoln's Gettysburg 
 Address other than the five known to exist. 
 
 The five authentic copies of the Gettysburg Address in Presi- 
 dent Lincoln's own handwriting are: (1 and 2) The original, 
 partially penciled manuscript and a complete copy in the Library 
 of Congress; (3) the copy, requested by Lincoln's Gettysburg co- 
 speaker, Edward Everett, which was sold for the benefit of the 
 Old Sanitary Commission (now the Red Cross), which is in 
 the Illinois State Historical Society in Springfield; (4) the copy 
 which was requested by George Bancroft, the historian, (sold 
 for the benefit of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Fair at Baltimore, and 
 now in Cornell University) ; (5) the copy which President Lincoln 
 gave to Bancroft in March, 1864, because the previous copy was 
 written on both sides of a sheet of paper. It is this last copy 
 which was sold at auction in 1950. It was bid in for the sum 
 of $54,000.00 by the Cuban sugar planter and former Cuban 
 Ambassador to the United States, Oscar B. Cintas. Upon his 
 death, Cintas provided for the transfer of this document to the 
 United States Government. This fifth copy of the Gettysburg 
 Address is now in the White House in Washington. 
 
 There is fairly good evidence, however, that a sixth copy of 
 the Address was written by the President. This copy is missing 
 and forgotten by Lincoln scholars. 
 
 Over the years, I have never stopped hunting down clues of 
 this vanished copy of the Gettysburg Address. 
 
 Ten years ago, Blumhaven Library and Gallery offered a 
 $5,000.00 reward to anyone who could locate the document. I 
 was instrumental in forming a committee to promote this search. 
 The members of the committee were Dr. Roy P. Basler, then 
 director of the Abraham Lincoln Association of Illinois, and now 
 with the Library of Congress; Dr. Louis A. Warren, of the 
 Lincoln National Life Foundation, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana; and 
 
 21 
 
the late distinguished attorney and Lincoln scholar, Benjamin 
 Barondess. The committee's job was to determine the authen- 
 ticity of the copy of the Lincoln's Gettysburg Address if and when 
 it turned up. 
 
 As to the $5,000.00 reward, this was available to the finder 
 who would submit the manuscript for inspection. It was not an 
 offer to purchase the document, but a reward for merely locat- 
 ing it. 
 
 The facts which justify my belief that there was a sixth copy 
 of the Address written by President Lincoln may be summarized 
 as follows: 
 
 As is well known, President Lincoln was invited to the dedica- 
 tion of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg by Judge David 
 Wills, acting as a special agent of Pennsylvania's war Governor 
 Andrew Gurtin. 
 
 After the delivery of the address by the President, the first 
 person to request a copy was David Wills. Subsequently, he wrote 
 to the President asking that "the original manuscript of the 
 dedicatory remarks delivered here be sent, so they may be pre- 
 served with other records" of the ceremonies which took place 
 at Gettysburg on November 19th, 1863. 
 
 There is no doubt that President Lincoln duly received the 
 request for the copy of the Address. He was not the kind of person 
 who ignored such a request. He had no reason to neglect such 
 a request or refuse it. The White House records show that Presi- 
 dent Lincoln did receive a request for a copy of the Address 
 from Judge Wills. The personal records of John Hay, Lincoln's 
 private secretary, also show that the President did comply with 
 the request. 
 
 Now, is it reasonable to suppose that if the White House sent 
 the copy to Gettysburg, Wills did not receive it? If he did receive 
 it, what has become of it? Nothing further has been heard of it 
 other than the record above mentioned. It has simply vanished. 
 
 In further examining this situation, it is well to bear in mind 
 that Judge Wills was not the kind of man to misplace, dispose 
 of, or lose a document of the type in question. Wills was a 
 lawyer who studied under Pennsylvania's noted educator, Thad- 
 
 22 
 
deus Stevens, becoming Director of the bank at Gettysburg 
 and later becoming President Judge of the 42nd Judicial District, 
 comprising Adams and Fulton Counties of the State. He also 
 helped found the Gettysburg Railroad Co. and served as its 
 attorney, secretary, and director. A man of this type has organized 
 methods and is systematic in his habits. He made the request 
 of the President, and he must have realized the value of the 
 document he was seeking. So it is natural to assume he took 
 mighty good care of it. 
 
 Judge Wills died in 1894. His descendants, evidently tired 
 of paying storage costs, destroyed some of his papers in 1916. 
 It is possible, of course, that one of the papers destroyed was 
 Lincoln's Address; although I don't believe it. The surviving 
 grandchildren of Judge Wills, in Philadelphia and Baltimore, 
 had replicas of the address, or what they called photographic 
 copies of it in their possession as late as 1957. They were aware 
 that there was a search for the document; they were enthusias- 
 tically cooperating and were well aware of the financial value of 
 the document, having heard that one copy brought $54,000.00 
 at a New York auction. They were also impressed by the $5,000 
 reward for finding or producing the document. 
 
 If anyone else but the relatives knew of the whereabouts of 
 this missing document, it is unthinkable that they would keep 
 it secret. So, I contend that somewhere in an attic, or a trunk, 
 or a vault, or slipped into a book, the document must still exist. 
 
 The reward of $5,000.00 offered by Blumhaven Library, after 
 ten years, remains unclaimed. It was finally withdrawn. Some 
 three dozen applicants possessing documents they believed to be 
 or represented to them to be authentic originals of the missing 
 Gettysburg Address, showed up at Blumhaven. One lady from 
 Kentucky called on the long distance phone and insisted on 
 bring her precious document to Philadelphia. How long have you 
 had it and how did you acquire it, I asked. 
 
 "I got the paper from my Mother and she got it from my 
 Grandmother," said the lady over the phone. ''Everybody around 
 here knows that my Grandmother was a chambermaid at the 
 White House during the Civil War. One night as she entered 
 
 23 
 
Mr. Lincoln's study to clean it up, she noticed the President 
 pacing up and down; then writing something. Some of the sheets 
 he tore up. One particular one he crumpled and threw it in the 
 waste-basket. This one my Grandmother picked up next morning. 
 She straightened it out and kept it carefully because she had a 
 great love for Mr. Lincoln, although she didn't know the impor- 
 tance of the paper." 
 
 Couldn't you send me a photostatic copy of it? I asked. No, I'll 
 bring you the real thing. So she arrived with a husky body-guard 
 to protect the document she was bringing, and the cash she 
 expected to collect as the reward. Sadly enough, what she had 
 was nothing but a facsimile on yellow printed paper, and a poor 
 lithograph job at that. Others were equally disappointing. All the 
 result of the publicity about the reward for the missing copy. 
 Gullible, uninformed householders, mostly elderly people who 
 sincerely believed they had found the missing document, turned 
 up from time to time and had to be handled with tact and sym- 
 pathy. Glues are still being followed up. The trail, however, has 
 
 cooled off considerably. 
 
 * -x- # 
 
 A WORD TO OWNERS OF 
 HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS 
 
 "Bear in mind that if you own historical manuscripts, 
 you have a real and moral obligation to make them 
 available to students who need them. Don't "sit on" 
 things! It is not up to those who are privileged care- 
 takers of these materials to decide who is worthy to see 
 them and who is not — a librarian or a curator should 
 not attempt to "play God". He must protect his manu- 
 scripts from cranks and crack-pots, but he should never 
 allow himself to be placed in the position of trying to 
 say who is the better scholar and should therefore have 
 favored or exclusive access to manuscripts, and who is 
 not worthy of the privilege." — Remarks by David 
 R. Mearns, Chief, Manuscript Division, Library of 
 Congress. 
 
 24 
 
"BREVITY— ACCURACY—BREVITY 
 AND SOME GEE-WHIZ" 
 
 or 
 
 How would you write the newspaper story of what happened 
 at Gettysburg, Pa., on November 19th, 1863? 
 
 In the album of my memories, there is no picture of myself 
 more fascinating than when I was a sassy cub reporter on THE 
 NEW YORK EVENING MAIL, defying my city editor to fire 
 me. After holding down a reporter's job on the ST. LOUIS 
 REPUBLIC for some seven months, my newspaper career in 
 New York began in September 1906 and terminated in October 
 1907. The severance from the EVENING MAIL was involuntary. 
 
 If you don't think that's unusual, you are probably the type 
 who wouldn't raise an eyebrow at my attempt to write in 1963, 
 an eyewitness account of what happened at Gettysburg on 
 November 19th, 1863. 
 
 Before I draft the dispatch about the Gettysburg Address and 
 the ceremonies at the dedication of the cemetery there, however, 
 I want to mention some of my associates on THE NEW YORK 
 EVENING MAIL just before my detachment from that paper 
 in 1907. 
 
 On the MAIL at that time were some outstanding figures such 
 as HOMER DAVENPORT, renowned artist, long remembered 
 for his dramatic sketches of horses; GRANTLAND RICE, famed 
 sports writer; FRANKLIN P. ADAMS, beloved columnist; 
 PERCY GUSHING, short story writer; HENRY L. STOD- 
 DART, managing editor of the paper and a historian of distinc- 
 tion; GEORGE T. HUGHES, my city editor, a Hearst alumnus 
 and as brash as they make them; JULIAN ROSENTHAL, whose 
 by-line stories of the sensational Thaw trial won him recognition 
 as a top drawer reporter; WESTBROOK PEGLER, the iras- 
 cible one; and "RUBE" GOLDBERG, the famous and enduring 
 cartoonist, then graduating from a copy boy to a sports writer, 
 specializing in reporting and illustrating amateur prize fights. 
 
 25 
 
Over the desk of city editor Hughes hung this framed slogan: 
 
 'BREVITY— ACCURACY— BREVITY" 
 
 As those catch words spelled out the basic editorial policy of 
 the paper, they commanded, more or less, respectful adherence 
 from the reporterial staff, — that is, until one of the boys sneaked 
 in after hours and pasted a sticker under the slogan reading, 
 
 "AND SOME GEE-WHIZ!" 
 
 And that embellishment of the slogan was never removed. 
 So, now 57 years later, I ask myself: 
 
 (a) How did the reporters "cover" the dedication ceremonies 
 at Gettysburg on November 19th, 1863? 
 
 (b) If the event had taken place in 1963 instead of 1863, how 
 would I "cover" it in my best journalistic style? 
 
 Answering the first question, the "news story" that was put on 
 the wires by the reporters who "covered" the dedication cere- 
 monies on November 19, 1863, was completely free of suspense or 
 emotion-stirring features. The dispatch summarized the speeches 
 delivered there, oivino- the barest outline of what President Lincoln 
 and the "foremost orator" of the day, Edward Everett said there; 
 listed the V.I.P.'s who were there for the occasion; and described 
 the weather and the crowds which jammed the small Pennsylvania 
 town. 
 
 As to the second question, my spot-story, would of course an- 
 swer all the pertinent questions about the event: where, when, 
 by whom, why, who else and how. As a so-called "eye witness to 
 history," I would file a dispatch which, if it wasn't edited, re- 
 written, or altered by the city-editor, would read something like 
 this: 
 
 GETTYSBURG, Pa. Nov. 20, 1863.— President Abraham 
 Lincoln, speaking at the dedication of the National Soldiers' 
 Cemetery here, yesterday called for "a new birth of freedom" and 
 for maintenance of "government of the people, for the people 
 and by the people." 
 
 Gathered at the scene of last July's major battle, more than 
 15,000 persons heard the President urge Americans to dedicate 
 
 26 
 
themselves '"to the great task remaining before us" — suppression 
 of the secessionist movement. 
 
 In a surprisingly brief address, Mr. Lincoln reminded the crowd 
 that the United States has been "conceived in liberty and dedi- 
 cated to the proposition that all men are created equal" and that 
 "a great civil war" is now testing whether a nation of those ideals 
 can long endure." 
 
 Yesterday's mild fall weather was perfect for the ceremony set- 
 ting aside 17 acres for what the President called "the final resting 
 place" of the men who fell at Gettysburg. Members of the Presi- 
 dent's Cabinet, governors of the several northern states which 
 are financing the cemetery, military leaders, foreign diplomats 
 and thousands of plain people converged on this village to hear 
 the President and the main speaker of the day, the Hon. Edward 
 Everett of Massachusetts. 
 
 Dr. Everett spoke for two hours. He pointed out the catastrophe 
 that would have befallen the Union if Confederate Gen. Robert 
 E. Lee had won a victory in his invasion of Pennsylvania last 
 summer. And he recounted the three-day battle in detail, basing 
 his account on reports by Gen. George G. Meade, commander of 
 the victorious Army of the Potomac, and other Union officers. 
 
 Dr. Everett bitterly blamed the current war on a small but 
 powerful clique of wealthy Southerners. 
 
 Dr. Everett insisted that the common bonds of language, reli- 
 gion, history and ancestry between the North and South are 
 strong enough to overcome any bitterness brought about by the 
 war, once the power of Confederate leaders is broken. 
 
 By comparison, the President's address was very brief — only a 
 few moments were required for him to deliver it. Like Dr. Everett, 
 he praised the devotion of the men who died at Gettysburg and 
 whose bodies are now being reinterred in the new cemetery. Their 
 actions will always be remembered, Mr. Lincoln said. And he 
 suggested that "we here highly resolve that these dead shall have 
 not died in vain." 
 
 Col. Ward Hill Lamon, marshal of the District of Columbia, 
 introduced President Lincoln. 
 
 27 
 
Benjamin B. French, custodian of public buildings in Wash- 
 ington, introduced Dr. Everett. A hymn written by French espe- 
 cially for the occasion was sung by the Baltimore Glee Club 
 following the main address. 
 
 And now a thrilling Post Script to my cub reporter story. Among 
 the survivors of that illustrious crew on The 1907 Mail, is "Rube" 
 Goldberg. He is as dynamic as ever and a perfectionist in his draw- 
 ings. Last year Rube remembered cub reporter Blum. He sent me 
 the original drawing of his 1962 Lincoln cartoon. It is a magnifi- 
 cent study of Lincoln's compassionate and expressive face. Stand- 
 ing beside Goldberg's drawing is Uncle Sam, holding a brush and 
 pallet in the act of painting the picture of Lincoln. The drawing 
 is entitled "HIS MASTERPIECE." It has an inscription "To my 
 friend, Herman Blum, with affectionate regards." I have duly 
 framed this picture and it occupies a place of honor in the 
 Blumhaven Gallery, alongside of a 1904 Davenport cartoon of 
 
 Teddy Roosevelt being led by Lincoln. 
 
 # -x- # 
 
 GHOST WRITERS, PLEASE NOTE 
 
 Historians have never asked,- "who wrote the Gettys- 
 burg address?" The testimony as to who wrote it is be- 
 yond doubt. Lincoln had no ghost writers. He wrote the 
 address without the aid of copy writers, punctuation 
 correcters or researchers. The theme of the speech, the 
 idea for the message, its brevity, its phraseology, its 
 moving eloquence were all Mr. Lincoln's. 
 
 * * * 
 
 TV TECHNICIAN'S COMMENTS 
 "Mr. Lincoln, the critics will probably give you hell 
 for not using your allotted time at Gettysburg. Whoever 
 heard of a three-minute speech? That abrasive voice of 
 yours we can get by with, providing our tuning device 
 works right at the moment. What, no make up at all? 
 Well, maybe you'll be all right. You won't stand for 
 shaving off your beard? Guess we'll let it go — and that 
 shawl, stovepipe hat, and string tie — they are all right, 
 too." 
 
 28 
 
UMBRELLAS VS. PARASOLS 
 AT GETTYSBURG 
 
 What kind of a day was it on November 19th, 1863, when Lincoln 
 delivered his memorable address at Gettysburg? 
 
 There are very few photographs in existance today, which por- 
 tray historical events when and as they took place 100 years ago. 
 One of these rareties — a revealing photograph involving a dra- 
 matic story, is part of the Blumhaven Library collection. This 
 picture is a panoramic view — the actual photograph — of the dedi- 
 cation ceremony at Gettysburg, taken by the Associated Press 
 photographer on November 19th, 1863. 
 
 From the negative of this photograph, which has been pre- 
 served all these years, a print was recently developed by Fabian 
 Bacharach, son of the photographer who made the exposure on 
 his tripod, hood covered camera at Gettysburg in 1863. This print 
 from the original negative was made for Judge Joseph Varbalow, 
 of Camden, N. J., who, on behalf of his gracious wife and him- 
 self, presented it to Blumhaven Library as a token of esteem. 
 
 When presenting the photograph, Judge Varbalow pointed out 
 that evidently the photographer could not get near enough to 
 the speakers' platform to take a picture of Lincoln. However, he 
 did succeed in taking a clear picture of the crowd. "Ncte the 
 preponderance of women in the audience," said Judge Varbalow, 
 "which undoubtedly was due to the fact that many of the men 
 were away engaged in the tasks of war. I also call your attention 
 to the many umbrellas shown which indicates that the weather 
 was rainy. The crude elementary platform and the roughness of 
 the surroundings are characteristic of all the things that sur- 
 rounded Lincoln, but whose grandeur surmounted all of the 
 physical obstacles and endowed all the surroundings with a rich- 
 ness and a glory that is ineffable." 
 
 Four years ago the class in American history from the Frank- 
 ford High School of Philadelphia visited Blumhaven Library. 
 
 29 
 
The group was led by Dr. Benjamin J. Novak, Assistant Principal, 
 and Mrs. Paul Schlecter, teacher of history and economics. As 
 was customary on these occasions, I would describe to the class 
 our collection of Presidential autographs and historical docu- 
 ments. Then I would make it a point to show the class a few of 
 the more interesting manuscripts. To demonstrate its significance, 
 I passed around this strikingly framed photograph of the Gettys- 
 burg dedication. 
 
 Photograph depicting crowd and speaker's platform at Gettysburg cere- 
 monies, taken on November 19, 1863. Copy made from the original 
 Associated Press negative, part of Blumhaven Library collection. 
 
 After the class had passed the picture around, I asked for a 
 volunteer to express an opinion as to what they learned from the 
 Gettysburg photograph that their history books did not teach 
 them. Various suggestions were made. Outstanding among the 
 comments were the remarks of one keen blond young lady. 
 
 "The picture shows a closely packed crowd, perhaps 5000 
 people," she said. "That bunch of horses hitched to covered 
 wagons seems to have been arranged to sort of fence in the crowd. 
 
 30 
 
I also see a mule with no wagon or saddle. The women are wear- 
 ing stylish looking capes and hoop skirts. Many of them have their 
 parasols opened up." 
 
 At the conclusion of her hesitant little speech, I felt obliged to 
 point out that the picture was taken in the middle of November; 
 that at the beginning of winter in the region of the Allegheny 
 Mountains, there is usually drizzly or rainy weather at that time; 
 that what the young lady saw were not parasols, but umbrellas; 
 that it was probably raining at that time. 
 
 The class giggled and the young lady sat down humiliated. 
 But there was something about her observations that made me 
 wonder. 
 
 Some time after the Frankford High School visited Blum- 
 haven, I drove out to attend the 96th Anniversary of the Battle 
 of Gettysburg. During the trip a steady rain set in. When we 
 arrived in Gettysburg it was pouring. The rain came down in 
 sheets; the wind turned our umbrellas inside out and we were 
 literally drenched. 
 
 After the ceremonies we had to change our clothes and we went 
 out to have dinner with some of the distinguished quests who 
 were there for the occasion. When we sat down and the conversa- 
 tion lagged, I talked about that photograph and the strange con- 
 clusion of what it revealed to that higrh school student in Phila- 
 delphia. Everybody seemed interested in the story. They all 
 chuckled, but Professor Fortenbaugh, of Gettysburg College. He 
 seemed disturbed, and fixing a pair of sharp eyes on me said, "It 
 may interest you to know that we have kept meteorological records 
 here at the College since 1860, and only recently checked to 
 see what kind of a day it was on November 19th, 1863." 
 
 "My Goodness! Tell us what kind of a day it was," I said. 
 
 "It was a mild, clear, bright dav ," said Professor Fortenbaus,h. 
 
 The following year, on Lincoln's birthday, I appeared before 
 the assembly of the Frankford High School to deliver a Lincoln 
 address. There were some 900 students in the auditorium. Before 
 starting my speech, I asked if the young lady who had said there 
 were parasols in the Gettysburg photograph, was in the audience. 
 There was a stir as the voune ladv arose. 
 
 31 
 
"Please feel at ease," I said. "This is no inquisition. When you 
 said that the ladies in the Gettysburg picture at Blumhaven were 
 carrying parasols, you were right. The class had no right to laugh 
 at you, and I now want to publicly apologize to you." Thunderous 
 applause followed. Then I told the story about our visit to Gettys- 
 burg and what Professor Fortenbaugh had said about the bright, 
 sunny day on November 19, 1863. 
 
 Two other corrections had to be made. One was to notify Judge 
 Varbalow that it was parasols, not umbrellas, that he saw in the 
 Gettysburg picture. The other was to change my so-called "eye- 
 witness" newspaper account which appears here under the head- 
 ing, "Brevity,-Accuracy-Brevity" to read: "Yesterday's weather 
 was mild and perfect for the ceremonies." 
 
 LOOKING FOR ANOTHER LINCOLN 
 
 There are many lively stories about Abraham Lincoln. 
 One of these, sure to fire the imagination, is this: 
 
 Once there was a frustrated soul in Purgatory who had 
 but one burning desire. He wanted to work his way up to 
 heaven. St. Peter duly considered the application, but 
 decided first to try his endurance and test the sincerity of 
 his desire. Accordingly, St. Peter assigned him some gruel- 
 ing tasks. The first of these was the job of removing a 
 high mountain with a two-pronged pitchfork. It took the 
 condemned one 2000 years to accomplish this. "You did 
 very well," said St. Peter, "but don't get over elated; that 
 was just a sample of the burdens you will have from now 
 on. Over yonder there is a big lake. Go and empty it 
 into that ocean bailing out the water with this teaspoon." 
 
 That job took 5000 years. After completing that task 
 he approached the pearly gates and hopefully accosted 
 St. Peter. "No, no, not yet," said St. Peter. "There is one 
 more important job for you. This time, go out into the 
 world and find me another man like Abe Lincoln." The 
 poor soul searched and searched everywhere. He has been 
 gone 25,000 years and hasn't come back yet. 
 
 32 
 
THE BIBLE'S ROLE 
 IN AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 The role played by the Bible in our history, was demonstrated 
 recently with a collection of important editions of the Great 
 Book at Blumhaven Library before a group of Frankford min- 
 isters, and the Book Discussion group of Presbyterian ministers 
 headed by Dr. Theodore G. Meek, of Mt. Airy, Pa., moderator 
 of the Church, and Dr. Frank A. Stroup, secretary of the Phila- 
 delphia Presbytery. 
 
 In outlining the purpose of the exhibit, Herman Blum, Director 
 of Blumhaven Library presented three evaluations of the great 
 Book ; ( 1 ) from a notorious gangster, currently fighting deporta- 
 tion, who declared that the authorities "had nuttin' on him," but 
 of course, "he wasn't the kind of guy who made a livin' sellin' 
 Bibles to the Church people." (2) from the Soviet dictionary, 
 which defined religion as something "full of dark hints, legends, 
 contradictions and historical mistakes." (3) from the proceedings 
 of the Congress of the United States, which in 1782 passed a 
 resolution endorsing the Philadelphia printed Robert Aiken Bible 
 and "recommending this edition of the Bible to all the inhabitants 
 of the country." 
 
 "In one of these three examples," said Mr. Blum, "you have an 
 unconscious tribute to the validity of the great Book from an 
 underworld character, who regards 'Bible selling' as giving one 
 respectability. In the second, a ruthless dictatorship, which re- 
 quires the denial of God, to effectuate the enslavement of its 
 people. The faith that springs from the Bible, has always been a 
 vital element of strength against tyranny. And in the third case, 
 here in our country, we have a forthright governmental recogni- 
 tion of the need of spiritual guidance, which the Bible furnishes. 
 And this is based on a national longing to reverently use our 
 freedom and to employ it in the maintenance of justice among 
 men and nations." 
 
 The display at Blumhaven traces the Evolution of the Bible. 
 There were shown miniature manuscripts written by friars during 
 the 13th Century; a Coptic Bible, hand-printed and illuminated 
 
 33 
 
on animal skin parchment said to have been formerly owned by 
 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia; the Erasmus Bible of 1522; 
 the suppressed Luther Bible of 1522 with an inscription by 
 Martin Luther; the Spanish Bible of 1569; the 1616 and 1640 
 edition of the great King James version of the Bible; the mag- 
 nificent Hieronymus S. Epistolae et Tractatus, printed in Venice 
 by Andreas Torresanus, in 1488. This is the famous Saint Jerome 
 tract, its earliest known translation into Latin; the Saint Jerome 
 translation of the Bible (der heilige Hieronymus) of 1514, the 
 first to reach America; the Epistolae Hieronymus (St. Jerome's 
 Epistles) Venice, Dominus Pincius, 1496; the IUSTINI Extrogi 
 Pompeii, 1559; the "Bishops" holie Bible, 1568, printed by 
 Darlow and Moule, first edition, "Conteynyng the oldoe Tefta- 
 ment and the newe"; the Great Biblia Sacra, Antwerp, 1657; 
 the Antwerpiae Biblia Latina of 1570; the Vinnegar Bible, 1717, 
 famed for its beauty and notorious for its inaccuracy; the Ephrata, 
 Pennsylvania, "Blutische" Martyr German Bible, 1747; Nouum 
 Testament, in Latin and Greek, side by side, printed in London, 
 1598; the three editions of the Christopher Sauer Bible, 1743, 
 1763 and 1776, printed in Germantown, Philadelphia. 
 
 Blumhaven has two beautiful copies of the Aitken Bible, known 
 as the "Bible of the Revolution." This was the first English print- 
 ing of the scriptures in America. The Continental Congress, en- 
 dorsed it as a "pious and laudable work" and recommended the 
 Bible to the American people, by means of a joint resolution of 
 the House and Senate, signed by Thomas Jefferson and President 
 George Washington, which resolution Mr. Aitken duly printed 
 as a frontispiece in the Bible. 
 
 The Rev. L. Berkley Kines, S.J., head of the History 
 Department of St. Joseph's College, Philadelphia, de- 
 lights in telling this Civil War story: "Both my grand- 
 parents were ardent rebel partisans. In their Baltimore 
 home, three words beginning with "L" were never to be 
 mentioned during the disturbance between the States. 
 These were: LUCIFER, LUTHER, and LINCOLN." 
 
 34 
 
BOOK REVIEWS 
 
 THE LOOM 
 
 The Story of the Jacquard 
 Weaver's Art as applied to the 
 modern Aubusson tapestry is 
 pleasantly unfolded by Herman 
 Blum in his new illustrated book 
 called ''The Loom Has A 
 Brain". This story is written in 
 light, readable manner and 
 touches upon a variety of inter- 
 esting anecdotes of textile his- 
 tory. 
 
 Dr. Blum, affectionately 
 known throughout the textile 
 industry as "Bossie" Blum, has 
 actively participated in the in- 
 dustry's growth even to the 
 point of being instrumental in 
 the creation of a new textile 
 word — RAYON — now offi- 
 cially accepted as part of the 
 English language. Furthermore, 
 Herman Blum is abundantly 
 gifted as both artist and writer. 
 As an artist he has had two ex- 
 hibitions of his attractive water 
 colors of New England and Ari- 
 zona landscapes in a Philadel- 
 phia art gallery. As a writer, he 
 is remembered for his "One 
 Star Final," a fascinating book 
 about his experiences as a cub 
 reporter on leading newspapers 
 of the country at the turn of 
 the century. Dr. Blum recently 
 
 HAS A BRAIN 
 
 completed a scholarly book 
 about the unpublished personal 
 letters of the presidents of the 
 United States, from Washing- 
 ton to Eisenhower. 
 
 Herman Blum, as chairman 
 of the Board of Craftex Mills, 
 Inc., of Penna., continues his 
 interest and activity in the busi- 
 ness he founded, although his 
 son, Robert B. Blum, the presi- 
 dent of the Company, and his 
 son-in-law, Simmon J. Seder, 
 treasurer and plant manager, 
 shoulder the actual responsibil- 
 ity of the Management. 
 
 A lifetime of dedicated warm 
 interest and service is implied 
 in "Bossie" Blum's simple state- 
 ment that, "All my life I have 
 enjoyed the romance of business 
 to the fullest." 
 
 The 75th birthday of "Bossie" 
 Blum was marked during the 
 annual meeting of the Lincoln- 
 Civil War Society of Phila. on 
 January 12, 1959. Mr. Blum is 
 senior vice president of the 
 L-C.W.S. of Phila. 
 
 Guest of honor at the meet- 
 ing was General Ulysses S. 
 Grant, III. — by Josephine 
 Marie McCormick, Universal 
 Observer. 
 
 35 
 
WHERE DID THE LOOM 
 GET ITS BRAIN? 
 
 We are not sure we are any 
 closer to solving the problem 
 imposed by the title of the book, 
 than we were before we began 
 it. Although this is a small vol- 
 most amazing information 
 ume, it contains some of the 
 about weaving, looms, textiles, 
 and man himself. 
 
 Most amazing, however, is 
 the energy, the curiosity, and 
 inquisitiveness of the author 
 who is in his late 70s and still as 
 young in his thirst and quest for 
 knowledge as a college sopho- 
 more. He's got a yen, and I 
 don't suppose he will ever be 
 dissuaded, even unto death. 
 And, why should he be? His 
 idea is as good (and as close to 
 being proved or disproved) as 
 hundreds of others propounded 
 by anthropologists down 
 through the years. And there 
 just might be more truth than 
 conjecture in his theory! 
 
 Dr. Blum, on the title page, 
 asks several questions, which he 
 partially answers. 
 
 He wants to know: Why 
 were the ancient weavings of 
 the Copts of Egypt and the 
 Incas of Peru identical in tex- 
 ture, color and design? 
 
 Did these two peoples, 7,000 
 miles apart, possess the same 
 culture and belong to the same 
 ethnic group? 
 
 Where did the aboriginal In- 
 cas come from? How, when and 
 where did they learn to weave 
 textile that duplicated those 
 woven by the Copts of Egypt 
 during the second to the seventh 
 centuries A.D.? 
 
 Dr. Blum became interested 
 in these comparisons and the 
 questions which kept bobbing 
 up as, over the years, he gradu- 
 ally assembled a collection of 
 ancient Egyptian and Peruvian 
 fabrics. Not content just to own 
 these and put them on display 
 in his library and gallery in 
 Philadelphia, along with his 
 varied collections of Washing- 
 ton, Lincoln mementoes (mostly 
 original letters and signatures) 
 of all of the nation's presi- 
 dents, his excellent collection 
 of Bibles which has a room of 
 its own at Blumhaven, he had 
 to begin taking them apart to 
 find out what made 'em tick. 
 
 And the deeper he got into 
 the study, the more he was con- 
 vinced there had to be a con- 
 nection. Not one just to let the 
 
 36 
 
matter drop, he began trying to nection and affinity between the 
 
 get hold of a theory which 
 would hold up scientifically and 
 yet fit in with his determination 
 that there was a definite con- 
 
 Copts and the Incas, even if 
 they were several hundred years 
 apart. — by Mitzi Zipf, Arizona 
 Republic and Phoenix Gazette. 
 
 "ONE STAR FINAL" 
 
 HIGHLIGHTS TESSELLATED CAREER 
 
 OF A CUB REPORTER 
 
 Best described as a narrative 
 of men and events, at the turn 
 of the century, the new book 
 ''One Star Final" recently pub- 
 lished by Herman Blum, Chair- 
 man of the Board of Craftex 
 Mills Inc. of Penna., is one 
 of those delightful volumes des- 
 tined to make pleasant reading 
 during any time of the year. 
 
 As the author indicates in 
 the preface "this book is not 
 intended to turn the tide of his- 
 tory, nor to upset the opinions 
 already formed as to the great 
 and near great of the period 
 covered" but it does contain as 
 fascinating an evening's reading 
 as it has been possible to find 
 during the past several years. 
 
 The informative stories and 
 anecdotes of the country just 
 emerging from the horse and 
 buggy days are detailed narra- 
 tive pictures and in some cases 
 have the air of belonging more 
 properly to our time than to 
 
 his own. As a cub reporter 
 Herman Blum's insatiable curi- 
 osity for truth and the meat of 
 a story ended in many amusing 
 adventures. Many of these make 
 rollicking good stories for any 
 dinner table. And for members 
 of the fabric fraternity the 
 story about "Buymanship versus 
 Salesmanship" is one of those 
 priceless anecdotes that becomes 
 more amusing with re-reading. 
 The story of the man-made 
 textile fiber, Rayon, is well re- 
 corded in an informative chap- 
 ter outlining the highlights of 
 this fiber. Evan Cal Coolidge, 
 who claimed he could not find 
 the word rayon in the diction- 
 ary, was delicately chided by 
 the author who referred him to 
 the then-current cross word 
 puzzles for a definition. There 
 is also the fascinating adventure 
 story of the cub reporter's dar- 
 ing interview with the Steeple 
 Jack on the flag pole of the un- 
 
 37 
 
finished 600 feet high Broadway 
 Skyscraper. The fruit of at least 
 50 years of inspired living and 
 thinking is contained in this 
 excellent and fascinating cub 
 reporter's reveries. 
 
 "One Star Final" is by no 
 means an attempt to write an 
 autobiography. It does not de- 
 tract from Mr. Blum's absorb- 
 ing interest in "Americana" 
 which he features in Blumhaven 
 Library. The library which he 
 
 founded and directs contains a 
 wide range of literature, with 
 special emphasis on Bibles of 
 American origin. There is also 
 a wide range of autograph let- 
 ters of our Presidents there. Mr. 
 Blum's collection impresses one 
 as a sincere attempt to preserve 
 the knowledge of the past, to 
 honor the pioneers of our Re- 
 public who kept the torch of 
 liberty blazing. — by Harry D. 
 Coyne, Upholstery Magazine. 
 
 HISTORY AND TRUTH 
 
 Being the PREFACE for my 
 book, KNOW YOUR PRESI- 
 DENTS, due to be published 
 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 
 Inc. 
 
 "Pilate Saith unto Him, what 
 is Truth?" — The answer to this 
 question of the Roman procu- 
 rator, Pontius Pilate, is nowhere 
 to be found in the scriptures. 
 This is a matter of profound 
 regret. 
 
 The optimist who has as- 
 sured us that Truth will out, 
 even in an affidavit, must cer- 
 tainly have been a lawyer; few 
 historians would commit them- 
 selves to so cheerful a dogma. 
 
 Polybius, about 2100 years 
 ago, wrote: "It is natural for a 
 good man to love his country 
 
 and his friends, and to hate the 
 enemies of both. But when he 
 writes history he must abandon 
 such feelings and be prepared 
 to praise enemies who deserve 
 it and to censure the dearest 
 and most intimate friends." 
 
 Half a century later, Cicero 
 stated: "The first law is that 
 the historian shall never dare 
 to set down what is false; the 
 second, that he shall never dare 
 to conceal the truth; the third, 
 that there shall be no suspicion 
 in his work of either favoritism 
 or prejudice." 
 
 Lucian held, about year 170, 
 that "the historian should be 
 fearless and incorruptible; a 
 man of independence, loving 
 frankness and truth; one who, 
 
 38 
 
as the poet says, calls a fig a fig 
 and a spade a spade." 
 
 Voltaire warned that "the 
 man who ventures to write con- 
 temporary history must expect 
 to be attacked both for every- 
 thing he has said and every- 
 thing he has not said. History 
 can be well written only in a 
 free country/' 
 
 Anatole France believed, that 
 '"all the historical books which 
 contain no lies are extremely 
 tedious." This thought Dostoev- 
 sky appeared to accept when 
 he wrote, "for truth to seem 
 more probable, a falsehood 
 must be mixed in with it." And, 
 although he later denied it, 
 Henry Ford was reported in 
 1915 to have muttered: "His- 
 tory is bunk." 
 
 Revelations by Autograph 
 Letters 
 
 Historians have long over- 
 looked or minimized the revela- 
 tions of the personal writings of 
 people prominent in our politi- 
 cal life today. It is only recently 
 that they have begun to look 
 into the problem of preserving 
 current history by locating and 
 cataloguing these intimate pri- 
 vate papers and letters files. Be- 
 sides being one of the most 
 authentic sources out of which 
 final history is written, episto- 
 
 lary remains preserve a unique 
 intimacy unmatched by the 
 most eloquent state papers. 
 How then, could scholars have 
 based the evaluation of a his- 
 toric figure solely upon his offi- 
 cial documents, state papers, 
 and formal writings or speeches, 
 when such limitation frequently 
 compelled them to accept what 
 was all along intended as self- 
 serving testimony? 
 
 When I undertook to write 
 my book, Know Your Presi- 
 dents, I waded through the 
 state papers and political state- 
 ments of all the presidents of 
 the United States. These docu- 
 ments are impressive and inter- 
 esting. But far more exciting 
 and fascinating are the personal 
 letters of our presidents, many 
 of which are part of the Blum- 
 haven collection. These hereto- 
 fore unpublished private letters 
 offer a fairly accurate answer 
 as to what our presidents dared 
 to write and sign when they 
 were sure the recipient of their 
 communication would keep it 
 confidential. Also what they 
 wrote on the spur of the mo- 
 ment. Certainly what they 
 thought and how they reacted 
 to the smears of political rivals 
 to the flattery of their friends 
 and designing admirers, to the 
 
 39 
 
plots of personal enemies, to the 
 maneuverings of diplomats and 
 social climbers, to the problems 
 of near and distant relatives, is 
 an absorbing and important 
 part of our history. And this I 
 have endeavored to develop 
 and demonstrate by the objec- 
 tive interpretation of many un- 
 known letters of our presidents, 
 as well as those especially sig- 
 nificant ones that are familiar 
 only to research workers and 
 historians. 
 
 Historical judgments, to a 
 large extent, must be based 
 upon events while they are in 
 the making and not upon the 
 perspective of time, when qual- 
 ified witnesses and pertinent 
 records may no longer be avail- 
 
 able. It is the right and duty of 
 any research worker to question 
 all historians, and to add to, 
 subtract from, or modify their 
 conclusions, as the facts, in his 
 judgment, warrant. The wheat 
 in historical conclusions, should, 
 from time to time, be win- 
 nowed, and the chaff thrown 
 away. 
 
 It is in line with these 
 thoughts that I present in Know 
 Your Presidents, a clarifying 
 selection of their autograph let- 
 ters. Whenever these throw new 
 light upon personalities, events, 
 and times involved, we had bet- 
 ter accept them at face value 
 and modify our concepts of his- 
 tory accordingly. 
 
 40 
 
TESTIMONIALS 
 
 "Dear Herman: 
 
 "I am disposed to address you thus familiarly because it was the 
 way I used to know you when you were beginning to win your 
 spurs journalistically in the old Madison Democrat printing office 
 here and I was similarly engaged in the offices of the State journal. 
 I was quite intrigued to learn, some years ago, through my Lincoln 
 reading of your enriching quest Lincolnwise, and of the growth of 
 your splendid library. I have read your admirable DIGEST, and 
 have wondered at the profound grasp and writing competence 
 that are so strongly indicated by the full contents of your historical 
 publication. The issue, which you have just sent me, is superbly 
 done, and all point with an eye to the utmost authenticity at every 
 point." — Louis W. Bridgman, the late President, Lincoln Fellow- 
 ship of Wisconsin. 
 
 * -3f -x- 
 
 "Your Lincoln items in The Blumhaven Digest were especially 
 pertinent and exciting. I was especially interested in what you 
 called a 'personal identification of author' because I remember a 
 good deal of your activities in Philadelphia politics brought back 
 to me many interesting memories. My interest in Philadelphia 
 politics goes back to the year 1905 when I was still in college, but 
 was acting as secretary to my former teacher Franklin Spencer 
 Edmonds, who during that year was Chairman of the City Party, 
 which for the first time in generations succeeded in defeating the 
 political machines of McNichols, Durham, Vare, Hall Segal and 
 the so-called 'Band of Brothers' who controlled Philadelphia poli- 
 tics for their own selfish ends." — Leon J. Obermayer, for many 
 years, President, Philadelphia Board of Public Education. 
 
 •x- ■& * 
 
 "Your latest number of The Blumhaven Digest is, as all others 
 have been chockful of fascinating material. You are heartily to 
 be congratulated on this effort, which is well organized, factual 
 and a valuable contribution to history." — Dr. Bertram W. Korn, 
 Senior Rabbi, Keneseth Israel Congregation, Philadelphia. 
 
 41 
 
"By a generation of application to the amassing of memorabilia, 
 indeed of the significant documents, of the war; by the creation 
 of a depository available to the scholars and the public generally, 
 and the publication of your unique organ, The Blumhaven 
 Digest; you have earned the thanks of all; but more important, 
 have made a niche for yourself in learning and scholarship." 
 The late distinguished Benjamin Barondess, Esq. 
 
 ■x- * # 
 
 "You may have ended your newspaper career years ago when 
 you were fired from the NEW YORK MAIL, but you still have 
 your ability as a reporter. I was captivated by your Lincoln tav- 
 ern license story, and congratulate you on securing the Volk 
 life mask and the Douglas Volk oil portrait of Lincoln. I was par- 
 ticularly delighted with your account of your adventures on the 
 top of the Singer building. It certainly took a lot of grit to get that 
 interview with the steeple jack and I am glad that you have pre- 
 served it in its entirety with appropriate illustrations. Your account 
 of William Penn on top of the City Hall Tower was extremely 
 interesting as well and the latest development on the Dead Sea 
 Scrolls was interesting, too. Your DIGEST is always very fine and 
 a valuable record. It was a good idea to reprint the newspaper 
 accounts of Lincoln's assassination. Congratulations on your fine 
 magazine and on your success as a collector.'" — R. W. G. Vail, 
 Director, The New York Historical Society. 
 
 # * -x- 
 
 "I carried your Blumhaven Digest with me on a recent flight 
 and enjoyed reading it immensely, particularly your Lincoln re- 
 search articles." — Dr. Daniel A. Poling, Editor Christian Herald 
 
 Magazine. 
 
 •x- -x- -x- 
 
 Citation by the National Hay Fever Relief Association, read by 
 its President, Jacob Licht, at ceremonies held at Bethlehem, New 
 Hampshire, on August 15, 1962. 
 
 "This citation is presented to Herman Blum of Philadelphia 
 with the sincere appreciation of the Officers, Directors and Mem- 
 bership of the National Hay Fever Relief Association in recogni- 
 tion of his dedicated services as Public Relations and Research 
 
 42 
 
Director of the Association. Mr. Blum's management of the Rag- 
 weed Pollen Counting Stations in the White Mountain Region of 
 New Hampshire, has provided scientific and accurate information 
 of the pollen content of the air of this section. The results of his 
 laboratory tests have been widely publicized and this has been of 
 inestimable value to the needy hay fever, allergy and asthmatic 
 sufferers throughout the country, whose gratitude he has earned." 
 
 * * * 
 "We are presenting a group of ancient Peruvian (Incan) 
 fabrics to Blumhaven Library as a token of our esteem for the 
 remarkable cultural efforts emanating from your most notable 
 research activities." — Dr. Bernard Davis, President, Miami 
 Museum of Modern Art. 
 
 "In reference to Lincoln, I speak of Herman Blum in super- 
 lative terms only. His collections of Lincolniana and Civil War 
 material are fabulous and have been viewed by thousands over 
 the years. Mr. Blum is a great American in his own right, an 
 outstanding citizen and one of the most informed men in the 
 world." — Hon. Leo Weinrott, Judge of the Court of Common 
 Pleas No. 5, Philadelphia. 
 
 •x % * 
 
 "What a trained mind can accomplish when it turns from in- 
 dustry to art is demonstrated in the large pastime exhibition of 
 water colors by many-sided Herman Blum, at his spacious mill 
 offices and in his Blumhaven Library and Gallery. In his own work 
 as a textile manufacturer Mr. Blum has come to understand color 
 and design. His paintings, nevertheless, are neither decorative nor 
 stylized, but honest visual reactions of a man who has developed 
 art as a hobby without benefit of formal instruction. Nature ap- 
 peals to him primarily, and his colormood impressions of the 
 White Mountain region in New Hampshire are particularly well 
 handled, emotional in quality, and painted with color sensitivity, 
 as are many of his woodland sketches. His show, however, divides 
 strangely between the technically sophisticated and the near- 
 primitive." — Dorothy Grafly, Art Critic, The Philadelphia Eve- 
 ning Bulletin; Editor of Art-in-Focus. 
 
 43 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 973.7L63N1863GYBL C001 
 
 THE ENDURING IMPACT OF LINCOLN'S GETTYSB 
 
 3 0112 031832675