Central Illinois Lincoln buffs: See you at the Normal Theatre April 8

Earlier this year, I told you of a great new Lincoln documentary filmed right here in Central Illinois, Prelude to the Presidency. I missed it myself, due to the bicentennial activities in Springfield.

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, April 8, 2009, at 7 p.m., I finally get to see it, and you can, too. COUNTRY Financial is joining in to sponsor a special showing of the film, with special guests, Producer and writer Alison Davis Wood, Director Tim Hartin and Bloomington lawyer and Lincoln expert, my friend Guy Fraker. The free screening is hosted by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission of McLean County and the David Davis Mansion Foundation in honor of the Lincoln Bicentennial.

You'll find directions to the Normal and a parking map on the theatre's website.

Won't you join us? I'm sure we're in for a great evening. I can't wait.

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Look no further – Lincoln in Illinois

What Illinois community do you think of when you think about Abraham Lincoln? New Salem, maybe, or Springfield?

He certainly lived and worked in both, but more than 42 counties throughout Illinois can claim a connection to Lincoln. The Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition works with those communities to keep his legacy alive.

Looking for Lincoln was founded nine years ago, and those of us who live or work in places such as Bloomington or Galesburg have seen the Looking for Lincoln logo and signs around town.

National recognition and funding
The coalition got a big boost earlier this year, though, when the National Heritage Area was signed into law. The legislation was originally authored by Senator Dick Durbin and former Congressman, now Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, and signed into law by President George W. Bush.

The law authorizes Congress to appropriate up to $1 million a year for 15 years to support the preservation and interpretation of the historic and cultural heritage of Lincoln’s time. The Heritage Area will explore and develop these in the context of Lincoln’s life and its impact on the American cultural landscape. Projects using federal funding in the Heritage Area must be matched by local, state, private, in-kind or foundation funding.

When the Heritage area legislation was signed, Looking for Lincoln Director Hal Smith said, “The Heritage Area designation will help us more fully develop and interpret a rich and vivid visitor experience that reflects the impact Lincoln had on our history and culture. Our mission will be to create and market a visitor experience that is interesting, historic and fun for travelers from across America and around the world.”

The Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area is the only heritage area in America named for a U.S. President.

Wayside exhibits
One way the coalition is creating that visitor experince is in partnering with communities to develop wayside exhibits which feature unique stories about Lincoln in each area. I had the opportunity this fall to attend the dedication of the wayside exhibit at the David Davis Mansion in Bloomington. The dedication truly was a moving experience.

By next summer, the coalition plans to have 220 exhibits at place in 47 communities throughout the state.

Looking for Lincoln History Hunt
Are you planning a family vacation to Lincoln site in Illinois? If so, the Looking for Lincoln History Hunt, available on the coalition’s website, is a great way to pique youngster’s curiosity and interest. Check it out.

Essay/art contest
In celebration of the bicentennial, Looking for Lincoln is also co-sponsoring a really cool Lincoln Hero essay and artwork contest. You can learn about the contest online, but I do want to share more later. This news is too neat to get buried at the end of a column, so I’ll give the contest its very own article soon.

Learn more about Looking for Lincoln
To learn more about Looking for Lincoln and for particulars on communities with Lincoln connections, visit the coalition’s website. They also keep an events calendar, so there’s one more place for you to learn where you, too, can live and breathe the rich Lincoln legacy here in Illinois. Be sure to check out the downloadable visitor's guide.

Lincoln at Christmas

Here’s a mixed bag – or stocking, perhaps, given it is Christmas – of Lincoln-related holiday info. Forgive me for not doing the research myself to share more in-depth information on Lincoln’s Christmas. I enjoyed the company of my family, trying to see the joy of the celebration through the eyes of my grandchildren. That, today, seemed more important.

How Lincoln spent Christmas week
The Snellers at Abraham Lincoln Online website have a nice timeline on their website answering the question “How did Lincoln spend Christmas week as President and President-elect?” The timeline covers the holiday week from 1860 through 1864.

Lincoln holiday images
On the Abraham Lincoln Collectibles website, I found some beautiful images of the Lincoln family at Christmas, created annually by the late Lloyd Ostendorf for more than 20 years. I’ve not done the digging to know for sure how realistic the scenes portrayed in each image are, but they’re quite attractive nonetheless. Many of the images are for sale as prints or postcards via the website.

Nurturing a budding scholar
My six-year-old grandson wanted a biography of Lincoln which had a picture of him with a beard. On a Christmas Eve shopping blitz, I found Abraham Lincoln from the History Maker Bios Series. It’s written by Jane A. Schott and illustrated by Tim Parlin. It looks as if it’s written so that it will hold his young attention, yet provide him with the basics of Lincoln scholarship. It’s nice to know we’re starting our own Lincoln legacy here. Kunhardts we’ll never be, but you have to start somewhere.

Starting a new old tradition
On our trip to the holiday reception at the David Davis Mansion, my granddaughter and I learned of a tradition observed in the Davis home which has roots nearly 130 years ago. David Davis was a Bloomington (Ill.) attorney who rode the Eighth Judicial Circuit with Lincoln, was the primary force in helping him win the 1860 election, served on the Supreme Court in Lincoln’s administration and served as a father figure to Robert Todd Lincoln after the President’s death.

In the gift shop and on the dining room table at the mansion, we saw Peppermint Pigs. We learned this was a Victorian holiday tradition. Those at the holiday dinner passed the Peppermint Pig, shielded in a festive red pouch, around the table. Each guest shared something good from the past year, then hit the pouch with a small hammer to break the pink candy pig into pieces. Once it had been around the table, the pouch was opened, the pig was shared, and it was to bring health and good luck in the New Year.

Both young and old at our table first shared something they were thankful for. The pig wasn’t broken as much as we desired, so we passed it again making a wish for the New Year. Those youngsters amaze me. They get it. Their thanks and their wishes were from the heart and not selfish. I’m pretty proud of and thankful for them. They’re good kids.

Even if you don’t have a Peppermint Pig this year, may you reflect on good things from 2008 and be blessed with good health and good luck in 2009. Thanks for spending time learning about Lincoln with me. Ann

© Copyright 2008 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Looking forward – Peering back

This past week was a busy one for the Lincoln buff, with Lincoln activities five out of seven days. Let’s take a peek back at the culmination of my Heartland College Lincoln class and at other Lincoln events I attended in Central Illinois. Let’s also look forward to what the Lincoln buff has planned now that my course is completed.

Never too much Lincoln
I began a whirlwind week on Tuesday, Dec. 2, as one of nine students giving oral presentations of our term papers. To learn more about the class, the students and the paper topics, see my article, Lasting Mark Left by Lincoln Class.

Wednesday of last week found me joining hundreds of other Central Illinoisans fighting freezing rain on I-55 as I travelled to Springfield to a Public Relations Society of America meeting where Julie Cellini of the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission told us what the commission has done to prepare for the bicentennial, what they’ve accomplished to date and what we have to look forward to. I’ll tell you more in a future article. It’s exciting.

The Lincoln world was well represented at that meeting, with people there from the Bicentennial Commission, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. All have great accomplishments behind them and a great task before them in preparing for Lincoln’s 200th birthday. It should be a celebration to remember.

On Thursday, I was accompanied by my young granddaughter to the volunteer and foundation member reception at the David Davis Mansion. What little girl – or big – wouldn’t be excited about seeing a beautiful 19th century showplace dressed up in all its holiday finery – right down to a teddy bears’ tea party? Watch future posts for more information about this architectural and historic treasure in Bloomington (Ill.), which has strong connections to the Lincoln legacy.

On the two days I didn’t have Lincoln events, I was preparing for one. I spent Saturday and Sunday studying for my final exam. Lest I give the questions away to future students of this class, I won’t give you the topics. Let it suffice to say one involved something which touched Lincoln’s entire life – a heavy, but important topic. I absorbed it, though, and made it through my Monday night final, melancholy that this once-a-week intellectual fix was coming to an end.

During my lunch time on Tuesday, I attended the dedication for the first of a number of Looking for Lincoln wayside exhibits in the Bloomington-Normal area. The Bloomington exhibits are just a handful of the more than 200 which will grace sites with connections to Lincoln from one end of the Prairie State to the other by the end of 2009. I’ll tell you more about this ceremony, the wayside exhibits and the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition in future articles.

What’s on the horizon?
Although the class is finished, the Lincoln buff is just beginning. In 2009 and beyond, my schedule is ambitious. My first order of business is to complete an industry designation I’ve started for my real job. I’ll begin study this week and continue it through and beyond Lincoln’s February 12 birthday. So, if there are times when you don’t see a post for a day or two, don’t give up on me. Just realize I may have had to take time to study.

As for Lincoln, I won’t let him down. I plan to continue the blog and, to work toward my goal of growing my knowledge – and yours - of the life and legacy of Lincoln, I’ll be spending much of my vacation time attending Lincoln celebrations and scholarly events, including:

• Bicentennial activities and scholarly events in Springfield in February
• The Illinois State Historical Society and Illinois College’s symposium, “Lincoln in Ante-Bellum Illinois” in March
• The Lincoln Forum symposium at Gettysburg in November

In the coming years, I also plan to:

• refine and expand my paper on Lincoln and his mentors,
• continue my work on Lincoln and Sandburg and on Lincoln in Illinois literature, and
• begin an in-depth study of David Davis and his relationship with Lincoln.

The blog lives on
My original intent was to keep the blog active through 2010 to extend more than a year past the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. However, a very wise Illinois historian recently reminded me the interest in Lincoln will surely intensify and continue as the commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War begins in 2011 and extends through 2015. Though that commemoration will likely be somber rather than celebratory like the Lincoln Bicentennial, it will serve as a time to continue to teach and to learn. God willing, I’ll be here and so will the technology so that this forum can continue to share what’s happening, what’s new in Lincoln scholarship and what I’ve learned. I’ll try not to let you down.

Bloomington: Don't miss dedication ceremony

Bloomington area residents: Don't miss the dedication ceremony for the Bloomington Looking for Lincoln wayside exhibits on Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 12:30 p.m. at the David Davis Mansion. I'm sorry I didn't let you know earlier. Some little matter of a final exam had me preoccupied.

See the press release on the McLean County Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission website for more information.

And don't forget to visit the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition website to learn how this neat organization works with communities throughout Illinois to honor our favorite son.

Fun Lincoln information coming soon

This is a busy week for the Lincoln Buff - student presentations in the Heartland College Lincoln class, a professional organization meeting with a speaker from the U.S. and Illinois Bicentennial Commissions, a David Davis Mansion Foundation event and preparation for the final exam. Please forgive me if my posts the next few days are short and not quite as frequent.

I promise I've got lots of interesting things coming. Watch for:

• an overview of the class presentation topics - a wide variety and quite interesting,
• what the bicentennial commissions are planning and
• kudos to some folks in the Lincoln world.

My list of topics grows by the days. There are all sorts of Lincoln-related things to share over the coming weeks. Please return to my blog often and stay awhile to read earlier posts.

Thank you for visiting and for sharing news of my blog with your friends. Have a great week. Ann

Sad days at historic sites

Yesterday, business was as usual – sort of – at Illinois historic sites. Volunteers at Lincoln’s Log Cabin peeled potatoes and answered visitors’ questions, while Carl Sandburg Birthplace held another in its Songbag Concert Series honoring the troubadour/poet who devoted more than 15 years of his life to writing a six-volume biography of Lincoln. Visitors to the David Davis Mansion saw the home all decked out in its holiday finery.

Yet, though the events went on in Charleston and Galesburg in spite of impending closings later today due to budget cuts, sadness was in the air. Surely, a few tears were shed, as I know they would have been had I been there. The feeling in Bloomington, however, was a guarded sort of relief. The Christmas festivities will go on at the David Davis Mansion and the site will remain open – at least through the February bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth.

I’ve talked to journalists who have to cover such happenings. It’s never an easy job, yet today several Illinois journalists captured the somber feelings in Charleston and Galesburg and the hopeful feelings in Bloomington.

To read about the human impact of the budget cuts, see the articles about the:

• Lincoln Log Cabin by Rob Stroud of Journal-Gazette Times-Courier Online
• Carl Sandburg Birthplace by Eric Timmons of The Register-Mail
• David Davis Mansion by Phyllis Coulter of The Pantagraph

For Lincoln buffs, history nuts and the young people who won’t be able to see these historic sites and be bitten by the history bug, this is a sad time indeed.

Gov’s cuts rain on Lincoln’s birthday parade

I hadn’t blogged about the historic site closings in Illinois. I really try to be an optimist and, deep inside, I truly hoped they wouldn’t close. For those of you outside of Illinois, here’s the skinny of it. The State of Illinois is in a horrible budget crunch. One of the ways Governor Blagojevich wants to fix it is by closing several state parks and many historic sites, and reducing hours at others.

This would be a tragedy under any conditions. Many of these sites will no longer be available for visitors, or at reduced hours, and dedicated site employees will lose their jobs. Many of the small communities where these institutions are located depend on tourist revenue for survival. And on top of all this, the closings are especially tragic in light of the upcoming bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth.

Lincoln sites closing
Three of the sites slated to close after November 30 are the Lincoln Log Cabin near Charleston, the Vandalia statehouse, where Lincoln served as a legislator, and the Carl Sandburg Birthplace in Galesburg. The David Davis Mansion in Bloomington was also on the budget chopping block, but thanks to a successful fundraising effort by the mansion’s foundation, private funds raised will keep the mansion open – at least until his birthday. I currently live in the Bloomington area and I’m always proud of our people. They come through – whether it’s a flood or hurricane relief drive, a food pantry effort, a Habitat home raising or maintaining the legacy of the man who helped Lincoln win the Republican bid for the presidency.

Why is Bloomington different, you wonder? Like many communities, we’ve got dedicated volunteers, caring individuals, supportive institutions. Unlike Galesburg, for instance, we still have a financially healthy community. People here are blessed and they share those blessings. Fortunately, the survival of the David Davis Mansion is on the receiving end of this sharing.

Huge hearts – empty wallets
I can’t speak for Vandalia and Charleston, as I’m not familiar with those communities, but I can speak for my hometown for more than 30 years, Galesburg. The hearts of the people of Galesburg are just as huge and the loyal contingent of Lincoln/Sandburg supporters would like nothing more than to see the birthplace remain open. Unfortunately, the money just isn’t there. The Galesburg community is as unhealthy financially as the Bloomington area is healthy. In the past decade, Sandburg’s hometown lost all major manufacturing, the lifeblood of the city and the surrounding area. As a ripple effect, many other businesses have also closed their doors, including the grocery store where, until moving away in 1997, this blogger worked and built cherished relationships for almost half of her adult life.

As the plan stands now, visitors to Illinois in 2009 who hope to see the sites which helped mold the sixteenth president and inspire the son of Swedish immigrants to write about him will miss their chance. The future of these sites looks dismal, especially for the upcoming February bicentennial.

One last hope
At this point in time, until we have an Illinois administration which cares as much as we do about keeping the legacy of Lincoln alive, I see only one hope – outside philanthropists. Maybe, just maybe, there are people out there who love Lincoln so much that they would come forth to these historic site associations or foundations and offer them the funds to keep the sites open. For the Galesburg site, the magic number is $7,833 per month, roughly $94,000 per year. I’m sure Illinois Historic Preservation Agency spokesman David Blanchette would be glad to provide similar numbers for the other sites and put you in touch with individuals at each site who spearhead the foundation or association efforts.

To borrow one of the eloquent speaker Lincoln’s many well crafted phrases, the “last best hope” for the future of these sites lies in the hands of those who love Lincoln and have the wherewithal to keep his legacy alive. Bob Lenz and his fellow Lincoln lovers in the Bloomington area have shown us it can be done and Blanchette has offered to listen to similar offers from other sites. Now, all we need is people who can make it happen. Are you one of them?

For more information
Here are several sources for more information on the closings:

Article on the closings by David Mercer as it appeared in today’s Galesburg Register-Mail

Pantagraph story by Sharon Wolfe and Kurt Erickson telling how the David Davis Mansion Foundation efforts are keeping the historic site open

John Pulliam’s earlier Register-Mail story about the dismal outlook without funding for the Sandburg site