Well, well, the editor of Grant's papers, John Y. Simon, stood up to Richard Norton Smith in a small matter of historic sensibility.

Simon was already known in Illinois historical circles as an outspoken critic of projects he believes play fast and loose with the facts or with the dignity he thinks history deserves. When planners for the $115 million Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield said they would use latex figures to represent Lincoln and others in his life, Simon objected, writing newspaper editorials deriding the plans as "Disneyesque," and a "tasteless travesty." He lost, latex won.