Abraham Lincoln Association
American association advancing studies on Abraham Lincoln and disseminating scholarship about Lincoln
The Abraham Lincoln Association (ALA) is an American nonprofit organization advancing studies on Abraham Lincoln and disseminating scholarship about Lincoln. The ALA was founded in 1908 in Springfield, Illinois, as the Lincoln Centennial Association, to lead a national celebration the following year of Lincoln's 100th birthday. Renamed the Abraham Lincoln Association in 1929, it has since become a leading authority on Lincoln scholarship, promoting research, education, and public engagement through publications, events, and preservation efforts. The ALA holds no archive of materials and instead functions primarily as a scholarly forum. It remains "the nation's oldest and largest Lincoln organization."
History
The ALA was formed in 1908 as the Lincoln Centennial Association to help lead the national celebrations of Lincoln's 100th birthday the following year. The ALA's founders included United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller, financier John Whitfield Bunn, United States Federal Judge J. Otis Humphrey, Speaker of the House Joseph G. Cannon, Illinois Governor Charles S. Deneen, Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson, and Illinois Senator Shelby Cullom. It hosted its inaugural centennial celebration in 1909 at the Illinois State Armory, featuring keynote speakers such as British Ambassador James Bryce, French Ambassador J.J. Jusserand, Robert Todd Lincoln, and William Jennings Bryan.
In 1925, under the leadership of ALA President Logan Hay, Paul M. Angle became the ALA's first executive secretary. Angle led an effort in 1929 to change the organization's name to the Abraham Lincoln Association and, together with Benjamin Thomas and Harry Pratt, established the association's research and publication programs. In 1929, Angle exposed forged love letters between Lincoln and Ann Rutledge, upholding scholarly integrity in the field.
“Abraham Lincoln Association” enters the record as american association advancing studies on Abraham Lincoln and disseminating scholarship about Lincoln. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Abraham, Lincoln and Association can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4669013. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1908, 1929, 1909 and 1925.
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This entry incorporates text from “Abraham Lincoln Association” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.