Lincolns, Lincolns Everywhere...

            This week, a news article was written on a new Lincoln exhibit that just opened at the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum. This museum did not reveal a “traditional” or “old school” exhibit, however. Instead, this display focuses on the “image” of Lincoln. This theme not only revolves around Abraham Lincoln’s noticeably aging and changing features over time, but also his perceived professional and political image during his own life and after his death. The main pride and joy of the exhibit, though, is a specially made movie. It is a short, continuously looping film that introduces the museum visitors to Lincoln and his place in American history. The writer of this article, Steve Siegal, particularly emphasizes the theatricality and dramatic air the movie conveys. It is so much so, in fact, that Siegel says it follows in the footsteps of Spielburg’s Lincoln and other professional historical movies. This continuous bombardment of Lincoln images continues throughout the exhibit with a large statuary, plaster-of-paris casts, original Harper’s Weekly magazines, medallions, stamps, and even five dollar bills. Supposedly, it invites the viewer to see just how there are nearly an infinite amount of different ways that Lincoln has been depicted to the public.

            To me, the description of this museum was awfully reminiscent of the topics discussed in Andrew Ferguson’s Land of Lincoln. In the book, Ferguson asserts that it is essentially impossible to pin-point the true or original Lincoln, due to his pervasiveness in both past and modern society. Everyone has their own personal Lincoln that they either revere or despise. The exhibit at Lehigh, which possesses over a thousand images of Lincoln in a single space, shows exactly this. Also, Ferguson noted that museums are becoming increasingly interactive and technology-laden. The emphasis of a new movie and a conspicuous absence of word plaques at Lehigh portray this continuing transition. So, in a way, the new exhibit at the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum is an example of a trend in Museums in the modern era.

http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/events/mc-lincoln-abraham-lehigh-valley-allentown-20130208,0,4283676.story