IU | Alex Farris Photo Blog

Last year, after the annual Indiana News Photographers Association awards judging, I didn't have much to do. I hung around Bloomington a little bit, somewhat aimlessly, until I recalled the Lilly Library. I had been inside the repository of Really Old Stuff maybe four times as a student, and even though I got to hold John Ford's Oscar and read Ernie Pyle's letters, I didn't fully appreciate the library and its treasures. On that day, though, I finally took advantage of my free time. I flipped through the card catalog, and in no time I had my hands on personal letters, handwritten notes, and a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, all of which flowed from Lincoln's pen.

This year, I decided to treat my dad to that same awesome privilege. I was more prepared this time, though, and in my preliminary research I found that the library hosted, along with its manuscripts, bronze casts of parts of a life mask of the 16th President. So, my father got to hold faithful representations of Lincoln's face and hands.

Even with my preparation, we still got a surprise: the library also holds the Sumner-Wormly copy of the Thirteenth Amendment.

Note: This was an event for Dad, so I only took my iPhone into the library.

This is the Thirteenth Amendment. Or at least the Sumner-Wormly copy, made soon after passage in Congress. Before it was sent out to the several states for ratification, Lincoln made what some call a constitutional faux pas: he signed the document, even though the executive has no formal part to play in the process of amending the Constitution.

At my elementary school, we counted among our parents Tom Zupancic, then the strength and conditioning coach for the Indianapolis Colts. As such, while I was on the football team (in only the strictest sense of the word "on," as I hardly figured into the offensive line), we got to play on the RCA Dome turf before a Colts game. I don't remember much of it, but I remember how cool it felt.

I saw much the same thing yesterday. St. Charles elementary school in Bloomington has counted among its parents IU men's basketball coach Tom Crean, and in 2008 the school (mascot: the Hawks) started the Hawks in the Hall tournament held in Assembly Hall. So, while IU was playing at Ohio State University on Sunday, a few elementary school teams from around Central Indiana took over the arena, including my old school (they're the guys in green). It was a welcome return for me, as I'd last been on the floor as an IDS photographer during what is looking to be their last bad season for a long time. ...I graduated a year too early.

Tomorrow is Abraham Lincoln's birthday. It's also my dad's birthday, so I'll be posting photos of the real reason I was in Bloomington this weekend: a return to the Lilly Library.

I haven't been a part of any political coverage for an outlet this year. (There is an entry, though, featuring Rick Perry.) It's much different than 2010, when I was at Todd Young's headquarters for the IDS when the GOP candidate won the 9th district U.S. House seat from Democrat Baron Hill. As such, I have no photos of this year's Republican senatorial battle between six-term Richard Lugar and Tea Party-backed state treasurer Richard Mourdock. I certainly couldn't do any political coverage during my day job.

I do, however, have photos of Mourdock from an IU College Republicans event last January. He was the third invited speaker in the Indiana Memorial Union's Frangipani Room that night, and he introduced himself as the primary challenger that he turned out to be. I don't remember much about what Mourdock said that night, but I do remember being much more impressed with Tony Bennett, Indiana's superindendent of public instruction, who talked about working across the aisle on bipartisan education reform. I also remember, generally, that Mourdock's partisanship made me a bit chagrined. I guess I'm not alone.

Indiana state treasurer Richard Mourdock talks with IU College Republican's Justin Kingsolver before a College Republicans event Jan. 24, 2011, in the Indiana Memorial Union. Mourdock beat six-term Senator Richard Lugar in the GOP primary election May 8, 2012.