24 2014 Lincoln Heritage Museum Magazine Lincoln Daily News.com April 26, 2014
In the afternoon, guests at the museum were treated
to Lincoln-era music through the interpretive
performances of Allen Mendez and Jeff Arbisi.
Mendez played the role of Capt. Alexander Raffen, a
young man raised in a wealthy family in Quincy. He
was a third-generation banjo player. He became a
field commander for the 16th Illinois Infantry, which is
where he met John T. Palmer (played by Arbisi), who
was also from Quincy.
Palmer's parents died while he was serving in the
infantry, and he chose not to return to his hometown
after his discharge. He and his now fast friend
Mendez became traveling minstrels.
Saturday afternoon, the pair performed for a large
group on the ground floor of the Lincoln Heritage
Museum. Present for their performance were
portrayers of President and Mrs. Lincoln. Lincoln was
a lover of music and enjoyed hearing the banjo and
fife performance. However, the day was growing
long for the couple, and as they sat down to rest and
relax, they let go of the thoughts and troubles of the
day and drifted off for a bit.
In addition to all the exciting things going on inside
the museum, a couple of other things were going on
outside.
Mini Abe has been in Lincoln all this week, and he
couldn’t resist stopping by and having his picture
taken with his life-sized counterpart. The Lincolns
graciously posed outside with Ron Keller, Anne
Moseley and Mini Abe.
There were also horse-drawn carriage rides around
the college campus.
Pictures by Curt Fox, Nila Smith and Jan Youngquist
