Lincoln the 'States' Man

Lincoln is revered in Springfield.

 

Lincoln is big business in Springfield.

 

Springfield loves Lincoln.

 

Part of our trip was spent in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. It is built around two seemingly polar ideas. At the museum, there is an almost deification of the president. Wax models of his retinue, his image emblazoned on everything. The myth of Abraham Lincoln is alive and well on the museum side. Across the street is the library, where the myth and the reality are explored.

 

Remember, I said my mantra next year was, "Let's go exploring!" so I loved the library.

 

Our last stop in Springfield was the Old Capitol. Probably the best experience was exploring (there it is again) the House Divided in the ether Lincoln delivered it. I am still unpacking that experience and will write about it at a later time, but...loved, loved, loved it.

 

Again, here are photos from the ALPLM and Old Capitol. Will caption later.

 

This is actually on the SIUE campus. One of the few portraits of Lincoln smiling. Not sure I feel about this one.

 

 

"History is about the act of imagining things"

 

Artist: Mike Mitchell (BTW-go to his website...talk about history as imagination!)

Day One of the Abraham Lincoln and the Forging a Modern America is in the books. One of the things I learned years ago at these is that we ask kids to sit for too long. The days where we are in a classroom all day can be grueling. Today was. Tomorrow is the trip to Springfield and New Salem and much more hands-on and interactive. Its the nature of the beast when you are on two sites.

The quote in the title was made by Dr. Iver Bernstein of Washington University. History is an act of imagination. I am intrigued. He is not suggesting scholarly investigation isn't necessary or that peer review isn't important, but he is saying that history is about uncovering, as best we can, what happened and why it might be important to them and to us.

History requires curiosity.

Students will tell you that I am far more interested in being curious than in being 'right'. I love the screwball questions which puts us on a whole new plane of thinking. I love the messiness that is history and I love that all the puzzle pieces aren't in the box (and that the picture on the box doesn't resemble the puzzle half the time).



Artist: Mike Mitchell

This afternoon, the thought that struck me is that we remake Lincoln in our own image every generation or so.

• Lincoln as an quasi-deific creature.
• Lincoln as the common man
• Lincoln as the loyal scout/GI
• Lincoln as the anti-communist
• Lincoln as the fellow martyr

Part of the work this week is to disentangle ourselves from the myth of Lincoln. As I've read these past few weeks, I've had to confront that face to face. I like Lincoln and have a pretty solid working knowledge of his biography, but I didn't realize how much of 'my narrative' I give to Lincoln. As a teacher, that is a dangerous thing. My narrative becomes my student's narrative. That has bad written all over it.

I'm curious to see where this exploration takes us this week.