The Association of Lincoln Presenters
2025 ALP Conference
April 24-27, 2025
Kalamazoo, MI

2025 ALP Conference Review – By Kevin Wood, Conference Host

The 2025 Association of Lincoln Presenters (ALP) Conference, our 29th annual conference, was held in Kalamazoo, Michigan from April 24-27.  Kalamazoo was chosen as the conference site because it is the only city in Michigan where Abraham Lincoln gave a speech and because there is a local organization called the Kalamazoo Lincoln Institute (KLI) which has been promoting Lincoln’s visit for many years, including recently commissioning and installing a new statue of Lincoln in Bronson Park.  The KLI not only extended a warm welcome to the ALP for us to hold our conference there, they also sponsored the conference with a generous donation which covered most of our venue and speaker expenses.  The conference was also supported by the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, the Ladies’ Library Association of Kalamazoo, and Discover Kalamazoo (the Kalamazoo County Convention and Visitors Bureau).  The conference host was Kevin Wood, who lives in Adrian, MI, about a two-hour drive from Kalamazoo.

We had 40 attendees, including a score minus one (19) of Abrahams, a dozen plus one (13) of Marys, and one each of Ulysses Grant, Jefferson Davis, and Annie Oakley, along with three family members of presenters, a photographer, and a freelance journalist/student.  We enjoyed learning together about the Lincolns and their times, renewing old acquaintances and friendships while also making new ones, and engaging with a local community which is proud of its Lincoln connection and was excited to host the ALP.

Our host hotel was the Home2 Suites by Hilton / Hilton Garden Inn located in downtown Kalamazoo, with most of the other event venues located within a few blocks of the hotel.  We enjoyed a hot breakfast buffet at the hotel each morning, and we also had our Friday and Saturday evening buffet dinners at the hotel.  With the exception of Friday morning and Sunday morning, most of the presenters wore period attire during the entire conference.

Conference activities began on Thursday afternoon with the ALP Board meeting and then in the evening with the opening session, to which the general public had been invited.  We were welcomed by the conference host (Kevin Wood), a representative of Discover Kalamazoo (Viviana Vidal), and Cameron Brown, KLI president.  We then had “Trivia with the Lincolns”, with eight teams consisting of one “local” and a few “Lincolns” (and others); some questions were about Lincoln and his times, while others were about Kalamazoo and Michigan.  We then heard a lecture entitled “Lincoln’s Winning Smile”, about Lincoln’s humor, by KLI President Cameron Brown.

On Friday morning, we returned to the hotel conference room for a lecture/panel on “Lincoln and Native Americans” by Dr. Scott Stabler, Professor of History and Social Studies at Grand Valley State University (Allendale, MI) and Matthew Zwart, Associate Attorney, Lennon Miller PLC (Kalamazoo).  We then traveled by carpool on our only “road trip”, to the town of Schoolcraft about 15 miles away, to visit the Dr. Nathan Thomas home, an Underground Railroad Museum.

Attendees were on their own for lunch, and then we met again for an afternoon session at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum in downtown Kalamazoo.  We had a tour of the museum, in particular of items associated with Lincoln’s 1856 visit, then had some time to explore the museum on our own.  We then gathered in the museum theatre for a lecture by KLI Vice President Tom George, to which the public was also invited, on “Lincoln’s Visit to Kalamazoo in 1856 … Recent Discoveries” to learn more about why Lincoln made his visit and even whom he had tea with.  We finished the afternoon’s activities with a “bull session” entitled “Talking Shop: The Fine Points of Being Lincoln (or Any Other Historical Character)”, moderated by ALP members John Voehl and Tina Baldrige, to share ideas about all aspects of historical re-enacting.

That evening, we enjoyed a buffet dinner at the hotel restaurant followed by a Civil War Ball led by dance callers Jim & Loretta McKinney.

On Saturday morning, we enjoyed a series of lectures at the Ladies’ Library Association, also located downtown.  We learned about “The Role of Jackson, MI in the Founding of the Republican Party” by Linda Hass (local historian/author based in Jackson, about 65 miles away); a new Lincoln book entitled Texting Lincoln: A semi-true tale of an Illinois prairie lawyer’s return to Kalamazoo by local author Tony Ettwein; “The Ladies’ Library Association of Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo Ladies Soldiers Aid Society and their Sanitary Fair” by Sharon Carlson (local historian/archivist); and “Kalamazoo County and the Civil War – How One Michigan County Supported, and Didn’t Support, the War Effort” by Gary Gibson (local author).

We then moved to the Kalamazoo Nonprofit Advocacy Coalition (KNAC), located in First Baptist Church, the only building downtown still standing from the time of Lincoln’s visit in 1856.  The men and women had separate luncheon sessions which included a boxed lunch and the men hearing about “Engineers in the Civil War”, in particular the First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics, by Brian Conroy (historical re-enactor), and the women having their Mary Lincoln Business Meeting followed by a portrayal of Mary Harlan Lincoln (Robert Todd Lincoln’s wife) by ALP member Laura Keyes.

We then walked to Bronson Park, just one block away, where we gathered around the new Lincoln statue and heard from KLI representatives about the history of the statue.  This was followed by a series of group photos in front of the statue.

We then returned to KNAC for our annual Business Meeting where we conducted the normal business of the organization, including the approval of Buffalo, NY as the site of our 2027 conference with Glenn Murray as host, and the election of board members and officers with two new board members (Whit McMahon and Danny Russel) and a new 2nd Vice-President (Laura Keyes).  Larry and Mary Elliott received the ALP Excellence Award for their many services to ALP over many years.

We returned to the hotel for another buffet dinner and then made our way to the Judy K. Jolliffe Theatre in The Epic Center, also in the downtown area, for our “grand finale”, to which the public had been invited.  We were treated to a portrayal of Sojourner Truth, who lived in nearby Battle Creek, MI, by Madelyn Porter, and then a play we called “The Chronological Lincoln”, featuring 14 ALP members: 8 Abrahams, 4 Marys, and one each of Ulysses Grant and Jefferson Davis.

We finished the conference on Sunday morning with a worship service in the hotel conference room with guest speaker Chaplain Edward Hass (Linda Hass’s husband).

During the conference we held both a silent auction and a consignment shop to help cover conference expenses, both set up in the hotel conference room.

Our conference photographer was Tom George Davison; to view and/or purchase photos of the conference, visit https://www.davisonimages.com/Events/Association-of-Lincoln-Presenters-Kalamazoo-MI-724-2625.

According to the 25 respondents to a post-conference survey, attendees greatly enjoyed the conference, noting in particular the high level of engagement with the local community.

[submitted by Kevin Wood, Conference Host]

photos by Tom George Davison:

[1] Conference attendees and a few friends in front of the Lincoln statue in Bronson Park, with First Baptist Church in the background

[2] Larry and Mary Elliott receive the ALP Excellence Award from Joan Howard and ALP President John Cooper

[3] Conference attendees listen to KLI President Cameron Brown speak about the Lincoln statue in Bronson Park