Ralph Newman, a master raconteur, one time merchant marine, minor-league baseball player, Lincoln scholar and hopeless bibliophile, founded the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in part to serve the passionate collecting needs of a small circle of friends devoted to the study of the Civil War and the Great Emancipator. Among that small circle were poet Carl Sandburg, authors Bruce Catton, Otto Eisenschiml, E. B. ‘Pete’ Long, Stanley Horn, Lloyd Lewis, and T. Harry Williams. The first meeting of the Civil War Round Table took place Dec. 3rd, 1940. Fifteen men attended who became the charter members of The Civil War Round Table, the first chapter in a movement of Civil War Round Tables that meet monthly across the U.S. and around the World.
Membership in the Chicago Civil War Round Table is open to anyone with an interest in the Civil War, Lincoln or the Middle Period. Please click the link on the home page to obtain full membership information by mail or for any other inquiry. Please mention membership in the body of your e-mail. You may use our on-line membership application to join by mail.