Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’ props to find a home in Springfield

Do you follow the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum on Facebook? If you don’t, you should.

Then you wouldn’t miss news like this exciting announcement: “Key sets, costumes and props” from Steven Spielberg’s movie “Lincoln” will be displayed “for many years to come” in an exhibit, “Lincoln: From History to Hollywood.”

The sets for Lincoln’s office and Mary Lincoln’s bedroom will be in the exhibit at Union Station, across 6^th Street from the museum in Springfield, Ill., beginning in early 2014.

The exhibit will also include costumes, such as Lincoln’s suit, some of Mary Lincoln’s dresses and young Tad Lincoln’s Zouave uniform, as well as props like the stethoscope used in the death scene, papers and magazines used as office props, and the gloves Daniel Day Lewis wore in his Academy Award-winning performance of Lincoln.

Union Station will serve as a museum annex, with video presentations about the movie to complement the exhibit.

Admission for children will be free, when accompanied by adults, whose admission charge is $5. A new “full experience” package offers museum visitors a savings, though. For $15, which is $3 more than museum-only admission, adults can see both the museum and its annex “Lincoln” exhibit.

Spielberg and DreamWorks Studios are loaning the items to the museum, with transportation costs covered by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, not tax dollars.

“It is an honor to have this exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum,” says Spielberg. “When we visited for research on the film, it was our thought that there might be an opportunity to bring such an exhibit to Springfield, and that is now a reality.”

From one Lincoln buff to another, I say, Kudos, Mr. Speilberg! Your movie resurrected the Lincoln story, eliciting a new wave of interest in the 16^th President, his life and legacy. Thank you! I can’t wait to see the exhibit.

Visit the ALPLM Facebook announcement to read the full release.

A virtual tour of Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership

Don’t you love the places technology can take us today – the way social media and video can show us sites we may never get to see otherwise, teach us things we may never otherwise know?

In 2005, when the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum opened its doors in Springfield, Ill., it hosted a conference with more than 20 leading Lincoln scholars. 

One of the presentations that touched me the most that day was a three-generation panel of scholars, which included a young scholar named Matthew Pinsker, prolific Lincoln author Harold Holzer (representing the in-between demographic ), and a gentleman who was then a patriarch of Lincoln scholars, David Herbert Donald, Pinsker’s mentor. I was glad I met the elder scholar that day, and received his autograph in my copy of his book, “Lincoln.” Donald passed away four years later, a few months after the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. 

One of the greatest changes we’ve seen in the way we can educate and inspire about the 16^th president is through the use of technology – and Donald’s student is doing it well.  

Pinsker holds the Brian Pohanka Chair of Civil War History at Dickinson College. He is the author of two books about Lincoln, one of which is “Lincoln’s Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers’ Home.” He is also co-director of the House Divided project, which provides 21^st century tools to teach 19^th century topics in grades K-12. 

Check out one of the latest – an inside look at Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership. Pinsker shared this post on LinkedIn today:

This is what a "virtual" field trip looks like... Check out short video tour of new Ford's Theatre Center for Education & Leadership, by @DickinsonCol prof Matthew Pinsker, via @Gilder_Lehrman http://t.co/reSic0tl3i

See the 10-minute video here: 

Teacher's Tour of the Ford's Theatre Center for Education and Leadership from The Gilder Lehrman Institute on Vimeo.