Organization for Abraham Lincoln impersonators
The Association of Lincoln Presenters is a membership organization founded by Dan Bassuk in 1990. It was established as a members' society for impersonators of 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. The group has been the subject of a feature-length documentary and a photography exhibition by Greta Pratt.
History and members
The Association of Lincoln Presenters (ALP) was founded by literature professor and Lincoln impersonator Dan Bassuk in 1990 in Whitehouse, New Jersey.[2] New members were recruited via newspaper advertisements.[3] By 1994, the organization's membership had grown to 45,[4] six of whom participated in the televised Lincoln–Douglas debate reenactments on the public affairs network C-SPAN.[5] The inaugural ALP conference took place in Lexington, Kentucky the following year and was attended by 34 impersonators.[5] This became an annual event, visiting towns and cities around the US often chosen for their historical significance: the 2013 conference took place in Columbus, Ohio, where Lincoln briefly lay in state following his assassination in 1865;[6] while the 2018 event was held in Freeport, Illinois, one of the locations of the original Lincoln–Douglas debates.[7] The ALP celebrated its 25th annual conference in 2019 in Dawsonville, Georgia.[8]
As of 2022, the group's membership comprises more than 220 reenactors, with representatives from 40 of the 50 US states.[9] Besides Abraham Lincoln, ALP members also portray his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, as well as other notable contemporary figures including Ulysses S. Grant and Harriet Beecher Stowe.[10] As impersonators, ALP members generally wear paraphernalia associated with Lincoln such as black coats, stovepipe hats and chinstrap beards.[11][12] Members of the group have appeared as Lincoln in various settings, including educational events, historical reenactments, weddings and acting roles.[13][14]
Mottos
The ALP has had several official mottos since its establishment. The first, "Now he belongs to the stages", used from the group's founding in 1990 until 1999,[15] was a deliberate misquote of the "Now he belongs to the ages" line uttered by Edwin Stanton following Lincoln's death.[16] A portion of the membership disapproved of the slogan, which was eventually replaced by the pun "Ready, Willing and Abe L.",[17] referring to the group members' availability to appear at public events.[10] By 2003, the ALP had adopted its third motto, "Would I Might Rouse the Lincoln in You All", a line taken from the poem "Lincoln" by Vachel Lindsay.[18]
Media coverage
In 2008, the group and its members were the subject of a feature-length documentary.[19] Being Lincoln: Men With Hats, directed by Nashville-based film maker Elvis Wilson, followed long-serving ALP member Dennis Boggs as he helps newcomer John Mansfield begin his career as a Lincoln presenter.[20][21] The idea behind the documentary came from Wilson's wife, Victoria Radford, who had learned about the group several years earlier while writing a book about the real Lincoln.[22] The film aired on the Documentary Channel and Showtime.[23]
Photographer Greta Pratt attended four ALP conferences, including the 2012 conference in Decatur, Illinois, taking photographs of the group's members as part of her Nineteen Lincolns project.[10] The collection was exhibited at the Candela Gallery in Richmond, Virginia in 2012,[24] and later at the Chrysler Museum of Art in 2015.[25]
