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Supporters of NPR Illinois and Team Lincoln – the official membership program of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum – invite you to join award-winning journalist and author Lois Romano for a conversation with NPR Illinois’ Randy Eccles about Romano's latest book, An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial, and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln.

Drawing on years of research, Romano and Eccles will focus on her conclusions about Mary Lincoln’s life, the many tragedies she lived through and the toll that took on her mental health. She’ll also discuss the laws that allowed Mary Lincoln’s son, Robert, to have her committed to an asylum for several months in 1875.

This special program will happen on Thursday, October 1, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. in Union Theater at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Doors will open at 6:00 p.m. This program is free to attend but advance registration is required.

A book signing with Lois Romano will follow the discussion. You’ll have an opportunity to purchase her book and have it signed. You may also purchase a book in advance of the program when you register online, and it will be held for you.

Take a look back into the history and heritage of Sangamon County. History comes alive with actors dressed in period costumes telling the personal stories of seven individuals who are representative of everyday life in the 1800s and 1900s. Maps will be provided for the 1/2 mile walking tour. Allow two hours for the tour. The last tour starts at 3 p.m. Sponsored by the Sangamon County Historical Society in cooperation with Oak Ridge Cemetery. Sponsored by the Sangamon County Historical Society in cooperation with Oak Ridge Cemetery.

The Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum, in partnership with Lincoln Library, will present “They Fought Too: Black Revolutionaries,” a public history program featuring historian and speaker Laura Keyes, on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at 5:30 p.m.

From the very beginning of European colonization in North America to the final shots of the Revolutionary War, African Americans built pathways for American independence. Erased from so many history books, the daily lives, the stories, the loves and losses of enslaved Africans are a part of this country's patchwork quilt.

Now, hear the stories of soldiers, writers, spies, sailors, scientists, and common everyday people, who found themselves in amazing circumstances.