Tour of “Lincoln, The Constitution and the Civil War” traveling exhibit expanded to include 25 additional libraries

Contact: Angela Thullen


Program Officer, Communication


312-280-5286


athullen@ala.org

NEWS


For Immediate Release


April 6, 2010

CHICAGO – The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office and the National Constitution Center (NCC) in Philadelphia are announcing that the traveling exhibit “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War” will travel to an additional 25 libraries, extending the reach of the exhibit to a total of 50 libraries.




The additional copy of the exhibition will travel to public, academic and special libraries from August, 2010 through December, 2014. The traveling exhibition and tour are funded by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to the National Constitution Center.


The libraries selected to host the additional tour of “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War” exhibit (in alphabetical order by state) are:

  1. Baxter County Library, Mountain Home, Ark.
  2. Mesa State College, Tomlinson Library, Grand Junction, Colo.
  3. Lee County Northwest Regional Library, Fort Myers, Fla.
  4. Florida Keys Community College Library, Key West, Fla.
  5. North Georgia College & State University, Library Technology Center, Dahlonega, Ga.
  6. DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, Ga.
  7. Waterloo Public Library, Waterloo, IA
  8. Decatur Public Library, Decatur, Ill.
  9. University of Saint Mary, De Paul Library, Leavenworth, Kan.
  10. Xavier University of Louisiana, Library Resource Center, New Orleans, La.
  11. Leominster Public Library, Leominster, Mass.
  12. Houghton Lake Public Library, Houghton Lake, Mich.
  13. Spring Lake District Library, Spring Lake, Mich.
  14. Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Mo.
  15. Camden County College, Blackwood, N.J.
  16. St. John Fisher College Library, Rochester, N.Y.
  17. Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, N.Y.
  18. Greenville County Library System, Greenville, S.C.
  19. Northern State University, Williams Library, Aberdeen, S.D.
  20. Columbia State Community College, Columbia, Tenn.
  21. Williamson County Public Library, Franklin, Tenn.
  22. Thomas Nelson Community College, Newport News, Va.
  23. Williamsburg Regional Library, Williamsburg, Va.
  24. Natrona County Public Library, Casper, Wyo.
  25. Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library, Sheridan, Wyo.

“Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War” offers a fresh and innovative perspective on Abraham Lincoln that focuses on his struggle to meet the political and constitutional challenges of the Civil War. The exhibition explores how Lincoln used the Constitution to confront three intertwined crises of the war—the secession of Southern states, slavery and wartime civil liberties. Visitors will leave the exhibition with a more complete understanding of Lincoln as president and the Civil War as the nation’s gravest constitutional crisis.




The selected libraries will host the 1,000-square-foot exhibit for six weeks and receive a $2,500 grant from NEH for exhibit-related expenses. Participating libraries will present at least two free public programs featuring a lecture or discussion by a qualified scholar on exhibition themes. All showings of the exhibition will be open to the public. For more information on the traveling exhibit, visit
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/ppo/programming/lincoln/index.cfm.




The ALA Public Programs Office promotes cultural and community programming as an essential part of library service in all types and sizes of libraries. Successful library programming initiatives have included “Let’s Talk About It” reading and discussion series, traveling exhibitions, film discussion programs, the Great Stories CLUB, Live! @ your library and more. Recently, the ALA Public Programs Office developed
www.ProgrammingLibrarian.org, an online resource center bringing librarians timely and valuable information to support them in the creation of high-quality cultural programs for their communities. For more information on the ALA Public Programs Office, visit
www.ala.org/publicprograms.




The National Constitution Center is one of the nation’s most exciting new museums and a leading provider of constitutionally-themed education programs. Created through the Constitution Heritage Act of 1988, the NCC addresses the need to better educate Americans about their Constitution and citizenship rights and responsibilities. Its mission is to increase public understanding of, and appreciation for, the Constitution, its history, and it contemporary relevance through an interactive museum facility and national outreach programs.