Q & Abe Live: Was Willie's death preventable?

Join us down the rabbit hole as we answer real questions from visitors to President Lincoln’s Cottage that we want to spend more time answering. We always start with Lincoln and the Cottage, but we often end up in unexpected places! Come along with us for this special LIVE virtual version of Q & Abe, our award-winning podcast. Hear from experts directly and get your own questions answered!

For this episode, we'll be working on the question "Was Willie's death preventable?" Willie Lincoln, President Lincoln's third son, died in February of 1862 from what experts believe was typhoid fever. This loss was a significant part of the Lincoln family's decision to relocate to the Cottage later that summer. To explore this question, hosts Joan and Callie will talk with a variety of experts to find out more about childhood illness, the history of medicine in DC, and efforts to prevent epidemic disease.

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Every day at President Lincoln’s Cottage we engage with visitors in conversation on difficult topics, from slavery to grief to immigration. Visitors, young and old alike, come here from next door and from around the globe. And occasionally, we get asked a question on a tour that stops us in our tracks – one we wish we could spend a half hour answering. Some of these questions, on their face, were innocent or simple, but on a second look they contain a level of complexity that leaves us wanting to know more.

Thanks to generous donations from our supporters, we created “Q & Abe” – a podcast that investigates real questions from visitors to the Cottage. Each episode, we’ll investigate a single real question a visitor asked us here.

You can find more episodes on our website, on Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts.

Host or Publisher President Lincoln's Cottage