Harold Holzer
President Abraham Lincoln historian

Harold Holzer is one of the country's leading authorities on the political culture of the Civil War era. A prolific writer and lecturer, and frequent guest on television, he serves as co-chairman of the United States Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, appointed by President Clinton in September 2000, and elected co-chairman in 2001.

Holzer has authored, co-authored, and edited 23 books: The Lincoln Image (1984); Changing the Lincoln Image (1985); and The Confederate Image, (1987), all with Mark E. Neely, Jr. and Gabor S. Boritt; The Lincoln Family Album (1990), Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: The Civil War in Art (1993), and The Union Image (2000) with Neely; and Lincoln on Democracy (1990) with Mario M. Cuomo. He has also published The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1993); Washington and Lincoln Portrayed (1993); Dear Mr. Lincoln: Letters to the President (1993); Witness to War (1996); The Civil War Era (1996); The Lincoln Mailbag: America Writes to the President (1998); The Union Preserved (with Daniel Lorello, 1999), The Lincoln Forum: Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg, and the Civil War (co-edited with John Y. Simon and William Pederson, 1999); Lincoln as I Knew Him (1999); Lincoln Seen and Heard (2000); Abraham Lincoln, The Writer (2000, named to the Children's Literature Choice List, and the Bank Street "Best Children's Books of the Year"); Prang's Civil War: The Complete Battle Chromos of Louis Prang (2001), State of the Union: New York and the Civil War (2002); The Lincoln Forum: Rediscovering Abraham Lincoln (co-edited with John Y. Simon, 2002); and The President is Shot! The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (2004). His latest book is the award-winning Lincoln At Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President (2004), which won a 2005 Lincoln Prize, the most prestigious award in the field.

In addition, Holzer has written more than 350 articles for both popular magazines and scholarly journals, including Life Magazine, American Heritage, Civil War Times, American History Illustrated, North & South, Blue & Gray, the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times.

Holzer has also written several pamphlets and monographs on Lincoln, the latest of which are Lincoln's Deathbed in Art and Memory (with Frank J. Williams, 1998) and Lincoln and The Jews (2002). And Holzer has contributed chapters to 21 additional books, including Lincoln and His Contemporaries (1999) and The Lincoln Enigma (2001). Most recently, he was the historical advisor to Why Lincoln Matters by Mario M. Cuomo (2004).

A frequent guest on television, Holzer has appeared on Abraham Lincoln: A New Birth of Freedom (PBS, 1992), Civil War Journals (A&E, 1994), American Heritage Presents the Lincoln Assassination (History Channel, 1995), A&E's Biography (1996), and The History Channel specials, Assassins: John Wilkes Booth and Investigating History: Lincoln-Man vs. Myth. He has appeared on The Today Show, The Charlie Rose Show, CNBC, Fox News, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, CBS Sunday Morning, and a History Channel special on the Gettysburg Address. He appeared on the three-hour C-SPAN American Writers special on Abraham Lincoln, and its three-hour In-Depth series, and was seen on C-SPAN in Lincoln Seen and Heard with Sam Waterston, and Grant Seen and Heard with Richard Dreyfuss. Holzer's appearance on C-SPAN's Booknotes series inspired the 1994 C-SPAN re-creation of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in Illinois, for which Holzer served as historical consultant and on-air commentator. C-Span also broadcast the 2004 recreation of The Cooper UnionAddressfeaturing Holzer and Sam Waterson, and in February 2005 a special Lincoln's Birthday-eve performance of Lincoln Seen and Heard live from the White House, hosted by President and Mrs. Bush.

Holzer lectures before Civil War and Lincoln groups throughout the country. He has delivered the McMurtry Lecture at the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, the Lincoln Shrine Lecture in Redlands, California, and the Frank and Virginia Williams Lecture at LSU/Shreveport. In 2004, he delivered the prestigious Fortenbaugh Lecture at Gettysburg College and the second annual NEH "Heroes of History" lecture at Ford's Theatre in Washington.

He has also organized several Lincoln symposia and curated four museum exhibitions of original art, notably the award-winning 1999 Lincoln Museum exhibit, Lincoln From Life. He served as lead historian for several exhibitions and symposia at the New York State Museum in Albany, including State of the Union: New York and the Civil War.

Much honored for his work, Holzer has four times won the Barondess Award of the Civil War Round Table of New York (1984, 1990, 1993, 2005; plus an honorable mention in 1999 for Lincoln from Life). He has also received the Diploma of Honor from Lincoln Memorial University (1988); won the Award of Achievement from the Lincoln Group of New York three times (1988, 1993 and 2004); received a 1988 George Washington Medal from the Freedom Foundation; a 1989 Writer of Distinction Award from the International Reading Association; and a 1993 Award of Superior Achievement from the Illinois State Historical Society, along with an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Lincoln College in 1992. In 1996 he won the first annual award from the Manuscript Society of America for his use of original manuscripts in Dear Mr. Lincoln. The Union Image won the 2000 Newman Book Award of the American Historical Print Collectors Society. And in 2002 Holzer received the coveted Nevins-Freeman Award of The Civil War Round Table of Chicago, and in 2005 won a Lincoln Prize.

From 1991-1996, Holzer served as president of the Lincoln Group of New York, and still serves on its executive committee. He also served on the board of directors of the Abraham Lincoln Association, and on the editorial advisory board of The Lincoln Herald.

Holzer is founding vice chairman and a regular lecturer at The Lincoln Forum, which hosts an annual symposium each year in Gettysburg. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Ulysses S. Grant Association. He is also a member of the Research Advisory Group for the President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument in Washington, and serves on the board of historical advisors of the Mariners' Museum's U.S. S. Monitor Center in Newport News, Virginia; the Tredegar National Civil War Center Foundation in Richmond; The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia; and the new Gettysburg National Military Park Visitor Center. At the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, he will help plan programs and celebrations to mark Lincoln's 200th birthday in 2009.

A former member of the New York State Council on the Humanities, Holzer was appointed by Gov. Mario Cuomo to the New York State Archives Preservation Trust Board in 1994, and was re-appointed by Gov. George Pataki in 1999, and by New York State Senate Minority Leader David Paterson in 2004. In this role he co-organized and served as lead historian for a Union Preserved Civil War symposium in Albany, and co-edited two Archives-sponsored books on New York and The Civil War.

Educated at the City University of New York, Holzer began his career as a weekly newspaper editor for The Manhattan Tribune, a political campaign press secretary for Congresswoman Bella S. Abzug and Governor Mario M. Cuomo, a government speechwriter for New York City Mayor Abraham D. Beame, and as public affairs director for the PBS flagship station WNET.

Holzer currently serves as Senior Vice President for External Affairs at The Metropolitan Museum in New York, the largest and most comprehensive art museum in the western hemisphere. He joined the museum as Chief Communications Officer in 1992 and was named vice president in 1996 and senior vice president in 2005. From 1984 through 1992 he served as Special Counselor to the Director of Economic Development and executive vice president of The New York State Urban Development Corporation in the administration of Governor Mario M. Cuomo.

Holzer lives in Rye, New York with his wife, Edith, director of public affairs for the New York State Council of Child Caring Agencies. The Holzers have two daughters: Remy, a Harvard graduate who recently served as Editorial Director of Museum of The Moving Image of New York; and Meg, a graduate of Yale University now studying at NYU Law School. The Holzers' son-in-law, Adam Kirsch, is a poet, critic, and author.