LOADS OF LINCOLN LORE
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Our American Cousin
Pay tribute to Abraham Lincoln at a performance of Our American Cousin, the 19th century comedy performed in Ford’s Theatre on the night he was shot in April 1865. The Springfield Theatre Centre stages the popular production about a British family whose lives are jostled by an uncouth American relative on Feb. 6-8 and Feb. 13-15 at the Hoogland Center for the Arts, 420 S. Sixth St. Friday and Saturday shows at 8 p.m., Sunday shows at 2 p.m. Call 523-2787 for tickets.
Saturday, Feb. 7
Amazing Grace: A Time of Spirituals
Capital city choirs including the Singing Senators, West Side Christian Church Choir, and Baptist Pastors’ Fellowship convene at the Old State Capitol to kick off Lincoln’s birthday celebration. Choirs sing individually from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., then travel to the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site to perform as a single choir at 2:45 p.m. Presentations by local historians Kathryn Harris and Dr. Wesley Robinson-McNeese follow. Free admission.
Lincoln Home Open House
Witness the unveiling of the conserved 1860 Lincoln campaign banner as Bicentennial festivities begin at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. At a special “Open House,” visitors can also tour the latest restoration efforts in the Lincoln Neighborhood, watch the site’s new interpretative film, “Abraham Lincoln: A Journey to Greatness,” and hear about upcoming projects for 2009. The two-hour program begins at 1 p.m. Free admission.
Lincoln Academy of Illinois Bicentennial Award Ceremony
Thirty world-renowned Abraham Lincoln scholars, artists, and collectors travel to Springfield to receive a special Bicentennial edition of the Order of Lincoln Medal — the state’s highest award for achievement — for perpetuating the president’s legacy. The ceremony begins in the Union Theater at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. Blacktie dinner and reception follow in the Museum Plaza. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $175. Call 785-5030 for reservations.
Sunday, Feb. 8
Lincoln’s Post-It Portrait
Chris Killham, of the Art Institute of Chicago, and volunteer Springfield art students begin work on larger-than-life portraits of Abraham Lincoln in the pedestrian bridge overlooking Jefferson Street between the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Completed project available for viewing Feb. 12.
The Lincoln Project
Chicago artist Don Pollack brings a series of contemporary painted landscapes, portraits, and maps highlighting Abraham Lincoln’s life to the Illinois Gallery at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. Exhibited through May 17. Pollack meets visitors in the gallery from noon to 3 p.m. Feb. 8. Museum admission required.
Reflecting on Lincoln
Eric Foner, history professor at Columbia University, discusses his collection of essays penned by leading historians, Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World.
Program begins at noon in the Multi-Purpose Room at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. Free admission. Call 558-8934 to make reservations.
Collecting Lincoln
Dan Weinberg, author of Lincoln’s Assassins: Their Trial and Execution, moderates a discussion featuring the nation’s leading Lincoln collectors, including Louise Taper, a private collector who once owned more than 1,500 artifacts, manuscripts, and artworks (now housed at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum). The program begins at 2 p.m. in the library. Free admission. Call 558-8934 to make reservations.
Lincoln-Douglas Banquet
State Rep. Art Turner, D-Chicago, speaks to “100 Years of Change in America” at the 88th annual Lincoln-Douglas Banquet. The Springfield Branch NAACP-sponsored event begins at 2:45 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 3000 S. Dirksen Pkwy. Tickets $35 for adults and $20 for students. Call 789-2721.
Monday, Feb. 9
Lincoln Bicentennial Stamp Ceremony
U.S. Postmaster General John E. Potter dedicates four new Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial postage stamps — featuring him as a rail-splitter, a lawyer, a politician, and a president — in a First-Day-of-Issue ceremony at the Old State Capitol. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock and Mayor Tim Davlin to attend. The ceremony, free to the public, begins at 10 a.m. The U.S. Postal Service also hosts a special cancellation from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 12.
The Last Lincoln Lecture
Richard Carwardine, Oxford University scholar and author of Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power, lectures on how Lincoln defined the relationship between the United States and the world. The program begins at 7 p.m. in the Union Theater at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. Free admission. Call 558-8934 to make reservations.
Tuesday, Feb. 10
Anniversary of the Lincoln Reception
Commemorate the Lincoln Reception — held exactly 148 years ago for Abraham Lincoln at the Springfield home of Clark and Ann Smith (later occupied by poet Vachel Lindsay). Ann Smith, portrayed by Kathy Reed, hostesses the event, poet Dan Guillory reads Lincoln poems, and city historian Curtis Mann discusses the Aristocracy Hill Neighborhood.
From 1 to 4 p.m. at the Vachel Lindsay Home State Historic Site, 603 S. Fifth St. Free admission.
