Tag: museums
Lincoln Library Workers Strive To Put More Documents About Abe Online

Lincoln Library Workers Strive To Put More Documents About Abe Online

By Joan Cary, Chicago Tribune (TNS)

Every morning, Daniel Stowell reads the newspaper on his iPad over breakfast.

But it isn’t the current day’s paper. It’s an edition from 150 years ago to the day of the four-page Daily National Republican.

Not only is the old news of personal interest to the historian and author, it gives Stowell a head start on his workday. He is director and editor of The Papers of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., and he and his co-workers have a goal: employ modern technology to make historical Lincoln documents accessible to anyone with a computer.

They intend to give the world via the Internet 150,000-plus transcriptions and images of papers written by or to Illinois’ favorite son. And they’ve posted about 100,000 legal documents from Lincoln’s law career online. They also are chronicling as many day-to-day events as possible in Lincoln’s life, such as the ones Stowell finds combing through an online archive of the Daily National Republican.

And they are creating apps that allow museum visitors to interact and learn more about the 16th president.

“Millions of people around the world are fascinated by Abraham Lincoln,” said Stowell, who also is director of the museum and library’s Center For Digital Initiatives. “We can never predict with complete accuracy how people are going to connect with him, but they do.”

Stowell’s staff thinks that even documents pertaining to Lincoln’s death and those written in the present will help people connect to who Lincoln was in life.

The citizenlincoln.org website allows researchers to see and read the condolence letters sent by leaders from around the world after Lincoln’s assassination 150 years ago this April, as well as read what the modern counterparts of those people think of Lincoln today.

For example, there’s a letter of sympathy from Queen Victoria to Mary Todd Lincoln on April 29, 1865, offering condolences over “so terrible a calamity,” and one that Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, wrote to the museum in October, in which he said how he drew strength from Lincoln. He noted that streets in Israel are named after Lincoln, who, according to the prime minister, had a desire to visit Jerusalem that went unfulfilled.

As for the president’s time on earth, thelincolnlog.org offers details from the days in the life of Lincoln. So far, more than 7,100 days are documented, most from his adult life.

Wondering what Lincoln was doing on your birthday — or any date — many years ago? On March 9, 1844, he paid 25 cents for a pair of woolen mittens. On Feb. 9, 1864, he was sitting for several portraits, including the one used for the $5 bill. Not historic enough? Read the details of Nov. 19, 1863, the day he delivered the Gettysburg Address.

Museumgoers, whose numbers average 300,000 a year, according to education director Michelle Poe, will also benefit from the efforts of Stowell and his staff.

For example, the museum’s newest website, mylincoln.org, will be launched in April. Instead of telling museum visitors to turn off their smartphones at the door, it encourages them to turn them on and use them. With a phone or tablet they will be able to take part in age-appropriate museum scavenger hunts and have access to enhanced information about the displays.

“I definitely see digitalization and Internet as a way to reach a young audience, but the idea is to reach out to museumgoers and Lincoln enthusiasts of all ages,” Stowell said.

The Papers of Abraham Lincoln office, in a quiet place above the library, houses a long-term project of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and the Lincoln Library and Museum.

There, the state’s Lincoln documents are divided into three categories: 20,000-plus nonlegal papers from Lincoln’s birth to his inauguration in 1861, 97,000 legal documents from when Lincoln practiced law in Illinois courts, and 78,000 presidential papers from the inauguration until Lincoln’s assassination.

These documents already are or will be accessible on papersofabrahamlincoln.org. And Stowell estimates about 50,000 more papers exist.

Two of Stowell’s staff members work in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., still searching for more of those documents, and seven full-time Springfield employees scan, research and contextualize documents the library has acquired, he said.

Stowell said the Papers of Abraham Lincoln is a $720,000 project this fiscal year. Not quite half of that comes from the state. The rest comes from federal funding and private donations. He said state funding is down about 10 percent in recent years, and he expects there may be more cuts.

Digitizing will physically preserve these tender papers and allow people to access them without leaving home, he said. But he and his staff also want to provide the information necessary for readers to understand what they read by linking letters that are related, identifying people and events, and providing historical context.

Stowell said they have digitized documents scattered in more than 400 repositories and more than 200 private collections worldwide. But he knows there are many more in private hands and more documents, particularly from the Lincoln presidency, to still uncover.

Recently, Daniel Weinberg, owner of The Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago, alerted Stowell to a collection of 45 Lincoln documents in the shop. Stowell came to Chicago with his high-end scanner to find that only eight were already in the state database. The trip was well worth it.

“I’ve seen a lot of Lincoln signatures,” said Weinberg, who has been in the shop since 1971. “Are there significant Lincolns still out there to be found? I can’t say there aren’t because every once in awhile something significant does come out.”

Weinberg said he is always willing to share any newly discovered documents with the state for the sake of research and history, and he does not understand why some others may choose not to share.

“I find it great fun,” Weinberg said. “This man was a true genius. As a person, his moralities, his ethics, organization skills, use of mathematics. He’s iconic. Why would we not want people worldwide to be able to learn more from him?”

(c) 2015 Chicago Tribune, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Photo: Daniel Stowell, director and editor of The Papers of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., looks February 4, 2015, at a letter written to the 16th president in 1861 by Queen Victoria about the death of her mother. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

Richmond, VA Is For History Lovers

Richmond, VA Is For History Lovers

Jeffersosn Davis, the Museum of the Confederacy

Jefferson Davis, the Museum of the Confederacy

For American history buffs, and especially for Civil War devotees, a trip to Richmond, VA provides a window into a past that few other destinations offer. But it would be a mistake to peg Richmond as just a collection of American history sites because the city has plenty to offer in the way of great food, shopping, sports, fine art, and quaint neighborhoods to go along with its 400 years as a hub of history and politics.

Once the land of the native American Powhatans, the construction of Fort Charles in 1607 turned the area into a busy and prosperous trading center for fur, hides, and of course tobacco. The state capital was moved here from Williamsburg in 1780, and in 1782 Richmond became a city and the official capital of Virginia.

The Valentine Richmond History Center

The Valentine Richmond History Center

The Valentine Richmond History Center

Located in the heart of historic downtown, the Valentine has been collecting, preserving and interpreting Richmond’s 400-year history for over a century.

Agecroft Hall

Agecroft.Hall

Agecroft Hall

Agecroft Hall: An actual Tudor estate, Agecroft Hall was built in Lancashire, England in the late 15th century.  In 1925 it was purchased by Richmonder Thomas Williams, Jr, and transported piece by piece and reassembled on the banks of the James River.

Monument Avenue

Stonewall Jackson Statue at Monument Avenue

Stonewall Jackson Statue at Monument Avenue

Divided by a grassy mall, Monument Avenue is lined with some of Richmond’s most beautiful homes. Its statues depict some of the heroes of the Confederacy, such as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis, but in 1995, amid a great deal of controversy, a monument to tennis star and native Richmonder Arthur Ashe was approved.

Edgar Allen Poe Museum

Edgar Allan Poe Museum

Edgar Allan Poe Museum

Edgar Allan Poe Museum:  Poe lived and worked in 19th century Richmond, and the museum house an extensive collection of his manuscripts, letters, first editions, and personal belongings.

Richmond’s Capitol Building

Richmond's Capitol Building

Richmond’s Capitol Building

The Virginia Capitol and Executive Mansion: Designed by Thomas Jefferson, this is the oldest state legislative assembly in the United States. The Executive Mansion next door has been continuously occupied since 1813.

Museum and White House of the Confederacy

Jeffersosn Davis, the Museum of the Confederacy

Jeffersosn Davis, the Museum of the Confederacy

Museum and White House of the Confederacy: A treasure trove of artifacts and personal items related to the Confederacy, many of which were donated by the soldiers who fought and their families.

The American Civil War Center

The American Civil War Center

The American Civil War Center

The American Civil War Center: The Civil War as seen through Union, Confederate, and African-American eyes housed in the last remaining building of the Tredgear Iron Works, the South’s main producer of armaments.

Chickahominy Bluff

Chickahominy Bluff, Richmond National Battlefied

Chickahominy Bluff, Richmond National Battlefied

Chickahominy Bluff: On June 26, 1862, General Robert E. Lee and 20,000 Confederate troops gathered here prior to the offensive known as the Seven Day Battles.

The John Marshall House

The John Marshall House

The John Marshall House

The John Marshall House:  The home of the fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of United States from 1790 until his death in 1835. He served as Chief Justice from 1801 to 1835 under President John Adams and is known to history as the Definer of the Constitution.

St. John’s Episcopal Church

St. John's Episcopal Church

St. John’s Episcopal Church

Located in picturesque Church Hill, Richmond’s oldest existing neighborhood, St. John’s Episcopal Church was where Patrick Henry gave his “Give me liberty, or give me death” speech in March 1775.

Hollywood Cemetery

The Confederate Monument in Hollywood Cemetery

The Confederate Monument in Hollywood Cemetery

Hollywood Cemetery dates back to 1847 and is the final resting place of U.S. Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Civil War figures of every rank, and Virginia statesmen.