Thursdays with Doc.: Dr. Wayne C. Temple's Recollections of Springfield & Lincoln. Hardcover – December 9, 2024

A series of informal discussions with Springfield Illinois Lincoln scholar and author Dr. Wayne C. Temple, known affectionately as "Doc". Who, for over 56 years, worked for nine different Illinois Secretaries of State and ten different Governors representing both parties, a remarkable feat of its own. It is a record unlikely to be equaled. Doc was with the Illinois State Archives from 1964 to 2016, much of that time as the Chief Deputy Director. Before that, Doc was editor-in-chief of the Lincoln Herald of the Dept. of Lincolniana at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee from 1958 to 1964. He was the Director of the University Press at LMU and John Wingate Weeks chair of history. He continued editing the Lincoln Herald remotely from Springfield until 1973. Doc was an honorary member of the Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission, 1959-1960, and served on the advisory council of the United States Civil War Centennial Commission, 1960-1966, making him the last surviving member of either group. Doc served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946, and during that time he helped to establish General Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower's communications in Europe. Doc has authored over 20 books, mostly on Lincoln, and has written over 600 articles, poems, reviews, and papers during his career. Doc graduated from the University of Illinois in 1949, studying under his mentor J.G. Randall, the "Dean of Lincoln Scholars." Doc's accomplishments are well covered in this volume. This book spans three years of interviews with Doc, James Cornelius (former Director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum), and author/newspaper columnist Alan E. Hunter. The topics cover Abraham Lincoln, the little-known history and colorful personalities of Springfield, Illinois, the Indigenous Peoples of Illinois, and the life and times of Springfield's preeminent Lincoln scholar. Now over 100 years old, Dr. Wayne C. Temple has seen it all. Read more