By Douglas Burns

Life-sized replicas of a slave couple being torn apart at a 19th-century auction are part of one of the more hard-hitting displays at the Lincoln museum.

State-of-art museum shows visitors life of the president with stunning displays

The most–visited presidential library and museum in the United States is at once a journey into the past and an eye-popping window into the future.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum opened in 2005 in downtown Springfield, Ill., the capital of that state and a city rich with history. President Obama launched his campaign there in February 2007, just blocks from the Lincoln museum in front of the Old State Capitol where Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech in 1858.

The museum is a place for the full family. It has the largest collection of Lincoln materials anywhere, enough to satisfy the appetites of true scholars. But the complex also contains two state-of-the-art theaters. “Lincoln’s Eyes” uses a multi-media approach, surround-sound, smoke and numerous screens to give the audience a view of life as the president saw it. For my money, the best experience was the “Ghosts of the Library” theater where an actor leads the audience through a presentation involving holograms of Civil War-era leaders and personalities. It’s more endearing and educational than it is frightening for children. If you get there late and can see only one exhibit, this is the one I would recommend.

One of the more compelling displays is in the War Gallery where visitors can see a film titled “The Civil War in Four Minutes.” Every week in the war is cut down to one second. It’s breathtaking to view.

Anyone who thinks politics only recently went negative should visit the Whispering Gallery where nasty editorial cartoons and unfavorable newspaper pieces about Lincoln, the nation’s 16th president, are on display. Critics often referred to Lincoln as a gorilla, monkey or baboon. The Comic News on Dec. 27, 1864, tagged Lincoln as “The Yankee Nero.” In 1861 the Phunny Phellow depicted Lincoln as a “black Republican,” showing him in the embrace of an African-American woman.

Another key exhibit is the Lincoln cabinet room where life-sized replicas of the president and his advisers are displayed in a debate over the Emancipation Proclamation, issued after Gen. George McClellan stopped Gen. Robert E. Lee at Antietam. Not all cabinet members supported it. Secretary of State William Seward advised that the proclamation shouldn’t be issued until after a Union victory.

Secretary of Interior Caleb Smith supported it because he thought blacks would leave the United States after the proclamation.

Attorney General Edward Bates strongly believed that once freed, slaves would depart the United States and colonize Central America.

A moving exhibit is the replica of the Hall of Representatives where Lincoln lay in state following his assassination at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The president died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865, at a boarding house across the street from Ford’s Theatre where John Wilkes Booth, an actor and white supremacist, shot Lincoln point blank in the skull the night before. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton was at Lincoln’s side when the president passed and said, “Now he belongs to the ages.”

There’s a good deal devoted to Lincoln’s earlier years in the museum. Visitors are greeted by replicas of Lincoln, his wife, Mary Todd, and three sons.

Replicas of Booth and various Civil War figures are positioned outside of the Lincoln White House display. Gen. McClellan and Gen. U.S. Grant are engaged in a conversation.

“You wouldn’t see this in real life,” Larry Weyhrich, a museum docent from Springfield told me. The two Union generals disliked each other. CV

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LOCATION: The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located at: 212 N. Sixth St., Springfield, Ill. 62701 Phone: (217) 558-8844. Directions from Des Moines: take I-80 East to I-74 East. Proceed to I-155 South to I-55 South. Proceed to West Clear Lake Avenue Exit.

MUSEUM HOURS: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily (ticket sales end at 4 p.m.) Closed on New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day

WHERE TO EAT: Established in 1864 Maldaner’s restaurant, 222 S. Sixth St., offers an historic atmosphere and a top-shelf menu. It’s just a few blocks from the museum. A long-time former editor of the Springfield newspaper, The State Journal-Register, Barry Locher, now director of foundation and member services for the Illinois Press Association, recommended it.

Douglas Burns is a fourth-generation Iowa newspaperman who writes for The Carroll Daily Times Herald and offers columns for Cityview.