During the Civil War, due to blockades, newspaper editors often had problems
obtaining paper to print their newspapers on. The north had all of the paper mills -
except for ONE type of paper: Wallpaper. Thus, many issues of Confederate
newspapers were actually printed on wallpaper!
2) 
Tad Lincoln - The Original Dennis the Menace:
Did you know that Tad was born with a cleft palate - a large hole in the roof of the mouth. Unlike today, in Tad's lifetime, there was no surgery to correct this issue. To feed Tad, Mary, his mother, had to chew his food first, then take it out of her mouth and give to Tad! This way, Tad would be receiving the nutrients required to sustain life. This presentation includes dozens more fascinating facts about Tad that it known to only a few. This presentation is interactive with the students doing short skits and other fun ways to learn history. It is geared towards kids ages 8 to 12. It lasts about 30 minutes.
On Friday, May 18, I gave this presentation at the The Midland (Michigan) Academy of Advanced and Creative Arts. Over 200 students from Kindergarten to Eighth grade attended. Click the photo above to see a video of one segment of this presentation.
3) Newspapers as primary source material: In this presentation, students are broken up into small groups of 5 or 6. Each student is given reproductions of Lincoln assassination newspapers and are given 10 minutes to read them. Then, the group decides what facts to include in a short paragraph about the assassination. Next, One student from each group reads aloud what their group had written about the assassination. Lastly, the students are directed to open their history textbook and one person reads it aloud to the class. BINGO! Immediately, students get the connection between their history textbook and where the information came from. This presentation is geared towards 5th through 9th grade. It lasts about 30 minutes.
4) How to Detect Reprints of Newspapers: In my count, there have been over 600 newspaper editions that were reprinted - and 95% of them were produced well over 100-years-old! Thus, to the untrained eye, many people proclaim these specimens as originals because they look old. The presentation includes a reprint detectors kit for everyone in attendance. The workshop lasts about 2 hours. This same workshop was given to curators in Mid-Illinois at the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. It lasts about 2 hours and covers 17th through 20th century. I will also be giving this workshop at the annual Michigan Historical Society Conference on September 29. Hundreds of people will be in attendance.
FEES: If the presentation is within 60 miles of Lansing, Michigan there is no fee for any of the presentations. If over 60 miles, fees, depending on which presentation, range between $75 to $300 each plus expenses. Discounts given for multiple presentations at the same place and on the same day.
Traveling Lincoln Assassination Museum
* Fees are given at the end of this section.
The owner of this archive has been collecting Lincoln assassination relics for over 46 years. The museum includes original newspapers, broadsides (posters,) CDVs and photos, sheet music, engravings, a diary and more. It has 24 feet of original artifacts!
FEES: If traveling less than 60 miles from Lansing, Michigan, there is no fee for setting up indoors in a room that can be locked. If setting up outdoors, in our own 11 X 20 foot tent, the fee is $50. If over 60 miles, the fee $250 per day while it is open for visitors plus expenses.
Three 3 of the 6 panels are shown below. Click an image to see it larger. When the larger image has loaded, click it again to make it even larger. Full-size panels are 26 by 48 inches. (Use your "Back" button to come back to this page.)
Panel One |
Panel Two |
Panel Six |
You may also telephone Rick Brown at 517-455-7796
