| Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum | |
| Location | Springfield, Illinois, USA |
|---|---|
| Dedicated | April 2005 |
| Named for | Abraham Lincoln |
| Architect | HOK Illinois Historic Preservation Agency Dr. Thomas H. Schwartz BRC Imagination Arts, Exhibit Designer |
| Management | The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation |
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum documents the life of the 16th U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln, and the course of the American Civil War. Combining traditional scholarship with 21st century showmanship techniques, the popular museum continues to rank as one of the most visited libraries. It is located in Springfield, Illinois and is operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, a governmental agency of the state government of Illinois. It is not affiliated with the U.S. National Archives and its system of Presidential Libraries.
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The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum has been recognized with two awards: a Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Themed Entertainment Association,[1] and an award from The Lincoln Group of New York, for "being the greatest achievement in America to encourage the study and appreciation of Abraham Lincoln and the times in which he lived."
The museum contains life-size dioramas of Lincoln's boyhood home, areas of the White House, the presidential box at Ford's Theater, and the settings of key events in Lincoln's life, as well as pictures, artifacts and other memorabilia. Original artifacts are changed from time to time, but the collection usually includes items like the original hand written Gettysburg Address, a signed Emancipation Proclamation, his glasses and shaving mirror, Mary Todd Lincoln's music box, items from her White House china, her wedding dress, and more.
One of the museum's permanent exhibits, Campaign of 1860, features late "Meet the Press" anchor Tim Russert. In addition to its exhibits, the Lincoln Museum runs two special effects theater shows, Lincoln's Eyes and Ghosts of the Library. Both shows run several times an hour.
Burbank, California based BRC Imagination Arts, led by Bob Rogers, was responsible for all of the permanent exhibits and presentations, music, theaters, lifelike figures and full-immersion historical settings.
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum quickly became one of the most talked about, studied, and debated new projects within the museum design profession. The museum has received great attention from within the field of museum design and historians for its use of modern technology, theatrics, and high-fidelity figures to tell the Lincoln story, generating larger than expected attendance, enthusiastic visitors and a sharp boost to the regional economy, including increased attendance at surrounding historical attractions.[2] But museum traditionalists have disapproved of this departure from a static display of glass-encased artifacts. Traditionalists such as Southern Illinois University historian John Y. Simon have said the popular approach, borrowing presentation technologies from entertainment, trivializes the subject matter. Simon calls the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum a "Lincolnland."
Other academics applaud the Lincoln Museum's revolutionary approach. John R. Decker in the Journal of American History sees benefits in using 21st century communication methods to capture the public's imagination, drawing audiences to educational subjects. He writes:
"Like any other modern collection (the Lincoln Presidential museum) has an audience base that extends far beyond specialists and academics. Rather than merely pandering to the public or dumbing down history, the ALPLM intelligently and compellingly uses visual culture to meet its mission as a public pedagogical institution. The museum addresses complex historical material and opens the historical discourse to a wider audience than would be possible through more conventional means."[3]
The scholarship behind the content and design for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum was a collaboration between international exhibit designers, BRC Imagination Arts, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA), and a content team assembled by state historian Dr. Thomas H. Schwartz. This content team included the world's leading Lincoln scholars, Pulitzer Prize winning historians, and Illinois school teachers representing the fourth, seventh and eleventh grades. A key goal of this collective was that exhibits promote a greater level of personal interest in Abraham Lincoln. Museum visitors wanting to continue learning about Lincoln are reflected in the record sales of history books in the museum's gift shop. Some books have sold faster than the publisher can reprint. Overall sales in the gift shop hit $1 million within three months of the museum's opening to the public.[4]
The Lincoln Presidential Library is a research library which houses books, papers and artifacts related to Lincoln's life and the American Civil War. In addition to the works associated with Lincoln and his era, the museum serves as a premier repository of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and other materials of historical interest pertaining to the history of the State of Illinois. While the library is open to the public, its rare collection is non-circulating.
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in Springfield, Illinois in the historic downtown section, near many other Lincoln cultural sites. The presidential library opened on October 14, 2004, and the museum opened on April 19, 2005. Until 1970, Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. was designated as the "Lincoln Museum".
The buildings which now house the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum are in three separate structures. Each structure encompasses one city block.
Two of the buildings, the museum and the library, are separated by a street and connected above the street level by an enclosed walkway. The entrance of each building features a rotunda, reflective of the dome on the Old State Capitol State Historic Site in Springfield, where Lincoln served four terms as a legislator. Both structures were designed by the architectural firm HOK.
The third building, the former Springfield Union Station, has been adapted to serve as the museum's visitor center.
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Richard Norton Smith served as the museum's Founding Executive Director. Dr. Thomas Schwartz served as the museum's Interim Executive Director when Smith departed in March 2006, and until Rick Beard was appointed in October 2006. However, Beard was fired in October 2008 after he was charged with shoplifting at Springfield stores; he later pled guilty. Jan Grimes, Director of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, served as interim Executive Director until Eileen R. Mackevich, MBE, was appointed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn on Friday, December 3, 2010.[5] Mackevich, 71, formerly served as the Executive Director of the national Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Mackevich was also active as a broadcast journalist and talk show host on Chicago public radio, and was the co-founder of the Chicago Humanities Festival. She will start the last week of December 2010 and will be paid $150,000 a year, minus 24 mandated furlough days a year because of state budget cuts. Mackevich's objectives are to raise money, make the museum more attractive, and attract more international interest.
Since its opening in April 2005, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum has ranked as America's most visited state-controlled presidential museum. In about six months the museum generated about $1 million. In less than twenty-one months, the museum received its one millionth visitor.[6]
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