THE LINCOLN FORUM
Spring Symposium at Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home
Manchester, VT | May 1–3, 2026
Friday, May 1
Equinox Hotel, Colonnade Room
| 5:00 PM | Cash Bar |
| 6:00 PM | Dinner |
| 7:00 PM |
Welcome: Harold Holzer, Chairman National Anthem: Massey McKinley |
| Lois Romano in conversation with Jason Emerson: Mary Lincoln, Inconvenient Widow |
Saturday, May 2
Lincoln Hall, Hildene
| 8:30 AM | Continental Breakfast |
| 9:00 AM | Welcome: Craig Gemmel, President of Hildene |
| 9:30 AM | David Kent: Lincoln in New England: From Human Rights to Civil Rights |
| 10:30 AM | Shawn Harrison: Mary Takes Manchester: Mrs. Lincoln’s 1864 Visit |
| 11:30 AM | Craig L. Symonds: Lincoln’s Exiled “Family”: Colonizing in Chiriqui |
| 12:15 PM | Group Lunch at Lincoln Hall |
| 1:00 PM |
Panel: “The Best Gift Given to Man: The Lincoln Family Bibles” With Michelle A. Krowl, Gary Parcyzk, Samuel Wheeler Moderator: Jonathan W. White |
| 2:30 PM |
Hildene breakout tours of the home, farm, outdoor observatory, gardens, Pullman Car, and a first-ever inside tour of Hildene’s most valuable archive collections Pre-tour briefing by Gary Parcyzk, Hildene Collection and Exhibits Manager |
| 4:30 PM | Break |
| 5:30 PM | Cash Bar, Lincoln Hall |
| 6:00 PM |
Lincoln in Film Award: Ken Burns in conversation with Harold Holzer Highlight clips from the award-winning PBS series The Civil War Special music by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason |
Sunday, May 3
Equinox Hotel, Rockwell Room
| 8:30 AM | Coffee and small bites |
| 9:00 AM |
Special Panel: Presidential Families after Lincoln: How They Lived With presidential descendants Tweed Roosevelt, Ulysses Grant Dietz, Massey McKinley Moderator: Frank J. Williams |