Southeastern Library to host traveling Lincoln exhibit
Contact: Rene Abadie
11/10/10
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University Sims Memorial Library has been selected to host next year the national exhibit “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War.”
Southeastern is one of only 25 sites in the nation to host the exhibit, which examines how President Abraham Lincoln confronted some of the nation’s darkest days, said Library Director Eric Johnson. The exhibit, which will be displayed in the library lobby Feb. 9 – March 25, 2011, was created by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in partnership with The Lincoln Museum of Fort Wayne, Ind. It was funded by the Lincoln Financial Group.
The exhibit features more than 100 images, historical documents and artifacts from The Lincoln Museum and other institutions and examines how President Lincoln used the Constitution to confront three inter-related crises of the Civil War: the secession of Southern states, slavery and wartime civil liberties.
“This is an extremely well done, educational exhibit, and Southeastern is fortunate to be selected to host it,” Johnson said. “We believe this is something that our faculty, staff and students will truly appreciate as well as the general public and area school children.”
He said a number of public programs focused on Lincoln are being planned to coincide with the exhibit. Librarians Lynette Ralph, Kathryn Munson, and Mary Frances Marx obtained the grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and will be directing the programming associated with the exhibit.
The 1,000-square foot interactive exhibit is designed to engage visitors with Lincoln’s struggle to reconcile his policy preferences with basic American ideals of liberty and equality. The exhibit features Lincoln’s own words in the form of excerpts from his writings and speeches as recorded by actor Sam Waterson (NBC’s “Law and Order”). The feature is designed for visitors to hear the 16th president’s thoughts and views on issues such as equality, slavery, freedom, democracy and the Constitution’s rule of law.
The National Constitution Center and the American Library Association Public Programs Office organized the traveling exhibition, which was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For more information on the exhibit, contact Lynette Ralph at the library at 985-549-3962 or via e-mail at lralph@selu.edu.
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