Bartlett actress leads ‘Mary Lincoln and the Spiritualists’
Submitted by St. Charles Heritage Center
The St. Charles Heritage Center, in conjunction with the St. Charles Public Library, will present the third installment of the Thursday Evening Lecture Series on Thursday, Sept. 8.
The program will be held at 7 p.m. in the Carnegie Room at the St. Charles Public Library, 1 S. Sixth Ave.
In connection with the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the topic for this presentation will be “Mary Lincoln and the Spiritualists” presented by Valerie Gugala of Bartlett. After the death of her son Willie, Mary Lincoln held séances in the White House to try to contact him and other deceased relatives. Why did Mary and many other bereaved families believe in the spiritualist movement? What happened at these séances? Did Abraham Lincoln ever attend one? Later, while Mary was living in Batavia at Bellevue Place, she visited St. Charles resident and spiritualist Caroline Howard.
Gugala is a historian and actress who has been studying Abraham and Mary Lincoln for as long as she can remember, and performing as and speaking about Mary Lincoln for almost 15 years. Her research has taken her through numerous books and biographies, as well as the Chicago History Museum, the Illinois State Historical Library Archives, the former Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Ind., and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.
As one of the founders of Mary Lincoln’s Coterie, a group devoted to the memory of Mary Lincoln, she has helped to organize weekends of events in Springfield to commemorate the anniversary of Mary Lincoln’s death. This year, Gugala was honored to be asked to perform at the Lincoln Home visitor’s center, and to deliver the eulogy at the annual memorial service for Mary Lincoln.
Gugala is a member of the Association of Lincoln Presenters, and she was nominated by them as the “Best Mary Lincoln Presenter” in 2006, 2007 and 2008. In 2009 and 2010, she was nominated for the “Best Lincoln Team” award alongside her acting partner Kari Jones for their new show “Divided: Mary Lincoln and Emilie Todd Helm.”
In addition to her work as Mary Lincoln, Gugala is the theater producer and director for the Bartlett Park District community theater, and she appears onstage throughout the Chicago area as part of the acting troupe of “The Mystery Shop,” a traveling interactive murder-mystery theater company.
This event is free and open to the public; donations to the Heritage Center are appreciated. For more information, call the History Museum at (630) 584-6967.
The St. Charles Heritage Center operates the St. Charles History Museum and Gift Shop at 215 E. Main St. The museum and gift shop are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call (630) 584-6967, visit www.stcmuseum.org or check it out on Facebook.