Bryan S. Bush

My Dear Fellow Readers:
This past Sunday I had a fantastic time at the J. B. Speed Art Museum. I arrived at the museum at 12 am on Sunday in order to be able to check out the new exhibit Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln. If you have not seen the exhibit, I highly recommended it. They have some very rare artifacts, such as Abraham Lincoln’s solid gold pocket watch made by Tiffany’s, his walking stick, his life face mask, a silk ribbon from his coffin. They also have artifacts from Mary Todd Lincoln, Thomas Lincoln, and Robert Todd. They also have artifacts from Col. Frank Wolford, Confederate General Ben Hardin Helm, James Speed, Joshua Speed, and many other Kentucky related artifacts from the Civil War. They also mentioned General Stephen Gano Burbridge! It was nice to see how the exhibit tied together information from my two books on Burbridge and Lincoln and the Speeds.
As for the lecture, I had a good turn out and many of the folks afterwards asked quite alot of good questions. I would like to personally thank Megan Robertson and hope to work with the Speed Museum in the near future again.

My Dear Fellow Readers:

I encourage everyone to attend my speech on Lincoln and the Speeds on Sunday July 12, at 2 PM at the J. B. Speed Art Museum. The lecture coincides with their new exhibit on Abraham Lincoln entitled: Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln, which covers the topics of The Frontier World of Abraham Lincoln,The Lexington World of Young Mary Ann Todd, Lincoln’s Rise, Lincoln and Kentucky at War, Remembering Lincoln Then and Now. Give yourself plenty of time to listen to my lecture and visit the new display on Lincoln. I look forward to meeting everyone.

My Dear Fellow Readers:

I recently attended the reading of Lincoln in Louisville by David Straub. There were many quotes from the play that are very historical. The play has good and bad moments. The play accuratly portrays slave life on a large plantation, and his portrayal of James Speed and Lucy Speed was accurate, but the play portrayed Lincoln as a radical abolitionist in 1841. He fought twice with the overseer of Farmington, and showed Lincoln to be an angry man over the issue of slavery. Although Lincoln did not like the institution of slavery, I don’t think he would have fought with the overseer at the plantation of his friend Joshua Speed. Plus Lincoln argued slavery in front of Joshua Speed, Mary Speed, Lucy Speed and James Speed. Although Lincoln discussed slavery with James at his law office in Louisville, I doubt that Lincoln would have argued slavery in front of his hosts at the plantation. The subject of slavery was like the big gorilla in the room, everyone saw it but no one discussed it.
The play needs to dwell more into the friendship between Lincoln and Joshua Speed. I think with a little more rewriting I think the play could become a lasting tribute to Lincoln and his friendship with the Speeds.

My Dear Fellow Readers:

I encourage everyone to come out tonight at 7:30 PM at the U of L Thrust Theater to watch the unveiling of the newest play on Abraham Lincoln’s visit to Louisville in 1841. After the play there will be a panel discussion with myself, Dr. Blaine Hudson, Dr. Thomas Mackey, and several other professors. This should be a fun night with a good discussion on Lincoln and the Speeds.

My Dear Fellow Readers:
I recently attended the Louisville Before the Civil War Conference at the University of Louisville on May 29 & 30, 2009. The conference meeted and exceeded my expectations. I was hoping to learn more about the freed and enslaved community in Louisville before the Civil War. Dr. Richard Blackett, from Vanderbilt University fave a lecture “Emancipate Yourself: Louisville Slaves and their Quest for Freedom in the 1850’s,” Dr Blaine Hudson, from the University of Louisville gave a lecture entitled “The Free African American Community of Louisville,” Dr. James Horton, from George Washington University gave a lecture on Slavery and the Coming of the Civil War,” Pam Peters gave a lecture on “Portland and New Albany: Portals of the Underground Railroad,” and Pen Bogert gave a lecture on “Multiculturalism, Music and Everyday Life.” Other speakers were from the Filson Club, Locust Grove, and Farmington. I learned about the strong freed black community in Louisville, and learned about William Spralding, James Cunningham, and many others. During the conference, Andrea Pridham from Farmington gave an odd statement, she stated that their was no documentary evidence that Lincoln’s encounter with slaves shackled together on the wharf in 1841 had no lasting effect on his views towards slavery. I must disagree, on August 24, 1855 Lincoln wrote to Joshua Speed on the subject of slavery. He recalled his trip in 1841, and he wrote that the sight of slaves’ condition onboard the steamboat was a “continual torment” to him and that he saw something like it every time he touched the Ohio, or an slave border state. Lincoln stated that the subject of slavery made him miserable. (Lincoln and the Speeds, pg. 40) Lincoln remembered the incident of the slaves he saw in 1841, fifteen years after the incident, but overall the conference was very informative and well worth the money. Next years conference will be on Louisville During the Civil War and I hope to give a lecture at this conference. I have written to Dr. Blaine Hudson, who runs the conference, as to how I may submit a paper and lecture at this conference.

On August 22, at 5:15 Pm I will be signing my two new books on Lincoln and the Speeds and Union General Stephen Gano Burbridge. I will also be unveiling my newest DVD on the tour of the Civil War Museum in Bardstown, Kentucky. The museum is 10,000 square feet and has been ranked the 4th best Civil War museum in the United States. If you have not been I highly recommend the museum. The artifacts alone will knock your socks off. The entire cast of the Broadway Play “The Civil War” will also be at the museum to kick off their play at the Stephen Foster Amphitheater. This looks like a fun event and the museum is open to the public. Hope to see everyone there.

On August 21 at 7:30 PM I will giving a lecture at the Lexington History Museum on Lincoln and the Speeds. I have never been to the museum, so this will be a new experience for me.

My Fellow Readers:

As you may have noticed I have not posted recently on the blog. I have super busy the last couple of weeks. If you have not caught my interview on NPR on State of Affairs, I recommend going to their web site and listening to the interview on my book Lincoln and the Speeds. I was also in Rowan County and did a presentation on General Burbridge. I was really welcomed by the historical society, and had a good time talking to the residents of the county. They have already invited me to come back and do another lecture. Today, I will be in Springfield, Kentucky signing books at the Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks re-enactment of the their wedding at the Lincoln Homestead. I will be there at 2:30 pm, so come on out and see a historic re-enactment and enjoy the beautiful weather.  This coming weekend I will be in Chicago, Illinois and will be doing a virtual booksigning at the Abraham Lincoln Bookstore on Saturday at 12 noon. After that I have a break for the hot days of July, then I will start up again in August. Keeping looking at the web site, we should have another article soon on Guerilla Warfare in Kentucky.

On edit: Here’s a link to the article: “Guerilla Warfare in Kentucky”.

My fellow readers:

This saturday at 2 pm at Joseph Beth Booksellers in Lexington, Ky. I will be on a panel discussing Lincoln. Come by and say Hi. The Southern Kentucky Book Festival went well, I sold quite a few books and met some really nice people at the show.

My fellow readers: Unfortunately the Borders booksigning was a bust, I only sold about six books, but I did meet some nice people from the National Council on History Educators, who were in town for a conference. They told me that the emphasis for their conference was on Lincoln. They even mentioned Joshua Speed’s friendship with Lincoln. Coming up on April 8th at Harrodsburg, Ky at Morgan Row Museum, I will be giving a lecture on Lincoln and the Speeds. I have never been to the Morgan Row museum so it should be an experience. Hope to see some of you there.