32 2014 Lincoln Heritage Museum Magazine Lincoln Daily News.com April 26, 2014
Another wonderful feature of the
lobby area is the letter wall.
The museum invited area
schoolchildren to write letters
to Abraham Lincoln. They were
allowed to speak their minds to the
president, telling them their opinions
of him and asking him important
questions.
Each letter is displayed on the wall.
In front of the wall are papers where
future visitors may also write a letter
and have it pinned to the wall.
Some of these letters can really grab
the heart, such as the first letter
below, where the student thanks
Lincoln for his signing of the 13th
Amendment. The student notes that
had that not happened, his or her
cousins who now live in Georgia
would be slaves.
This painting hangs in the
ground-floor gallery of the
new museum. At the old
museum it held a prominent
spot on the east wall. In the
new museum it is equally
dominant in the room,
catching the eye quickly.
The piece was done by artist
Sacha Newley and donated
to the Lincoln Heritage
Museum in 2008. Entitled
"The Head of Lincoln," it
depicts Abraham Lincoln
and includes the words of
the Gettysburg Address as a
backdrop.
Art is created for a variety of reasons, among them to please the
eye or to evoke an emotion. This painting catches the eye and
draws the viewer into it through its use of light, dark and texture.
For some, the emotion it evokes, though, is not as much pleasure
as it is sadness.
This is more than fitting, as throughout Lincoln's life he was
plagued with sadness and pain. Born in Kentucky, he lived a
meager life and lacked many of the creature comforts even of
that day. He suffered the loss of his mother and was sorrowed
deeply by this. He longed for education, but was denied that as he
was made to work and help with the financial support of his fam-
ily. He was not particularly successful in the romance department
of his life until he met Mary Todd. He suffered deeply over the
inhumanities of the era and grieved for those bound in slavery.
As a president, he reached the highest pinnacle of his political
career, but the joy that should have been there was swiftly dashed
away by war. He labored over every decision and suffered greatly
when knowing those decisions would lead to mothers burying
their young sons before they had a chance to really live their
lives.
On the main floor of the new museum, visitors can walk through
the life of Abraham Lincoln, seeing what he saw as a young man.
The displays draw attention to his life and relationships in Logan
County, his efforts as a young politician, a son, husband, father
and finally the father of our nation.
