Lincoln exhibit coming to DuPage Historical Museum
"Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War," a traveling exhibition opening Wednesday, May 13, and continuing through June 26 at the DuPage County Historical Museum in Wheaton, examines how President Lincoln used the Constitution to confront three intertwined crises of the Civil War: the secession of Southern states, slavery and wartime civil liberties.
Lincoln is widely acknowledged as one of America's greatest presidents, but his historical reputation is contested. Was he a calculating politician willing to accommodate slavery, or a principled leader justly celebrated as the Great Emancipator?
This exhibition at the museum, 102 E. Wesley St., provides no easy answers, but encourages visitors to form a nuanced view of Lincoln by engaging them with Lincoln's struggle to reconcile his policy preferences with basic American ideals of liberty and equality.
"It is such an honor for us to receive this traveling exhibit," says Michelle Podkowa, museum manager and educator. "President Lincoln is an icon in Illinois and spent so much time in the state. We are ecstatic to bring this exhibit to DuPage County to teach another generation of the important and difficult decisions this president had to make at a time of great turmoil and growth for the United States."
The National Constitution Center and the American Library Association Public Programs Office organized the traveling exhibition, which was made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Great Ideas Brought to Life. The traveling exhibit is based on one of the same name developed by the National Constitution Center.
The exhibition is composed of informative panels featuring photographic reproductions of original documents, including a draft of Lincoln's first inaugural speech, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment.
Also on display in the exhibition space are the 36th Illinois Infantry National Colors and the 8th Illinois Calvary Guidon on loan from the Illinois State Military Museum, as well as the Civil War veterans section of the Inheriting DuPage exhibit.
The DuPage County Historical Museum is sponsoring free programs and other events for the public in connection with the exhibition.
In "Abraham Lincoln in Song," folk singer Chris Vallillo combines Lincoln's own words and stories with contemporary folk music and period folk songs at 6:30 p.m. May 15. Presenting both well-known and obscure songs from Lincoln's time, Vallillo tells Lincoln's story.
In "Walt Whitman's Lincoln," at 6:30 p.m. May 28, storyteller and actor Brian "Fox" Ellis re-creates one of the lectures that the poet delivered annually on Lincoln's birthday after his death. These lectures intersperse commentary on the significance of Lincoln's life and work with Whitman's Civil War poems. Whitman wrote two of his most famous poems, "O Captain, My Captain" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," in tribute to the assassinated president.
The show is being produced in part by the Illinois Humanities Council's Road Scholars Speakers Bureau, a program that provides organizations statewide with affordable, entertaining, and thought-provoking humanities events for their communities.
Both events are free, but donations support the ongoing work of the museum. Register at www.wheatonparkdistrict.com/tickets or call (630) 510-4941. Visit dupagemuseum.org for more information.