Lincoln project loses staff, IHPA gets new leader 

The staff of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln project is being cut by one-third due to a money crunch.

In a September memo to supporters of the project that is digitizing every document read or written by Lincoln, project director Daniel Stowell said that the project’s funds had been frozen and that the executive inspector general’s office would conduct an investigation into the project’s finances. Stowell wrote that he had been ordered not to apply for any grants and that the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which administers the project, would not sign funding agreements with the University of Illinois Springfield, which had traditionally provided staff for the project.

Such moves, Stowell has said, would result in the project’s employees losing their jobs and the project being shut down. Since then, the IHPA has relented somewhat, applying for a federal grant from the National Archives, which requires leveraging funds from the state, after first saying that it would not ask for the federal money. The announcement that IHPA would apply for grants came shortly after Joseph Beyer, an adviser to Gov. Bruce Rauner, told an advisory board to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, where the project is headquartered, that the failure of the governor and the General Assembly to agree to a budget prevents the state from funding the project.

On Monday, Stowell told the IHPA board that four of the project’s 12 staff members will lose their jobs. All are UIS employees, with one based in Washington, D.C., and the others working in Springfield. Derek Schnapp, UIS spokesman, said that the employees who had been working under contracts have been given notice and the cuts are scheduled to take effect Nov. 15.

In an interview, Stowell said that the loss will be felt.

“Eight people can’t do the work of 12,” Stowell said.

Stowell said that his salary will be used to secure a National Archives grant already awarded that requires recipients to identify additional monies to allow the use of federal grants that require recipients to provide matching funds or otherwise appropriate additional funding from non-federal sources. The state is still studying how to secure nonfederal dollars required by a larger National Endowment for the Humanities grant, he said.

Stowell, who has said that he was told in September that the executive inspector general’s office would conduct an investigation, said he doesn’t know the status of the promised probe.

“I would like to know,” Stowell said. “I have not been contacted by them.”

Amy Martin, the IHPA head who informed Stowell of the investigation in September, was fired on Monday by the IHPA board. The 4-3 vote to terminate Martin was split between four new board members recently appointed by Rauner and holdovers from the previous administration. The vote came after Martin made a brief appearance at the day-long board meeting to highlight recent accomplishments under her tenure, including the use of tax credits to encourage development of historic places and the designation of the Pullman historic district in Chicago as a national monument.

Martin clashed frequently with Eileen Mackevich, former ALPLM director, over who had authority to run the presidential library and museum, and the feud contributed to the demise of both women. Mackevich resigned last month during a meeting with the governor’s staff. That same day, Rauner appointed the new IHPA board members who voted to fire Martin on Monday.

“There’s no reason the museum and the agency should be at conflict,” IHPA board chairman Jim Bruner said after the vote to terminate Martin.

The board voted unanimously to appoint Garth Madison as the agency’s interim director. Madison, who had been the agency’s counsel, confirmed that he will be a candidate for the permanent job.

The state is conducting a nationwide search for Mackevich’s replacement, but Bruner said he doesn’t believe such an extensive search is needed to find someone to head the IHPA, nor does he believe the agency’s director necessarily needs to have a background in historic preservation.

“I do not anticipate a nationwide search,” Bruner said. “I want to see somebody who can bring people together to get things done.”

Contact Bruce Rushton at [email protected].