By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Much of Abraham Lincoln’s legal and political career was spent in Central Illinois, and a new exhibit at the McLean County Museum of History chronicles how this area’s leaders helped pave his way to the presidency.
“Bloomington was an incredibly important stop for him, it made a difference in his life,” he also made a huge different here in regards to the anti-slavery movement,” curator Susan Hartzold said.
She said David Davis and Jesse Fell are among the locals who were instrumental in Lincoln’s rise to national prominence as a voice against slavery.
Co-curator Bill Kemp said while the exhibit pays close attention to Lincoln’s legal connections in McLean County, the exhibit emphasizes Lincoln’s role as a leader moral voice – in leading the fight against slavery, which is covered in Lincoln’s famous ‘lost speech” he gave at Major’s Hall in Bloomington.
“More has been written about Lincoln that about any other individual in human history, so what is left to be learned?,” Kemp asked. In fact there are still things to be learned about Lincoln.”
The museum also has a new mobile app which offers narrated tours of Lincoln sites in Bloomington-Normal.
“This is an app we are going to build on in the future,” said Torii More, the museum’s curator of Digital Humanities. “For each gallery we open, we are going to be adding layers to it.”
A public opening program is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
