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The blog is no longer being updated.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.
This project has been funded by The Pew Center for Arts & 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.
Following up on Friday’s post I also wanted to give a heads up to the Abraham Lincoln Bookshop in Chicago. Obviously if you want to buy Lincoln-related books, documents, photos, jewelry etc.,, this is the place for you, but even if spending money isn’t your thing (I’m a champion cheapskate myself) it is a wonderful site to browse through. You can even check out “Mr. Lincoln’s Garage Sale” which features “items that, although not particularly valuable, are fond remembrances of the affection our nation felt toward Abraham Lincoln, the Office of the President, and our nation in general”–haggling is encouraged. Finally, one of the greatest things about the bookstore is that it does “Virtual Book Signings” with many of the best and brightest in Civil War and Lincoln literature. Check out the archive here to get a glimpse of your favorite author discussing his/her book.
Just a quick reminder that we’ll be wrapping up the 21st-Century Abe project at the end of August, which is only about two weeks away now. The site will still be up, but it will archived–we will no longer be accepting new submissions to the Found Abe section and I will no longer be posting on the blog. But to help prepare you, I thought I’d pass along a few blogs and other social media things you might enjoy.
If you want more Abe in your life, you might want to check out The Abraham Lincoln Blog (the author also posts on Twitter) and the A. Lincoln Blog (although the latter seems to have been on hiatus for the summer). A special shout-out for the Abraham Lincoln Observer blog, which describes itself as a “Springfield-centric view of Lincoln in popular culture” and promises to “keep you updated on how the likeness, words and aura of Springfield’s favorite son are used, abused and otherwise mentioned within popular culture.” I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve ripped off from the ALO, so if you like 21st-Century Abe I’m sure you’ll like it.
If you like 21st-Century Abe you might also want to keep tabs on what other cool projects the Rosenbach has going on. You can join our mailing list to get our e-newsletter, or join our Facebook Group or follow us on Twitter.
Today’s big news is that the third of four redesigned Lincoln pennies is being released today in a ceremony at 10 AM at the old Capitol Building in Springfield IL (the building shown on the reverse of the new penny). Find out more of the details here and here. Kids under 18 get their own free penny for showing up, so you don’t want to miss that!
This week’s document is a pardon for Prince Hudgins–he was facing an ex post facto charge of seditious conspiracy. As the Missouri Historical Review explains:
“The President didn’t believe in holding Missourians to strict account for what they might have said in the heat of oratory. Prince L. Hudgins, a lawyer quite well known in the war period, was charged with conspiring against the government. He wrote to President Lincoln explaining that the charge was based on a speech he had made in St. Joseph several months before the law under which he was being prosecuted was enacted. Congressman King went to the White House and recommended a pardon for Hudgins. The President wrote on the papers:
“Attorney General: Please see Mr. King and make out the pardon he asks. Give this man a fair deal if possible.”
And then, perhaps after a little more conversation with the Missouri Congressman, Mr. Lincoln added this to his indorsement:
“Gov. King leaves Saturday evening and would want to have it with him to take along, if possible. Would wish it made out as soon as conveniently can be.”
Hopefully you all know by now that you can create your own Abe art right here on the 21st-Century Abe site–you can design an Abe poster, or write your own Abe newspaper/tabloid/website article. But in case you’re more of a scissors and glue kind of person, I thought I’d pass on a few Lincoln crafts from around the web. (If you make any of these, you could always upload and share a picture with us through the Create section…)
“Build your own Lincoln sites“. I think I’ve hyped this site before, but it’s pretty darn cool, so let’s do it again. Here you can download templates to make your own full-color Lincoln buildings out of cardstock–from the Thomas Lincoln home (shown above) to the Illinois State Capitol building.
If you’d rather make an Abe Lincoln bank out of a Pringles can, then check out this site.
I’m not so sure about these Lincoln/Washington finger puppets–how about that bow-tie on Abe.
That’s about it for now. Of course if you find any other fun Lincoln crafts on the web, feel free to post them in the comments section or submit them through the Participate section of the site. Happy gluing…
Last Thursday, Springfield unveiled its newest monument, which commemorates the 1908 race riots, which left seven people dead and led to the founding of the NAACP. Here’s a YouTube clip of the unveiling.
The monument stands in a park dedicated to Lincoln and within sight of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential library and Museum. This article from the State Journal Register did a good job drawing connections between the two, noting “The sculpture’s placement — in view of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and in a park devoted to the memory of Lincoln — also is significant. It establishes the race riot as an important chapter of Springfield’s history, as visible to visitors from around the world as the Lincoln sites that draw them here. No longer is it a subject to be avoided or minimized…The Springfield of Aug. 14-15, 1908, was proud of its connection to Abraham Lincoln. But the race riot proved that it preferred the superficial aspect of Lincoln — the railsplitter who rose to the presidency — over the deeper aspect of Lincoln as the man who ended slavery. A few months after the riots, Springfield marked Lincoln’s centennial witha white-only celebration. Springfield today remains proud of Lincoln. Recognition of the race riot and its aftermath on its 100th anniversary last year was a vital part of preparing to mark Lincoln’s bicentennial this year. Jackson’s piece is the most visible reminder of that recognition. “
It’s about time for my monthly-or-so round-up of some of my favorite new Lincolnian photos on Twitter
“The Saddest President”
Another great Aggtastic photo–I did a whole blog post on her a while back…
I’m not quite sure what to make of this one, but I like it. The accompanying text reads, “My friend Chris hates Abraham Lincoln. I think he would drop kick him if he was still alive. Anyway, I saw this quote and obviously thought of Chris, so I fancied it up a bit to give to him.”
And then, of course, there’s Lincoln as a travelling watermelon salemsman
Since I posted earlier in the week about the Booth family, I thought I’d pick Ellen Kean’s letter to Miss Sherritt as the document of the week, since it has a strong theatrical connection. I’ve only posted page one here, but you can read the whole six page letter in the document section. (The document viewer has a transcription, which might be helpful, since her handwriting is a bit tough)
<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/twentyfirstcenturyabe/2702224246/” title=”Account of Lincoln’s Funeral from an eyewitness: May 1865 (p1) by twentyfirstcenturyabe, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3215/2702224246_993a3d7a81.jpg” width=”369″ height=”500″ alt=”Account of Lincoln’s Funeral from an eyewitness: May 1865 (p1)” /></a>
Ellen Kean was a British actress, who was on tour in the United States at the tie of the assassination. the letter is fascinating because it not only provides a foreigner’s perspective on Lincoln’s death and funeral, but it also gives insight into the way it affected the theater company in particular. The theaters are all closed between the assassination and the funeral and Kean is also worried about an upcoming engagement in Baltimore, since the theatre is owned by John Ford, who also owned Ford’s Theatre in D.C., who had been arrested. It is clear that all actors, even foreign ones, feel the need to show their patriotism in the wake of booth’s act, so Kean’s husband goes to a patriotic rally. She also notes the deep shame of Edwin Booth, John Wilkes’ more famous brother, and says he will never act again (this proves incorrect). All in all a fascinating letter .
Greetings from Louise Feder, one of the Summer 2009 Collections Interns! This post marks a slight break from your regularly scheduled Lincoln programming but, I promise, it is closely related.
Since this past May, the Rosenbach Museum & Library’s two Collections Interns (Hannah Lonky and myself) have been working with Kathy on an up-coming project that will allow blog readers to read and examine documents from our collection that relate to the Civil War. I think Hannah may have posted a bit about this before, but just to recap, beginning with the sesquicentennial anniversary of Lincoln’s election in 1860 we will be releasing a document or object every day for the following five years. Additionally, the majority of these posted documents’ or objects’ dates will correspond with their posting dates (excepting the year of course).
This means that Hannah and I have been transcribing and scanning a lot of Civil War documents and will continue to do so until the end of August when we go back to school. I have to tell you, it has made for some interesting summer reading! By now we are completely done with U.S. Grant’s letters to his sister, Hannah has made a significant dent into Marianne Moore’s ancestor’s letters, and we have seen a large variety of other items including some more Lincoln letters, various period maps, and Confederate telegrams among many, many others.
Currently I am deep into Alexander Biddle’s letters home to his wife, Julia. I have been reading Biddle’s letters “since” early September of 1862. I am now reading and transcribing his correspondence from August of 1863, which amounts to roughly 137 individual letters. By this point Biddle has come through the first battle of Vicksburg as well as Gettysburg and is now a Major in the 121st Regiment and prides himself on leading drills and dress parades. However, in almost every single letter Biddle tells his wife that he is sick to death of the army and wants to come home and see his family, which includes his newly born son (March, 1863).
Some of my favorite Biddle letters involve Alexander suggesting potential baby names to Julia. He writes, “what do you think of Adolph Ernest Eugene Julian – the third or any of these would please me – the two first are not quite so liquid & soft as the last two, they to my ear have a little more toughness but none the worse for that – the first I like – so the second So the third. ” Thankfully Julia resisted Alexander’s multiple pleas for the apparently “liquid” and “soft” name of Adolph Eugene Biddle, which I think is a particularly awkward name, and named the child Louis Biddle instead.
If awful baby names aren’t quite your cup of tea other exciting “Biddle episodes” involve a hair cutting contest, Christmas Eve surprises, a very musical funeral, war stories, and a man with one boneless leg and the other split by an axe who is discharged from the army not due to his injury, but because he can “scarce walk ten miles ,” I kid you not.
In any event, enjoy the rest of “21st Century Abe” but, if you like Abe Lincoln, which I am sure all blog readers do, then I can almost guarantee that you’ll love the Civil War and the Rosenbach Museum & Library’s next on-line project! To keep up with the Rosenbach’s upcoming projects you can join the Rosenbach e-mail list by e-mailing us at rsvp (at) rosenbach.org with the subject “Please add me to the e-mail list”. You can also keep up with the Rosenbach on Facebook and on Twitter.
I’m a big fan of the PBs show History Detectives. If you hvaen’t seen it, it involves tracking down the stories behind interesting objects that viewers own, like a piece of metal supposedly from Amelia Earhardt’s plane, or an black ventriloquist dummy. I like the show because it’s the sexy CSI version of what I do all day–the show has the budget and research staff to make object research look easy and through the magic of television they collapse what is normally hours of searching through archival records into the one one magic moment when you (hopefully) find the item you’re looking for.
Anyway, I am very excited that PBS is now putting full episodes online and when I was catching up on some shows I had missed I ran across an investigation they did into a letter written by Junius Brutus Booth, the father of John Wilkes Booth. Apparently he wrote a letter threatening to kill President Andrew Jackson. The letter had long been dismissed as not having actually come from Booth, but History Detectives managed to prove that it did, although they insisted that Junius Booth’s letter was written during a bout of lunacy and almost certainly had no connection to the actions of his son thirty years later. You can check out the whole episode here: http://video.pbs.org/video/1169415042/program/1138014438/topic/1138223537 And if you go to the episode homepage here, there are links to other Lincoln stories the show has covered, including a Lincoln forgery.
Another interesting Booth assassination connection comes from the Rosenbach’s own collection–we have a copy of William Barnes Rhodes play Bombastes Furioso which containssignature of Junius Brutus Booth, Jr. (Junius Sr.’s son and John Wilkes’s brother) and his autograph revisions throughout, turning the play into an attack on Lincoln. junius was appearing in a play in Cincinnati the night of the assassination, but was arrested and briefly held as well. I don’t really know much about Junius Brutus Booth Jr. and his feelings about Lincoln, so if any of you know anything I’m all ears.
“
