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.

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