A. Lincoln: Railsplitter to Rushmore

Abraham Lincoln is a man for all seasons and for all people. He is the face on the penny, a sculpture on Mount Rushmore, and an animatronics figure in Walt Disney World. He is remembered variously as the Great Emancipator, Savior of the Union, a self-made man, a rugged frontiersman, a stately lawyer, a brilliant orator, and a man of the people. Whatever is important in an age or to an individual becomes projected onto Lincoln, an Everyman whose story fits into all times and places. Poet Carl Sandburg said, “The facts and myths of his life are to be an American possession, shared widely over the world, for thousands of years.”
His presidency, from 1861-1865, spanned the years of the nation’s darkest period: the Civil War that took the lives of hundreds of thousands Americans, but freed millions who suffered the bonds of human slavery. Lincoln himself paid the ultimate price for his ideals. This exhibition reexamines the life of our nation’s greatest president and commemorates the 150th anniversary of his Emancipation Proclamation. Signed into effect by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, this act proclaimed the freedom of all slaves in the United States. With a signed presidential copy of the Proclamation serving as the foundation, the remainder of this exhibition will address milestone events in the fascinating life of our nation’s 16th President.
The more than 250 artifacts, documents, and photographs on display are drawn from the most important repositories of Lincolniana in the United States, both public and private, including the National Archives, the Library of Congress, Ford’s Theatre, Louise Taper, Seth Kaller, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Kentucky Historical Society, and the Zaricor Flag Collection. This exhibition will be broadly appealing to anyone interested in the life and times of one of our nation’s most celebrated and fascinating presidents.

(Individual artifact records from outside lenders are not displayed.)