Confessions of a Lincoln Fanboy
J. C. Leyendecker, 1937. Oil on canvas
I'm not ashamed; I get giddy when I think of Lincoln. Giddy the way some teenage girls get giddy when they see the Jonahs Brothers on television or sit next to their crush in homeroom. I own an Abraham Lincoln action figure. No joke.
It was only a matter of time before I made my way to The Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne. It was on my way to Michigan; I might as well have a look around. The Lincoln Museum is the largest collection of privately-held Lincoln artifacts in the United States, a collection initially undertaken by Arthur Hall, one of the founders of the Lincoln Life Insurance company. Hall had written to the remaining Lincoln son, Robert, for a picture of Abraham to use on their letter head. Robert sent them what he considered to be a very good picture of his father and in 1928 Hall formed the Lincoln Historical Research Foundation to repay Robert's kindness. The first museum in Fort Wayne opened to the public in 1931 and was restructured in 1995, moving to the new space on Berry Street in downtown Fort Wayne in 1995.
Upon walking into the museum, one is struck by the lobby, an expansive space filled with raja slate tile from India and Anigre mahogany from Africa. A large photograph of Lincoln, complete with his iconic beard, stares you down as you pay your admisson (4.99 - they give you a newly minted Lincoln penny mounted on cardstock detailing the penny's history as change) and flanks a huge replication of Lincoln's informal signature: ALincoln, the smooth movement of the A flowing smoothly into the L. On official documents he would sign his entire name; only those who received personal correspondence from the president would have seen this.
The rest of the museum moves in chronological order, detailing his birth in Illinois, his family's unfortunate run in Indiana, and their return to public lands in Illinois. The museum does a wonderful job of putting Lincoln's early life into context: the state of trade, of technology at the time he lived. Interestingly enough, Lincoln was fascinated by technology and is the only president to have a US patent in his name for a way to refloat stranded boats.
His political beginnings are well-documented: his entry into politics, his practice of law, his eventual presidential nomination and the entry into the Civil War. Of particular interest was the timeline of the Civil War, an exhibit spanning an eight-sided room containing signed copies of the Emancipation Proclaimation, personal correspondance, and photographs of Lincoln at specific markers throughout the period. I am struck by one particular document in this exhibit, an editorial Lincoln wrote in the New York Times after a particularly harsh criticism of his handling the Civil War was published: "My goal is to maintain our country. If I could do this without freeing any of the slaves, I would. If I could do this freeing all of the slaves I would. If I could do this freeing some of the slaves and not others, I would." For Lincoln, the Civil War was not about slavery but a matter of keeping the nation united.
There was an entertaining gallery of Lincoln portraiture, detailing his evolving look. Lincoln's iconic beard actually didn't come about until after he was in office. A young girl, Grace Bedell, wrote him and recommended that a beard would "look a great deal better" than his clean-shaven face. Traditionally looking stately and refined, there is a photograph of Lincoln with hair willy-nilly, as though he had just taken a paper clip and shoved it into an electrical socket. It's refreshing to see him looking a little more human.
Overall, the Lincoln Museum was a wonderful history stop, filled with artifacts that forced hours of peering. The museum is also very children friendly, with several stations throughout dedicated to helping little ones make sense of all they are encountering. For three hours, I was in Lincoln Heaven and have a fridge magnet to prove it.