Kansas Museum of History curators look at a black umbrella—used to shelter Abraham Lincoln from the weather during his inaugural tour in 1861—in the museum's collection.

From the Lincoln Online Conference website:

"Like photography today, photography during the Civil War had many functions, from private to public. The session, led by Shannon Thomas Perich, will examine a variety of Civil War-related photography from the Photographic History Collection with the goal of gaining a greater understanding of how photography was incorporated into everyday lives, and how we value those photographs today as historical objects. Objects will include the 1860 Rutgers college yearbook that belonged to Texan George McNeel; Alexander Gardner's Sketchbook of the War; glass-plate negatives by Brady's studio of Lincoln's Cabinet; the portrait of a Union washerwoman; and Lincoln portraits incorporated into cartes-de-visite albums."

Free registration is required to access the webcast.

From the Lincoln Online Conference website:

"In this session, participants will be introduced to the idea of reading portraiture and, in this case, what a portrait might say about Abraham Lincoln and they era in which he lived. They will utilize what they learned from David Ward in the previous session and the Portrait Gallery’s 'One Life: The Mask of Lincoln' exhibition to brainstorm lesson ideas for classroom instruction. Participants [were] encouraged to share ideas about the use of portraiture in the classroom as presenter Briana Zavadil White facilitate[d] a highly interactive session with fellow educators."

Free registration is required to access the webcast.

From the Lincoln Online Conference website:

"In this online Keynote address based on a current exhibition of the same name at the National Portrait Gallery, historian and exhibition curator David C. Ward examines how Abraham Lincoln used the new art of photography to convey his image to Americans, letting them see in him what they most desired. Like the exhibit, Ward's session draws on the Portrait Gallery's extensive collection of Lincoln portraits, a collection that charts Lincoln's passage from a fresh-faced Illinois congressman to his grizzled isolation as president. The session will be of interest to teachers and students of history at any level, and to anyone who is intrigued by the power of images and the media to 'brand' ideas, connect with people, and move public opinion. What we can learn from Lincoln's use of imagery is especially relevant today, and this presentation will provide many faces of Lincoln for participants to ponder."

Free registration is required to access the webcast.

From the Lincoln Online Conference website:

"In this online workshop, Museum Educator Jeff Meade uses images on United States postage stamps to create topical stamp collections based on the theme of Abraham Lincoln and Civil War history. Postage stamps contain a vast array of images commemorating President Lincoln, important Civil War figures and moments of history relating to the tumultuous Civil War era.

Teachers in Meade's workshop create virtual stamp collections available in the Postal Museum's on-line digital collection. This digital collection, named Arago, contains images of every U.S. stamp as well as nearly thirteen thousand objects from the Postal Operations collection. The Arago website allows users to create their own collections of digital images which can then be sorted into particular topics. Combining real stamp collecting with the images found in Arago provides teachers excellent opportunities to engage students in new and creative ways, with an emphasis on visual thinking strategies. Participants of the workshop build their own Arago collections based on suggested Civil War themes . . ."

Free registration is required to access the webcast.

From the Lincoln Online Conference website:

"In this online session, Smithsonian historian Pamela M. Henson examines how the public first heard of President Abraham Lincoln's death and how Lincoln's death was portrayed in popular images. Participants . . . view and listen to the diary of Mary Henry, daughter of Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry, as she describes her own reactions and the stories she heard about Lincoln's last moments. Participants . . . compare her diary with news accounts of the assassination, and popular paintings and lithographs of the deathbed scene to uncover what Lincoln's death meant to the American public. Participants . . . also learn how to evaluate primary and secondary sources in a variety of media—a diary, newspapers and visual images, analyze the symbolic meanings attached to important events, and draw conclusions about Lincoln's role in 19th century American ideas. The session will be of interest to teachers and students of history at any level and will be of particular interest to those interested in popular responses to important historical events. The confusion, misinformation, and symbolism surrounding this national trauma can be used to teach students how to critically evaluate information in their own lives."

Free registration is required to access the webcast.

Donald L. Miller, with Pauline Maier; Waldo E. Martin, Jr.; and Stephen Ambrose, looks at the growing tensions, from 1846 to 1861, that finally led to the Civil War. The presentation examines the issue of slavery and its expansion; the Compromise of 1850; the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin; reactions to the Fugitive Slave Act and the U.S. Supreme Court Case Dred Scott vs. Sandford; John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry; and the election of Abraham Lincoln as leading to the South's secession.

Donald L. Miller, with Pauline Maier and Louis P. Masur, looks at the institution of slavery in the United States, from 1819 to 1854. The presentation examines economic differences between the North and the South; slave culture; slave resistance, including Turner's Insurrection; and the depiction of slavery and slaves in art and media.

Richard Miller reads two 1922 San Francisco Chronicle articles on the public reaction to and perception of flappers.

In 12 short video clips, George Mason University professor Meredith Lair examines a political cartoon on the Vietnam War and atrocities committed during it, including the My Lai Massacre.