Whole Lotta Lincoln

The appeal of the Fort Wayne collection, which was attracting only 40,000 visitors a year, is clear. "People really identify with physical objects—things that we can hold and feel," says Andrew Coldren, curator of the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum in Philadelphia, one institution that's in the running for the collection. "We want to see and be close to something. [And] people respond to real, original art and artifacts more than copies." Other interested groups include the Smithsonian Institution, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich.

Meanwhile, many groups are already celebrating the bicentennial. Every year on April 15 (the date Lincoln died) the Henry Ford Museum re-enacts Lincoln's court cases. And it always shows its artifacts, including the red upholstered rocking chair that Lincoln was sitting on when he was shot and most of the furniture from Lincoln's Springfield home (a card table, a dining room chair, a teapot, a washstand). The Henry Ford gets 1.6 million visitors a year who see its car and Lincoln memorabilia. (Henry Ford was a Lincoln buff.) This July 4 weekend the Henry Ford is featuring the Detroit Symphony performing Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" for 8,000 people a night over four days.

Kids are already getting in on the bicentennial celebration too. This year high school juniors are debating whether Lincoln or Washington was the better president, as part of a competition called Now Debate This. By May 19 contestants must submit a three-minute video in answer to one of three questions: what is the most important role of the president as commander in chief, what can the Declaration of Independence tell us in 2008, and what does patriotism mean to me? The top 16 contestants will be announced on June 18. They will spend the summer learning about the two men and talking to their communities about them, says Mary Hagy, executive producer of Now Debate This. They need to be prepared to advocate for either man, because they'll draw straws or flip a coin to find out whom they must debate on Sept. 17, 2008—National Constitution Day. The winner will get $150,000, and the second-place finisher will get $50,000.

Every year, some 500,000 sixth- through 12th-graders participate in National History Day. For 2009 they will be strongly encouraged to look at Lincoln and his legacy in addressing the theme of "the individual in history." "They could look at Lincoln as a lawyer. They could look at Lincoln as a congressman," says National History Day director Cathy Gorn. Kids compete in several categories, including best documentary and best dramatic performance. "I have no doubt we'll see some Mary Todds running around," says Gorn.

The bicentennial coincides with the 160th anniversary of Harriet Tubman's flight to freedom in 1849. Both events create "a great opportunity for the African-American experience to be told," says V. Chapman-Smith, a regional director of the National Archives and a member of Pennsylvania's bicentennial commission. In 1863, for example, Lincoln supported the right of black men to fight in the Civil War. The bicentennial is more than an excuse to "have a birthday cake and say happy birthday," says Chapman-Smith. It's to "engage in opportunities around what this man did and can mean for us."

Philadelphia is re-creating (and updating) its Great Central Fair of 1864, whose visitors included Lincoln and which raised more than $1 million for the war effort. Originally the fair showcased the best of the times, including technological marvels such as the sewing machine. The new fair, called the Lincoln Great Fair, will be held May 27-31, 2009. It will also feature today's technology in an exhibit called "From iLincoln to iPod." The menu will include some 1864 dishes, such as turtle soup and oysters on the half shell. The modern fair will also address how African-Americans weren't allowed to attend the 1864 fair unless they were working in the restaurant as waiters or cooks. And it will hold a street competition for dance, including tap. (Slaves created tap as a way of communicating with each other about when it was safe to move from one safe house to another, says Hagy, co-founder of Lincoln's Great Fair.)

Lincoln fever won't end in 2009. Next up: the 150th anniversary of his 1861-1865 presidency. And of his death.

© 2008