Illinois Gov. George Ryan hosted a dedication party November 18 for the soon-to-be-completed Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum in Springfield, though critics complained of the event’s $287,000 price tag. Several thousand people attended the invitation-only celebration, which was emceed by former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw and included presentations by Lincoln scholars, a special performance of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and the national anthem sung by the Illinois-born Miss America.
Brian Reardon of the state commerce department defended the dedication’s cost as an effort to promote the library as a tourist attraction, the Chicago Sun-Times reported November 20. The library, scheduled to open sometime in February, is the first phase of a $115-million project begun last year that will also include a museum to be finished in 2004. It will house some 46,000 Lincoln items, including the large holdings of the Illinois State Historical Library currently housed in the nearby Old State Capitol building.
According to the November 19 Chicago Tribune, administration officials did not want to wait for the library’s actual opening because Gov. Ryan is leaving office in January. “He has gathered the lion’s share of the support and funding for the facility, so we wanted to have it before the new administration takes over,” said Dave Blanchette, spokesman for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which will operate the library.
Though he has not yet appointed a library director, Ryan named the first four members of an 11-member advisory board that will plan the future of the complex.
Posted November 25, 2002.