By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

A Quincy monument is featured in a 2010 calendar focused on Abraham Lincoln.

The "Lincoln in Illinois" calendar, published by the Abraham Lincoln Association, features photographs of Lincoln statues across the state, including one of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Memorial in Washington Park by award-winning Chicago photographer Ron Schramm.

The photo of the statue, sculpted by Lorado Taft in 1936, is featured in the month of September.

"The Lorado Taft monument is a very significant work of art. He was one of the great sculptors of the 20th century," said Chuck Scholz, chairman of Quincy's Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

Quincy's bas relief monument was restored in the 1990s and remains the central focus of a renovated Sesquicentennial Plaza, a project spearheaded by the commission.

The commission wanted to preserve the city's legacy for future generations and highlight its role, as a debate site, in a significant event in the nation's history.

"We need to let other folks know about that," Scholz said. "The increased exposure is welcome."

Photos for the calendar, and a similar 2009 version, came from "Lincoln in Illinois," a book published by the association in conjunction with the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth and featuring photographs of Lincoln statues across the state.

Schramm and association President Richard Hart selected the photos "to vary location, themes and the sorts of shots they had," said Mary Shepherd, executive manager of the association.

The book updated a 1950 association effort to document Lincoln statues in the state. Then, there were 15 in the state, and Hart said the association expected the number might have doubled over time. Instead, the association found 90 statues, with even more planned as part of the Lincoln bicentennial celebration.

Lincoln "spent time in so many communities in Illinois. That's something a lot of people don't realize," Shepherd said. "A lot of towns felt they had a real connection with him on a personal level. That's one reason there's so many."

Photos of each statue are paired with written comments, not critiques.

"It's a Lincoln Rohrschach test. We asked people to sit down, look at the statue and write," Hart said. "We got people from all walks of life all over the U.S."

Comments for the Quincy statue came from Jean Taft Douglas Bandler, granddaughter of the sculptor.

"He and my grandmother read aloud from the Sandburg chapters on the Lincoln-Douglas debates over the extension of slavery. It has an apt description of Lincoln by a visitor in Quincy: 'No one could doubt that the cause for which he was speaking was the only thing he had at heart. He was the representative of an idea. His great strength was in his trusting the people instead of considering them as babes in arms. ... I never saw a more thoughtful face. I never saw a more dignified face. I never saw so sad a face.' "

-- dhusar@whig.com/221-3379