April 28, 2008
By Erin Carlson Mast
President Lincoln’s Cottage won a Silver MUSE Award yesterday evening for its “Lincoln’s Toughest Decisions” interactive. The award, given annually at the American Association of Museums (AAM) conference, recognizes outstanding achievement in museum media.
”Lincoln’s Toughest Decisions,” is an innovative interpretive program which puts visitors in the role of President Lincoln’s cabinet members. The program can be run for groups or used by individual visitors and is located in the Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center adjacent to the Cottage.
Here is an excerpt of what the judges said about “Lincoln’s Toughest Decisions”:
This innovative interactive experience cleverly mixes human interaction within a group with individually-directed experiences that put visitors in the role of members of President Lincoln’s cabinet. Aimed predominantly at school groups, the judges were most impressed with the way the program underscores the importance of primary source documents for students. Visitors use letters, documents and archival materials to help them decide how they, as a member of Lincoln’s Cabinet, should advise Lincoln during discussions about critical issues like the Emancipation Proclamation. This installation is a commendable example of technology that is not for technology’s sake, but is instead used as an effective tool for encouraging personal experiences with history.
The judges’ full remarks and a complete description of the program are available on the MUSE Award website: http://www.mediaandtechnology.org/muse/2008_interpretinstall.html
For information about bringing your school or group to experience Lincoln’s Toughest Decisions, please visit the Schools & Groups page of our website: http://www.lincolncottage.org/schoolsandgroups/index.htm
Ms. Mast is Curator at President Lincoln’s Cottage.
April 27, 2008
By Erin Carlson Mast
Yesterday, Senator Clinton challenged Senator Obama to a ”Lincoln-Douglas style debate,” where the candidates ask each other questions rather than having a moderator pose questions to each candidate. Although the Lincoln-Douglas debates were reprinted during the presidential campaign of 1860, the debates originally took place in 1858 during Illinois race for the United States Senate. At that time, Lincoln was a relative newcomer, Douglas had more experience, and it was Douglas who ultimately won the seat in the Senate.
The debates were, however, the collective event that launched Lincoln onto the national stage. The question of extending slavery into territories was a key issue in the senate race, with Lincoln on the side of non-extension and Douglas essentially arguing for people in the territories to be allowed to vote and make the decision themselves. The content of the debates can be offensive to the 21st century reader, but it is important to remember the context of the debates–a heated race for the Illinois senate seat in a time when slavery was legally practiced in much of the country–and the crowd in front of the debaters. And while the transcripts of the debates were published and disseminated after the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the audience was more regional.
It will be interesting to see if the Clinton-Obama debates in the style of Lincoln and Douglas occur and which key issues will emerge dominant if the two ask their own questions of one another, and how they address both concerns of the local audience, but the national and international audience members that tune in.
Transcripts of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 are available through the National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/archive/liho/debates.htm or through Google Books, which offers a digitized version of the debates and supplementary materials including press commentary, published in 1860 by Lincoln’s supporters.
Ms. Mast is the Curator for President Lincoln’s Cottage
April 25, 2008
By Erin Carlson Mast
This afternoon Newsweek sponsored an event at President Lincoln’s Cottage for White House Correspondents in town for the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner, held tomorrow, April 26, 2008.
The press group toured the Cottage, met with staff, and retired to the “Lincoln’s Toughest Decisions’ gallery where Evan Thomas, Newsweek Editor at Large and Presidential Historian, discussed presidential leadership, from Washington to Lincoln and up to the present, followed by his take on the leadership traits of the three leading candidates in the 2008 presidential campaign.
Lincoln’s leadership is one of the main topics discussed in exhibits and the tour at President Lincoln’s Cottage. Here Lincoln made many decisions about the war and emancipation, and used the site as a place to meet with both allies and adversaries about his campaign for reelection in 1864, a campaign that looked doomed in August of 1864.
Ms. Erin Mast is Curator at President Lincoln’s Cottage.
April 23, 2008
By Erin Carlson Mast
Just as there are countless scholarly books and articles about President Lincoln, there are numerous parodies involving the 16th President. One of the classic (and G-rated) spoofs staring “Lincoln” is Bob Newhart’s Abe Lincoln vs. Madison Avenue, recorded in 1960, which begins with the question, “What would politics have been like during the Civil War if it involved the public relations and advertising machines of today? The 7 minute long performance (listen to the first minute or two if nothing else) is set on the eve of the Gettysburg Address, as Lincoln and his PR consultant discuss everything from his image to how to respond to Grant’s drinking.
Of course the election of 1860 had its own version of a campaign machine, Lincoln his advisers, and there were plenty of comments about Lincoln’s appearance during and after the election. Still, it’s fun to hear Newhart’s ”What if?” which grafts the PR culture of 1960 to people and events 100 years earlier.
Ms. Erin Mast is Curator at President Lincoln’s Cottage.
April 10, 2008
By Erin Carlson Mast
This is a photo of President Lincoln’s Cottage shrouded in fog around 8:30am this morning. The Sherman Tower (known as Scott Tower in Lincoln’s time) is barely visible in the background.
Ms. Erin Mast is Curator at President Lincoln’s Cottage.
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