Lincoln's Watch Yields Hidden Message

Embattled prez had more to deal with than Civil War

(NEWSER) - A handwritten note dated just a few days before Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has finally made its way back to the National Archives, the Washington Post reports. The terse communication from the president to Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase addressed corruption charges against a Lincoln appointee. "Even though this item is seemingly routine, it is in fact very important," said an Archives official. More»

Former MoCA chief takes over Hirshhorn after yearlong search

(NEWSER) - Richard Koshalek, former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, will become the new head of the Hirshhorn Museum—the modern gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Koshalek expanded MoCA over 20 years, leaving in 1999 to run the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Last year he left Art Center early, following protests by students and faculty over tuition increases and a $50 million library. More»

(NEWSER) - If anyone has a right to be tired of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, it's writer and producer David Grubin. As a sixth-grader, he had to write it out 100 times or so—his teacher's favorite form of punishment. The actual words meant little to him as a 12-year-old, but their relevance and eloquence resonate today. "No matter how many times it was inflicted on me, the cadences sing in my blood," he writes in the Los Angeles Times. More»

(NEWSER) - The bicentennial of Lincoln's birth will be celebrated Feb. 12, so expect endless tributes to the president beloved by ordinary citizens and historians alike. Unless, of course, you're south of the Mason-Dixon line, where anti-Lincoln views "aren't particularly radical," writes Alex Beam of the Boston Globe. Lincoln is viewed by many as a cynical politician who pushed the Civil War not to end slavery but to keep his party in office. More»

Building will accommodate tourists visiting Capitol

(NEWSER) - Congressional leaders spoke today at the opening of the Capitol Visitor Center, the Hill reports. The center, which was heavily delayed throughout its 6 years construction and cost a well-over-budget $621 million, will be the first stop for visitors to the Capitol, who previously had to wait in long lines outside in often-oppressive Washington heat. More»