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Saturday, December 13, 2008

Ind. Gov't. - Even more on "State group appears victor for Lincoln Museum items"

Two long stories today on Indiana's success in retaining the Lincoln archives.

Angela Mapes Turner and Niki Kelly report in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

Another chapter joined the lore surrounding the $20 million collection Friday, when Lincoln Financial Foundation, the charitable arm of Lincoln Financial Group, announced that the shuttered Berry Street museum’s collection will be donated to Indiana.

The collection – the world’s largest private collection of Lincoln memorabilia – will be split between the Allen County Public Library and the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis.

The library and museum formed a coalition this year after the foundation announced it would seek a new home for the collection. The coalition also included the Indiana Historical Society, Indiana State Library and Friends of the Lincoln Museum.

Other known suitors included the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill.; the Library of Congress; the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History; Ford’s Theatre; and President Lincoln’s Cottage.

The Lincoln Financial Foundation would not say publicly how many groups had applied to receive the collection.

Sandi Kemmish, director of the Lincoln Financial Foundation, said Indiana’s proposal rose above the rest for several reasons.

First, the diversity of people the Indiana State Museum attracts; the capability of the library to digitize many of the books, manuscripts and documents in the collection and thus make them available online; and the creation of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Gallery at the Indiana State Museum.

The Allen County Public Library will control the books, manuscripts and clippings, while the Indiana State Museum will house the collection’s artifacts.

Two exceptions to the breakdown are a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation and a signed copy of the 13th Amendment – two documents that will be on display in Indianapolis.

Rolland, who helped lead the Indiana coalition, said its next goal is to raise about $8 million, enough for an endowment to care for the collection indefinitely.

During an earlier announcement Friday in Indianapolis, Gov. Mitch Daniels gave a heartfelt speech, saying he felt as much pride for this announcement as he does at jobs announcements, because young people can learn from the collection for years.

“Lincoln called Americans to the better angels of our nature and to constantly strive to listen to those best instincts, which he represented more than anyone,” Daniels said. “Now young people … will be able to come here and learn … and emulate the character, the courage, the principle of this greatest American.”

A quirk in the announcement, though, was that the collection will not be on display in 2009 – the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth.

Instead, the collection will enhance an already-scheduled Library of Congress exhibition of rare Lincoln artifacts at the Indiana State Museum in 2010.

Barry Dressel, president and CEO of the Indiana State Museum, said he was unsure how quickly the collection would be transferred and cataloged so museum officials didn’t plan a 2009 display. And he noted the entire collection will not be on permanent display but instead the museum plans rotating exhibits highlighting different aspects of Lincoln’s life.

Bryan Corbin reports today in the Evansville Courier & Press:
"In a moment when most of the news is about the economy ... I think a decision like this helps add to Indiana's ambition also to be a place of ideas and inventiveness and scholarship," Indiana Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard said. "It is the sort of thing that helps Indiana succeed in the information age. (The museum) is a place where people, in addition to their daily grind, are able to engage in thinking about the future by being better informed about the past."

Lincoln Financial Group had displayed the artifacts and memorabilia for years at the former Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, but when the Philadelphia-based financial services company closed the museum in June, it was uncertain whether the items would be sold individually or be sent to a facility out of state.

A number of suitors, including the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., made proposals for the items. But an Indiana consortium, including the state museum, Allen County library, Indiana Historical Society and Friends of the Lincoln Museum, submitted the winning proposal to keep the collection together.

The Lincoln Financial Foundation agreed and announced Friday it is donating the collection to the state.

While the Allen County library will display and digitize documents, officials said, the state museum will house three-dimensional historical artifacts. The items will enhance a Library of Congress exhibition of rare Lincoln artifacts scheduled for 2010 at the state museum.

Collections manager Jane Gastineau and registrar Cindy Van Horn said Lincoln's personal items always draw people's attention, such as the pen knife he used in his White House office to cut fruit, a heavy wool shawl he gave to his secretary or a monogrammed wallet from his attorney days.

Lincoln was the first presidential candidate to understand the value of distributing his photographic image to the masses, Gastineau and Van Horn said. Small Lincoln campaign picture cards became collectors' items in the 1860s.

News of the donation comes as Spencer County, Ind., where Lincoln lived from age 7 to 21, is celebrating the bicentennial in February of Lincoln's birth in 1809. "It will enrich our state in ways we can measure and ways we can't," [ILB emphasis]

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 13, 2008 09:56 AM
Posted to Indiana Government