Bloomington | Alex Farris Photo Blog

As a nerd of many things (photography, science, math, etc.), I'm a big fan of looking at original historical artifacts and holding them in my hands. As an IU student, I had the wonderful opportunity to do a lot of that at the Lilly Library, home to an Oscar, medieval calendars, Ernie Pyle's letters and an original Gutenberg New Testament. The library also prides itself on its large collection of Abraham Lincoln documents, and by large I mean 490 items by and about Honest Abe.

In honor of Lincoln's birthday (side note: it's also my dad's birthday), I decided to stop by the library this weekend. I was in Bloomington already for Indiana News Photographers Association photo contest judging, so it wasn't much effort to walk over there and look at documents I never saw when I was a student. I held in my own two hands a letter he wrote to a distant family member from Kentucky, a directive to Secretary of State William H. Seward, and the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. That broke my nerd quota for the day, even if some of them were facsimiles.

Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Notice some scratching out and, "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free..."

One more story about Saturday's celebration before Hoosier Nation moves on to this weekend's game against Notre Dame. It involves the three people involved in the moment shown here in the first photo.

Once again (but for the opposite reason) I have to claim some emotional interest in journalistic sports photos I've taken. I was at Nick's English Hut with friends watching the IU men's basketball team play No. 1-ranked Kentucky last night. I had my camera with me, so I was able to capture the greatest moment in Indiana Universy basketball in about a decade. I regret that in the pandemonium I didn't get any names, especially of the fans in the first picture who all acknowledged me in between photos, but in the grand scheme of things, the documentation of such a euphoric event was enough. (If, though, you know who they are, please let me know. Their anticipation and emotion should be bottled.)

If this isn't enough, check out the photos from the Indiana Daily Student and Peter Stevenson, and the video from Rabi Abonour.