On November
19, 1863, Lincoln delivered one of his most famous speeches in Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania. He had been invited to
give a “few appropriate remarks” during the dedication ceremony for a cemetery
for Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. Despite the brevity of the speech and the fact
that it earned little attention at the time, the Gettysburg Address has become
one of the most celebrated speeches in U.S. history.
As we observe
the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, the Lillie M.
Evans Library and the Princeville Heritage Museum would like to publicize the
upcoming exhibit, Lincoln: The
Constitution and the Civil War which will be on display at the Museum from
April 7, 2014 through May 9, 2014. Organized
thematically, the exhibition explores how Lincoln used the Constitution to
confront three intertwined crises of the war—the secession of Southern states,
slavery, and wartime civil liberties. Visitors will leave the exhibition with a
more complete understanding of Abraham Lincoln as president and the Civil War as
the nation’s gravest constitutional crisis.
A short video
walkthrough (10:25 min.) with Dr. Steve Frank, Chief Interpretive Officer at
the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, is available online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hNVUPM5SOg. Lincoln: the Constitution and the Civil War, a
traveling exhibition for libraries, was organized by the National Constitution
Center and the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The traveling
exhibition has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment
for the Humanities. Lincoln: the Constitution and the Civil War is based on an
exhibition of the same name developed by the National Constitution Center.
There will be several programs offered during the
exhibit including a tea with Mrs. Lincoln, Illinois in the Civil War with Tom Emery, and
a discussion of the anti-slavery movement in the mid-19th century. If you would like to ensure you are on our
mailing list, please email phmdirector@frontier.com with your contact information and we’ll keep
you informed about the events. In addition,
watch our websites, http://lmelibrary.org and http://www.princevilleheritagemuseum.com/ for additional information on this exhibit
and the upcoming programs.
