I’m happy to introduce a new format for the News and Events section: a weblog or “blog.” A blog is essentially a journal, with the entries typically listed in chronological order. Thanks to WordPress, we’ve gained some new features. On the right-hand side, you can browse through old entries by using the calendar, search the blog, or filter entries by category. You can also leave comments for each entry by clicking “Leave a comment” in the header of each entry.

Currently, I’m backfilling the blog with Russell Rein’s previous newsletters. I’m not quite done yet, so meanwhile, you can access them at

http://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/news_old/

Once I’ve finished the migration, this link will go away.

Enjoy the new News section!

John & Lenore Weiss have a new books out about a triangle road trip in Illinois covering Route 66, the Lincoln Highway and the Dixie Highway. More information is at their website:
http://www.il66authority.com/
Read a review at Route66News.com.

Michaels Wallis and Williamson’s new book on the Lincoln Highway, and their cross country book tour generated a lot of publicity this summer.

• IL LHA Director Kay Shelton has a web site about the book
• a review at the Route 66 News blog
• Checkout the tour blog with many photos
• From the Wall Street Journal
• From KCBS all news radio in San Francisco
• From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• From LATimes.com
• From the New York Post’s Required Reading column
• From the Fort Wayne Observed blog with a video
• From the Deseret Morning News
• from the New York Times - The Virtues of Avoiding Interstates by Phil Patton
• From the HuntingtonNews.net
• Wallis also was featured on the Comedy Channel’s Colbert Report. You can watch the video here.
  [May require a highspeed web connection]

Lots of sites listed September 10, 1913 as the opening of the Lincoln Highway with inaccurate text such as, “1913 - The Lincoln Highway opened, becoming the first paved coast-to-coast highway in the United States. It is now known as U.S. 30″  Oh well……

The New York Times Archive 1851–1980 is now online, with many old articles scanned and accessible as PDF files. There are many articles on the Lincoln Highway starting with the 1912 Hoosier Tour. I created a search for the Lincoln Highway at the link below.

http://xrl.us/7cis

[You may need to create a free account at the NYT]

Kathleen Dow, of the Special Collection Library at the University of Michigan, which holds the archives of the original Lincoln Highway Association writes:

In addition to the completion of the Digital Image Archive, I also wanted to let you all know that I received a small grant (donated by a local businessman) to hire an archivist to re-process/re-house the papers of the Lincoln Highway Association.

As those of you who have used the 4 linear feet of correspondence, minutes, printed ephemera, and newsletters know, the papers definitely needed some attention. I’ve hired a UM grad student and she has started working on the archive; one of the first things she is doing is removing all of the acidic sheets of glassine that were interleaved between the documents. Not only will we end up with the papers more comfortably housed, but we will also have a finding aid or guide to the boxes. We will be able to mount this document on the web, which will be a great help to all of you conducting research. I will keep you posted as to the progress of the project.

The Military Vehicle Preservation Association (MVPA) will be sponsoring a 2009 Transcontinental Convoy to commemorate the 1919 Army Convoy on the Lincoln Highway. The Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) is partnering with the MVPA to provide assistance with this venture. You can read more about it at their website:

http://www.mvpaconvoy.org/

In late August and early September 2007, WQED producer Rick Sebak, intrepid cameraman Bob Lubomski and the multi-talented Jarrett Buba are gathering material for a new PBS [TV] program on the history and enduring charms of America’s first transcontinental paved highway. Its working title is A RIDE ALONG THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY.

From the blog Lincoln Highway Postcards:

http://www.wqed.org/tv/natl/lincoln_hwy/blog/archives/4

[You navigate chronologically through this blog by clicking the underlined links with the arrows under the bridge pic]

Rick Sebak is a popular producer of public TV documentaries including ones on Pennsylvania Diners, sandwiches and ice cream. You can read more about Rick at the WQED Pittsburgh web site:

http://www.wqed.org/tv/pghist/sebak.shtml

The Museum of Bus Transportation is located in Hershey, PA:
http://www.busmuseum.org/

Mary Beth Temple, a freelance writer out of New York City has a new book out: Driving the National Road in Indiana:
http://www.drivingthenationalroadinindiana.com/

The Federal Highway Administration maintains a bibliography of Highway History at:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/bibrecnt.htm

Another transcontinentalist - 65 year old bicyclist Bob Lee is riding across the country for cancer awareness. His blog is at:
http://www.3reasons.org/

Baja Desert racing blog has an interesting article about early desert auto racing from 1908:
http://xrl.us/2tce

Jeff Shank has a new website featuring many views of the mid- century roadside at:
http://retro-matic.com

From the Post Gazette.com, Despite the Internet, nothing beats a map:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07147/788843-243.stm

National Route 66 Organization proposed, from Ron Warnick’s Route 66 blog:
http://xrl.us/2tf6

I had a great time at the Lincoln Highway National Conference in Fort Morgan, CO, and was honored to be asked by Jan Shupert-Arick to serve as the Vice-President of the Lincoln Highway Association, and of course, honored to have been so elected. As they say, I serve at the pleasure of my President! I look forward to working with Jan and our Executive Director David Hay, the rest of the Board, State and local Directors and members.

I have a lot of ideas to increase the LHA membership, and to make the Lincoln Highway a more accessible and fun place for families and young people. I will be contacting you in the future for your assistance in compiling information regarding restaurants, lodging, historical, natural and tourist attractions along the LH-way so that this information can be available on-line, and linkable with our mapping project. A lot of things are happening and in the works, and I will be calling on you for your help.

The Fort Morgan conference was a rare chance to explore the early Colorado loop of the Lincoln Highway, and to meet up with all my LH pals from around the country and from Luxemburg. I especially enjoyed the back roads driving, the mountains and the “wide open spaces.” I am still cleaning the dust out of my car!

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Kathleen Dow, from the University of Michigan Special Collections Library, with the original Lincoln Highway Association archives, reports:

We just got the Indiana and Ideal Section images successfully mounted on the website! If you go here: http://images.umdl.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?;c=linchigh;size=20;page=search;view=thumbnail and type in either Indiana or Ideal Section in the top box, you will get the thumbnails of those images. And, as with the other images, clicking on the thumbnail will give you a larger display. Please let me know if you have any questions. We will be working on mounting the remaining images during the next few weeks. Thank you again for the generous gift that allowed me to get this project back on the road again. Hope you all have a wonderful time at the Conference!

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The Lincoln Highway now has a page on Rachael Ray’s Everyday with Rachael Ray website. It has a function where you can add places to eat and stay, and upload pictures:
http://xrl.us/2twj
[What's next - Franzwa on Oprah?]

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Michael Wallis‘ new book The Lincoln Highway with photos by Pulitzer award winning Michael S. Williamson, is out and he will be starting on a crosscounty promotional tour on the Lincoln Highway starting in NYC on July 17. Michael is the well known author of 1988’s Route 66 which is credited, in part, for the recent popularization of the “Mother Road.” He was also an advisor, and voice actor as the Sheriff, for the animated Pixar movie Cars. We are hoping that the new book brings increased awareness about the Lincoln Highway.Michael’s author website is at: http://www.michaelwallis.com/

The Lincoln Highway Book Tour has its own website at: http://www.lincolnhighwaybook.com/

Read a review at armchairinterviews.com: http://reviews.armchairinterviews.com/reviews/the-lincoln-highway