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dif‚culty. It includes a register of informants, consisting of brief biographical sketch‚es of the people whose testimony about Lincoln came into Herndon's hands. The work also contains an appendix by Paul H. Verduin that presents, in outline form, a brief genealogy of the Hanks family.
The editors have enjoyed very extensive assistance over the course of this project, much of which is detailed in the acknowledgments, but some debts are in a spe‚cial category, and we wish to acknowledge those here. It has been our good for‚tune to be fellow members of the faculty at Knox College when this project was conceived and carried out. A ‚rm commitment to faculty research and a willing‚ness to support it have been the rule at Knox during our long tenure, and we re‚main grateful to the institution and to the deans who faithfully supported us, John Strassburger and Stephen Bailey. Timely and generous support also came from the fund provided by John E. and Elaine Fellowes to sustain the professional activi‚ties of the Knox College English department. We have also had the bene‚t of out‚standing work from committed student research assistants: Matt Norman, Dawn Campbell, Frank Doane, Chris Stratton, and Susan Han. Finally, we have attempt‚ed, by listing his name on the title page, to indicate the very extensive support and collaboration in research that we have received from our colleague in the Knox College Library, Terry Wilson.
It remains only to acknowledge the indispensable contribution of our wives, Sharon E. Wilson and Norma G. Davis, who shared the burdens and kept the faith.
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