Home YouTube Facebook

Finding Abe

21st-Century Abe was active February 12, 2009-August 31, 2009.

To mark Lincoln’s 200th birthday we explored why we in the 21st century are still obsessed with this 19th-century man. Abe is everywhere, from advertising to political punditry. What does this popular Abe have to do with the historical Abe? 21st-Century Abe took six months to tackle these questions. We asked scholars and artists to get the ball rolling, but visitor responses have defined 21st-Century Abe.

To find out about our current projects, check out www.Rosenbach.org.

Blog

The 21st-Century Abe blog is the place to find out what’s been happening on 21stcenturyabe.org and what fun, exciting or downright ridiculous things the curatorial team have discovered in their search for Lincoln.

The blog is no longer being updated. But please check out our older posts.

Our Funders

This project has been funded by The Pew Center for ArtsĀ & Heritage through the Heritage Philadelphia Program with additional support from the Marketing Innovation Program. Additional support has come from the Samuel S. Fels Fund and The Raab Collection.

Presented By Rosenbach Museum and Library

Lincoln in train-ing

By: Kathy Haas
January 9, 2009

As everybody probably knows by now, Obama is planning to retrace Lincoln’s train trip to Washington–starting in Philadelphia, the home of 21st-Century Abe. But I was more tickled by another train-related Abe item which I found on Ebay.

This is an o-gauge statue of Lincoln, suitable for including in the parks or towns of your model railroad display. This desire to reprodue Abe in miniature speaks of course to the ubiquity of Lincoln statues in cities and towns across Ameria. Here’s Philadelphia’s Lincoln statue. And here’s the Lincoln statue in Stamford CT, where I grew up. Of course, these two come from very different time periods and take different approaches to Lincoln portayal–the elevated and refined stateman on a pedestal, vs. the more rough hewn and down-to-earth (literally) Lincoln. Take a look around and find the Lincoln statue in your town–think about what it says and take some pictures to share with 21st-Cenutry Abe.

comments 0

Bookmark and Share

Comments are closed.

Rosenbach Museum & Library
2008-2010 Delancy Place · Philadelphia, PA 19103
215.732.1600 · abe@rosenbach.org