Collectors' Roundtable: Collecting Iconic Americana

Collectors' Roundtable: Collecting Iconic Americana: Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Jacobs, and Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free

At the 48th Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair
Saturday, November 7, 2026, at 12:30 pm
Hynes Convention Center, 900 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02115

Featuring:

• Thomas A. Horrocks, Independent Scholar; Editor-in-Chief, The Lincoln Herald
• Jeanne Schinto, Independent Writer; Former Reporter, Maine Antique Digest
• Beth Carroll-Horrocks, Special Collections & Archives Professional; Founding Member, Harriet Jacobs Legacy Committee
• Kathy Alpert, Collector, Writer, Researcher, and Author of the new book, “Lost & Found: Historic Boston in Postcards.”

Three collectors, three ways of building a life around a single obsession. Thomas A. Horrocks shows how a serious Lincoln collection can be built on a modest budget, drawing on decades of pursuit that inform his forthcoming Abraham Lincoln in 50 Objects. Beth Carroll-Horrocks traces her long effort to document abolitionist Harriet Jacobs across formats—publications, artwork, ephemera—as a founding member of the Harriet Jacobs Legacy Committee. And Jeanne Schinto turns to photography itself, presenting a collection of immigrant photo-books spanning Muybridge to Steichen to Robert Frank. Moderated by Kathy Alpert, this Ticknor Society Roundtable is a conversation about what it actually takes to build a meaningful collection—the persistence, the instinct, and the occasional stroke of luck—around three of American history's most enduring subjects.

https://www.abaa.org/event/speakers-and-programming