United States. Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission. Office of the Research Director

Organizational History

The Abraham Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission was established by a Joint Resolution of September 2, 1957 (71 Stat. 587) authorizing the establishment of the commission “in order to provide for appropriate and nation-wide observances and the coordination of ceremonies” to mark the one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.

The Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission, composed of twenty-eight members (three ex officio, one statutory, and twenty-four appointive), held its first meeting on December 11, 1957. The commission employed an executive director and his assistant and supporting staff to conduct research and prepare material essential to a commemoration of Lincoln’s birth. Staff included John Sherman Cooper, chairman; William E. Baringer, executive director; and his assistant, John E. Allen.