Papers of Abraham Lincoln receives $100,000 gift honoring UIS' Cullom Davis

A gift of $100,000 to the Papers of Abraham Lincoln honors Cullom Davis, professor emeritus of history at the University of Illinois Springfield. From 1988 to 2000, Davis served as editor and director of the Lincoln Legal Papers, which later expanded into the Papers of Abraham Lincoln.

The anonymous gift will provide support for this long-term documentary editing project. Staff at the Papers of Abraham Lincoln are dedicated to identifying, imaging, transcribing, annotating, and publishing all documents written by or to Abraham Lincoln during his lifetime (1809-1865). The collection will be published on the internet and available free of charge. The Papers of Abraham Lincoln is part of the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership.

"I am delighted with this gift that honors my predecessor, advisor, and friend Cullom Davis," said current editor and director Daniel W. Stowell. "To paraphrase the subject of our project, it is altogether fitting and proper that this gift recognizes Cullom’s achievements. Our work on the Lincoln papers is indeed a great task that Cullom nobly advanced, and we are pleased to carry on the work that he began."

A founding faculty member of Sangamon State University (now UIS), Davis created and directed the university's Oral History Office and helped design its master’s degree program in public history.

For his contributions to the humanities, especially Illinois history, Davis received the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award in 2002. In May 2014, he received the University of Illinois Foundation’s William E. Winter Award for Outstanding Advocate Leadership.

For more information, contact Sarah Jennings, UIS director of development, corporate and foundation relations & major gifts at 217/206-6058 or email sjenn02s@uis.edu.