Paludan, Professor of History and holder of the Naomi Lynn Distinguished Chair of Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield (2001-07), recalls his family background, childhood in Canada, Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Glendale California; his early schooling; his parents’ divorce and visits to his father and his mother’s relatives; studies, social activities, sports and friends at Glendale High School; life as a student at Occidental College and his growing interest in history; the Phi Delta Gamma fraternity, favorite professors, friends and summer jobs.

He also discusses graduate history studies at UCLA, his mentors Clifford Griffin and Harold Hyman, marriage, and move to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he received a PhD in History in 1968. He recalls his 30-year teaching position at the University of Kansas, including curriculum, campus unrest, overseas programs, and relations with colleagues. Paludan also discusses his books and their reception, his family, divorce and remarriage, honors and awards, his move to New Jersey, the position at UIS, Abraham Lincoln, and his opinions of other Civil War historians.

The memoir also includes a press release regarding Paludan’s death, his 2006 UIS Commencement address, and his talk upon investiture to the Lynn Chair of Lincoln Studies in 2001.

9 tapes, 810 mins, 239 pp. Interview by Cullom Davis, 2006. OPEN