Lincoln lovers everywhere send me e-mails, phone calls, and handwritten letters. Many of these communicants have provocative engaging ideas about how Lincoln’s 200th birthday should be celebrated. These often original and always heartfelt ideas should not vanish into the air even though all too frequently there are no funds for their execution. Occasionally it is only a party of one who enthuses about an idea. With many volunteer efforts it is the imagination that is the greater and more powerful vehicle than what is realized. I want to share their sentiments. Perhaps when these ideas are in the air we breathe, our search for a more perfect union may be more nearly fulfilled.
Occasionally I will also discuss works in progress in their early planning stages or more often unresolved issues so that you can take up the challenge and improve these efforts.
Let me tell you about Mother’s Day 2008 in southern Indiana and the celebration in honor of Lincoln’s mothers. Stalwart, intrepid, invincible – all these words describe the audience that dedicated themselves to attend the event.
Anticipating bright sunshine and gentle breezes, nearly 1,500 people had registered to attend the Indiana Mother’s Day celebration at the Lincoln Boyhood Home. Three hundred braved the cold driving rain to listen to rousing patriotic music and the stirring words of Governor Mitch Daniels, Congressman Baron Hill, professor Darrel Bigham (a national ALBC Commissioner) and everyone’s favorite Joan Flinspach, national ALBC Commissioner and the CEO of the Fort Wayne Lincoln Museum. The Celebration Singers, all volunteers, bravely threw off their coats and hats when singing American 19th century favorites. The Red Bank Reunion Band, perhaps warmer than others in their period uniformed costumes, boomed away.
Indiana’s political leaders while praising Lincoln, chided Kentucky for its wimpishness in canceling its Lincoln birthday event in the park because of some snow and ice. Then some gentle souls in the stands in the amphitheater recognizing Judge Tommy Turner, a national ALBC commissioner who had been acknowledged from the platform by Darrel Bigham, solicitously and genuinely told the judge that they truly loved Kentucky their sister state and especially Kentuckians almost as much as Indiana.
Kudos to Connie Nass, chair of the Indiana committee, who kept her commission on target and welcomed all ideas in program planning. Then she went on to produce a showcase Indiana event. Cheers to Randy Wester and the National Park Service for moving the program to the amphitheatre which had a roof if open sides. Hooray for Evansville students with patriotic pride who creatively strummed Lincoln’s evocation of Indiana. And the channel 25 television anchor, Shelly Kirk, dispelled the icy air and professionally kept the event moving. The day, however, belonged to Joan Flinspach who applauded all the mothers present with her narrative of a typical frontier woman’s daily chores. Somehow, despite the hardship of life on the frontier, Lincoln’s mothers – emblematic of all frontier mothers – found the time to encourage children to value learning and education and the reality of American opportunity.
Posted by David Early at 05/12/2008 01:56:10 PM |
We need to recognize the incredibly resourceful staff of Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, led by supt Randy Wester, who decided late Sunday morning to move the celebration to the amphitheater at Lincoln State Park. The high winds and rain, and 50 degree temp required that. And the staff of the state park, in cooperation with LIBO, came through in the clutch.
The weather did not dampen the quality of the event. The estimated attendance was between 500 and 600, for the record.
Posted by: Darrel Bigham ( Email: ) at 5/14/2008 10:13 PM
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I would like to share two ideas that I have had for many years.
Stained Glass Window Funded by School children
As a way to commemorate Lincoln’s birth and his enduring legacy, a Lincoln stained glass window could be commissioned to an artist and then placed in Smithsonian’s National American History Museum in Washington, so that every child would have an opportunity to view it.
A way to “fundraise” for a project like this would be similar to the way that the Statue of Liberty was erected and paid for by the millions of people and school children using their spare change in the 1890’s. I know that fundraising for the Abraham Lincoln Library & Museum in Springfield was partly due to a program funded by local school age children giving their pennies to the “Pennies for Lincoln” fund. All the funds then collected were sent to participating banks and deposited into the special fund. Now think of all those school children who learned about Lincoln able to come to the Library & Museum and see how they helped in the building.
I would propose that a national wide effort be coordinated by the Commission between the new Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and Education Department to schools so that every child, even the poorest one, could participate by adding their pennies. The collection could be coordinated to coincide with Lincoln’s Birthday for a specific year preferably before Feb. 12, 2009. It could be added under the Education section of the planned school outreach and curriculum for 2008-9 school years.
If the commissioned wanted to further expand the fundraising to the various Lincoln groups, a replica of the window could be available for a reasonable price to group/associations members. Those funds would go to aide an ongoing effort like the restoration of the President Lincoln and Soldiers Home.
I envision a window 5’ x 10’. I am enclosing some color pictures from France’s Saint Chappelle. The windows were made with a special technique called grisaille that delineated features. The windows are some of the most beautiful in the world.
Three different themes for the window:
1. Lincoln’s Love of Children & Education.
The main focal point will be taken from the photograph of Lincoln with son Tad taken February 9, 1864 to show his love of all children, (not just his own sons).
Lincoln lying down stretched out with his head next to the fireplace reading at night Because of Lincoln’s example, to enjoy reading.
Life long learner – Books – law books, military books, Shakespeare, The Bible
I can envision incorporating into other portions of the window children can identify with President Lincoln.
Grace Bedell- and her famous letter to ask him to grow a beard
Lincoln’s love of kids - Lincoln walking kids grabbing his coat tails and making his top hat fall off!
Lincoln carrying one of his sons on his shoulders
Free Black children encircling Lincoln and Tad when he came to Richmond
Tad in uniform
Fondness for Tad and Willie’s goats Nanny &Nanko
Judge David Davis’s son George got rides in Lincoln’s buggy when he and Davis were on the Circuit
2. Advocate for Democracy - How he was able to further its causes by holding our nation together and the leadership model that will inspire counties to move toward Democracy (i.e. Poland.)
3. Collage –
Profile of Lincoln’s Face in the Center with symbols surrounding in a rectangle or oval design:
Log Cabin next to outline of KY, IN, IL as the ”Land of Lincoln”
U.S. flag 1861-65 to show the 34 states
Outline of U.S. map with clear divisions - Union in Navy glass, Neutral states in tan or other color, and C.S.A in Grey, with line showing the divide
White House
Handshake between Union and Confederacy to represent his plan for reconstruction and Unity after war years.
The Lincoln Memorial.
Building The Lincoln Memorial was expression of the generation who followed his assassination of what he meant to their lives. The generations who have followed have experienced the Memorial. My hope is that the idea of the stained glass window would be the current generation’s expression of our feelings on this 200th year of this visionary and extraordinary man’s life!
Action Comic Book
One of the more challenging age groups to engage is 10-18 year olds. I propose the commission approach DC Comics to create a limited edition action comic book. The basis could be my novella Ride With the Assassin offering the young readers a way for making history come alive and make events surrounding Lincoln’s Assassination leap off the page! The comic would feature the teenager Mark Harris as the hero. This would be similar to Smallville, the comic book about young Clark Kent/Superman. There might be opportunities for cross-advertising between Warner Brothers and DC Comics. Some interesting stats about Smallville and DC Comics include:
The Warner Brothers TV series Smallville is the highest commercial AD seller for 30 second spots for $ 213,000 being paid for fast food chains like MacDonald’s!
Age group that reads Smallville is 15-25.
DC Comics writes and publishes 1,000 comic books a year. They are planning to include a patriotic themed comic book soon.
If you are intrigued and would like to know more I will send you the novel.
I can be contacted at the above address or (972) 395-3490 or my email address info@collectibleprofiles.com
Sincerely,
Megan Hardgrave
Posted by: Megan Hardgrave ( Email: ) at 5/21/2008 9:56 PM
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