2014 Lincoln Heritage Museum Magazine Lincoln Daily News.com April 26, 2014 27
Breathe in the life experiences of Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln Heritage Museum
It is Feb. 12, 1865, President Abraham
Lincoln's birthday. Ground is being
broken for the first college to be
named for the 16th president of the
United States of America — Lincoln
University, later named Lincoln
College.
And fittingly, it is in a town that
was originally surveyed by a young,
laboring A. Lincoln and a few years
later named for and christened by
the young lawyer, who subsequently
became an attorney, became a state
legislator, became a congressman, and
now is a second-term president.
Less than nine weeks pass ...
It is April 14, 1865. During the thrill
of a lively play already in process
at Ford’s Theatre in Washington,
D.C., President Lincoln and his wife,
Mary Todd, arrive, a little late. As the
play continues, suddenly shots ring
out, pandemonium ensues, and after
several moments of chaos, all falls
silent.
149 years pass …
It is now April 2014. You are on
the campus of Lincoln College, not
far from University Hall, which yet
stands. You are on the second floor of
the newly redesigned Lincoln Heritage
Museum.
And today, by means of the most
sophisticated modern technology, you
have just experienced what it may
have been like to actually be standing
in Ford’s Theatre watching as those
tragic events unfolded. Furthermore,
you will now continue your walk
backward in time as an active observer
to experience in a manner as never
before, some of what may have been
the pivotal moments in the life of
Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln Heritage Museum curator
Ron Keller and assistant director
Anne Moseley worked in tandem
with interpretive planning and exhibit
design experts from Taylor Studios of
Rantoul. The work has been expertly
blended into a presentation that
uses modern concepts in lighting,
audiovisual and video technologies to
bring a sense of presence to displays
and scenes; Lincoln's life comes alive.
While you partake in one of the
optional, timed experiential walking
tours, you may find yourself doing
more than stepping into the shoes
of Abraham Lincoln. The series of
exhibits and displays use authentic and
reproduced items of significance that
are set into real-life surround stages
that are fully touchable and interactive
— intended to transport you into the
days that Lincoln lived.
You are encouraged to touch the
displays. Keller said, "We do invite
people to touch things, get into history
and feel it."
Feel the impact of documents,
maps, posters and relics grouped
and presented in life-sized displays.
Strategically selected events illuminate
whence Lincoln's convictions,
strengths and actions may have come.
And likely, you will be challenged to
review your own contributions in life.
You are presented pieces of Lincoln's
earlier life that indicate what may
have given him the resolve necessary
to lead a young country through one
of its most trying times; to unite, even
grow, as California knocked on its
door; or to fail, splinter and dissolve in
dissension over the issue of slavery.
As you progress backward through
time, you will gain a greater sense of
what may have gifted Lincoln to be
the leader needed for a country in what
was surely its greatest struggle to unite
as a nation of one accord.
One of the exhibits includes
reproduced slave posters, a map
and pictures of the working flatboat
journey that young Lincoln took down
the Mississippi, where he would have
seen slaves openly marketed on the
streets of New Orleans.
According to Keller, historical
accuracy was a primary consideration.
"Every word you hear in the audios
has been verified as actual statements
made by Abraham Lincoln or others,”
he said. “We don't want to take any
liberties with history. We want to tell it
like it was."
Carefully selected life-moments
foreshadow decisions that led to
dynamic changes of our then less-
than-century-old country. You will
journey backward through the
personal moments and events that
molded the man who crafted words
with such power that they are some of
the most noted in this country's history
— speeches that kept a country from
coming apart. Documents, debates and
speeches, such as his Second Inaugural
Address in the midst of the Civil War,
stand out yet today.
Like a good movie that pulls you
in and makes you feel at one with
the main character, at some point
you may find yourself walking in
Abraham Lincoln's shoes. Scenes
are set using authentic or replicated
items of significance: a room of
family portraits; a walk-in Civil War
commander’s tent with lantern and
maps; a courtroom with pieces of
evidence from the common cases
Lincoln argued; speeches; national
decrees of freedom for the oppressed;
the hand-built coffin Lincoln made
for his mother. You are looking and
thinking back over clarifying moments
— the who, what and where – that in
combination with the character and
