"Forever Free" Lincoln Exhibit At Milner Library In 2007

Date: 10/24/06
Contact: Eric Jome

Illinois State University's Milner Library is one of a select group of academic and public libraries across the nation that will host the traveling exhibit "Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation." Milner Library will host the exhibit from August 23 to October 5, 2007, in conjunction with the University's yearlong 150th Celebration.

The large panel exhibit reexamines Lincoln's efforts toward the abolition of slavery during the Civil War. The panels contain reproductions of rare historical documents, period photographs and illustrative material, such as engravings, lithographs and political cartoons. The exhibit is divided into sections focusing on young Lincoln's America, the dividing nation, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the role of black soldiers, and the final months of the Civil War and of Lincoln's life.

Free public lectures on Lincoln's life and political career will be presented in conjunction with the exhibit. During August and September 2007, presentations will be given by Bloomington attorney and Lincoln scholar Guy Fraker; Mark Plummer, Illinois State professor emeritus of history; and Roger Bridges, president of the Abraham Lincoln Association. Pulitzer Prize winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin will speak on Lincoln's political leadership as part of the University's 150th Celebration on September 18. Local school children will also get to experience a reenactment of a portion of the Lincoln-Douglas debates by Lincoln presenter George Buss.

A number of Bloomington-Normal and University-based partners will help to support the local display of the "Forever Free" exhibit and share in related events and activities. Partners include Illinois State's Department of History and the Milner Library-based Adventures of the American Mind project; Alliance Library System; Bloomington Public Library; Bloomington School District 87; the Children's Discovery Museum; the David Davis Mansion; the McLean County Museum of History; the McLean County Visitors Bureau; and the Normal Public Library.

The "Forever Free" traveling exhibit is organized by The Huntington Library and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in cooperation with the American Library Association and is funded by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.