The annual Conference on Illinois History is scheduled for September 26-27, 2013, at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in downtown Springfield and is the state's largest meeting devoted to the history of the Prairie State. This is the fourteenth year of the conference, which is sponsored by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

The conference will feature topics such as politics, frontier history, community studies, Abraham Lincoln, Latino history, and the Civil War. Teachers will benefit from workshops on a variety of topics. All teacher workshop sessions are approved for Continuing Professional Development Units (CPDUs).

This year's Thursday luncheon speaker is Robert Hartley, author of "Battleground 1948: Truman, Stevenson, Douglas, and the Most Surprising Election in Illinois History.”

The keynote Thursday evening banquet speaker is Suzanne Cooper Guasco, author of "Edward Coles and the Rise of Antislavery Politics in Nineteenth-Century America."

The Friday luncheon speaker is Mark Pohlad, “Abraham Lincoln: Chicagoan?” Pohlad will discuss the Windy City's Lincoln connections using historic and modern-day images.

Questions? Contact Sabrina Manci at 217/558-9014 or sabrina.manci@illinois.gov.