2010 Horace Mann Abraham Lincoln Fellowship
Springfield, Illinois
In May 2010, I received a call that I had been selected as the Iowa representative to attend the 2010 Horace Mann Abraham Lincoln Fellowship in Springfield, Illinois. There are two fellowships each summer with about 25 participants in each.
The fellowship provided teachers opportunities to learn about the life of Abraham Lincoln from some of the worlds greatest experts at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and other area locations. The 5-day fellowship was provided at no cost to the teachers including flights, hotels, transportation, admission fees, and food.
Under each large photo, you should find a row of other photos. Click on a small photo and it turns into the large photo! Also some rows at the bottom have more pictures hiding. You'll see what I mean!
The fellowship provided teachers opportunities to learn about the life of Abraham Lincoln from some of the worlds greatest experts at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and other area locations. The 5-day fellowship was provided at no cost to the teachers including flights, hotels, transportation, admission fees, and food.
Under each large photo, you should find a row of other photos. Click on a small photo and it turns into the large photo! Also some rows at the bottom have more pictures hiding. You'll see what I mean!
Sunday - Travel Day
I drove to Cedar Rapids to fly out of the Eastern Iowa Airport. From there, I flew to Chicago, Illinois and then on to St. Louis, Missouri. Sounds like a long way to get to Springfield, right? At the airport in St. Louis, I met more of my fellows, and we were so excited! We traveled in a LIMOUSINE for over an hour to the Illinois state capital of Springfield.
That night, we had a little party in the Hilton hotel to meet everyone and try to learn what state they were from.
That night, we had a little party in the Hilton hotel to meet everyone and try to learn what state they were from.
|
Day 1 - Monday
On Monday, we walked from the hotel to the Presidential Library where we found our "classroom" for the week! During the day, we had introductions and an orientation of what was going to happen throughout the week by Director Randy Wiseman. Then, we listened to a lecture called Illinois' Lincoln/Lincoln's Illinois by research historian Bryon Andreasen.
We had a break and then prepared for the BIG museum tour. After a wonderful lunch in the classroom, we were told of our assignment for the week, which was to create an "exhibit." My group created a digital exhibit about hair. HAIR? Yes, hair. The purpose of the exhibit was to teach us HOW to digital exhibit, not make one about Lincoln.
Then, we had almost 4 hours to tour the Presidential Museum! Wow! It was amazing! You are not allowed to take many photos inside the building, but there was so much to see. We saw Lincoln's famous hat, photos, and china and crystal belonging to the family. We saw recreated scenes of Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation, Mary Lincoln's ball gowns, and Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. There were two cool shows to watch. Ghosts of the Theatre had a live actor on stage with some "magic" like when the pen appears to leave his hand and writes words above him. Cool! The other show, Lincoln's Eyes was 4-D. You should have seen the canons' smoke rings float above our heads! There's a whole section showing Lincoln before he was President, like where he lived when he was little and a horrific scene about the slavery he saw when he traveled the Mississippi River. There was also a hands-on room called Lincoln's Attic where kids could try on a suit or a dress like Mary Todd. Finally, we saw the museum gift shop. Now you know where some of those things for our Life of Lincoln drama came from! After the museum, we had a fancy dinner reception with the workers from Horace Mann Insurance, who sponsor this fellowship.
We had a break and then prepared for the BIG museum tour. After a wonderful lunch in the classroom, we were told of our assignment for the week, which was to create an "exhibit." My group created a digital exhibit about hair. HAIR? Yes, hair. The purpose of the exhibit was to teach us HOW to digital exhibit, not make one about Lincoln.
Then, we had almost 4 hours to tour the Presidential Museum! Wow! It was amazing! You are not allowed to take many photos inside the building, but there was so much to see. We saw Lincoln's famous hat, photos, and china and crystal belonging to the family. We saw recreated scenes of Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation, Mary Lincoln's ball gowns, and Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. There were two cool shows to watch. Ghosts of the Theatre had a live actor on stage with some "magic" like when the pen appears to leave his hand and writes words above him. Cool! The other show, Lincoln's Eyes was 4-D. You should have seen the canons' smoke rings float above our heads! There's a whole section showing Lincoln before he was President, like where he lived when he was little and a horrific scene about the slavery he saw when he traveled the Mississippi River. There was also a hands-on room called Lincoln's Attic where kids could try on a suit or a dress like Mary Todd. Finally, we saw the museum gift shop. Now you know where some of those things for our Life of Lincoln drama came from! After the museum, we had a fancy dinner reception with the workers from Horace Mann Insurance, who sponsor this fellowship.
|
Day 2 - Tuesday
On Tuesday, we worked on our assignments, walked to the Lincoln House, toured the home, had lunch, toured the Old State Capitol and the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office, and were introduced to a new exhibit soon to be opening in the museum called, A Team of Rivals. We had a nice supper and then were taught Lincoln Tomb facts by Historic Sites Historian, Mark Johnson. We then rode a trolley through Springfield to Oak Hills Cemetery. We got to see the retreat ceremony where people dressed up like they were in the Civil War and then toured the tomb. What a long, but very exciting day!
|
Day 3 - Wednesday
On day three, we boarded a nice charter bus and drove to Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site. We toured New Salem with Charles Starling, Site Interpreter and visited the Museum Store, Visitor Center & book store. We lunched at the Morning Star Cafe on a beautiful country road among the cornfields, on the way back to Springfield.
When we got back to the library, we listened to State Historian, Tom Schwartz, tell us about how the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library was created. Then, we got to go behind the scenes a little bit. Something most visitors don't get to do. We learned the secrets of the shows in the museum, learned how they carefully take care of artifacts, and saw some pretty amazing Presidential Museum manuscripts! We had time to work on our group projects and then had supper.
When we got back to the library, we listened to State Historian, Tom Schwartz, tell us about how the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library was created. Then, we got to go behind the scenes a little bit. Something most visitors don't get to do. We learned the secrets of the shows in the museum, learned how they carefully take care of artifacts, and saw some pretty amazing Presidential Museum manuscripts! We had time to work on our group projects and then had supper.
|
Day 4 - Thursday
Thursday started out with two lectures. One was The Art of Oral History with Mark Depue, ALPLM Oral Historian, and the other was Newspaper of New Salem with Mark Johnson. The oral history was cool because we learned how to interview people and tell about their history. They also shared all of the amazing resources the ALPLM has on Illinois oral history! The newspapers session was neat, too because they gave us a copy of a real newspaper from New Salem, Illinois!
After that, we had a nice little snack break in a special rounded room of the library, then we did a debate about Lincoln, Slavery, and Emancipation with Tom Schwartz. Then we had lunch and did one of the COOLEST things I experienced all week. We got a personal tour of the library, including the secret hidden vault underground which houses the most precious Lincoln items! It was so neat being in that tiny room with all of Lincoln's things right in front of us on shelves. No protection! I could have reached right out and touched anything… but I would have gotten in trouble, so I didn't! We saw a real chair from Ford's Theatre and a famous necklace Lincoln gave Mary Todd. They told us there was also a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation in there as well! AMAZING! Next, we finalized our presentations and then had a really fancy meal and closing banquet in the open hall of the library.
After that, we had a nice little snack break in a special rounded room of the library, then we did a debate about Lincoln, Slavery, and Emancipation with Tom Schwartz. Then we had lunch and did one of the COOLEST things I experienced all week. We got a personal tour of the library, including the secret hidden vault underground which houses the most precious Lincoln items! It was so neat being in that tiny room with all of Lincoln's things right in front of us on shelves. No protection! I could have reached right out and touched anything… but I would have gotten in trouble, so I didn't! We saw a real chair from Ford's Theatre and a famous necklace Lincoln gave Mary Todd. They told us there was also a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation in there as well! AMAZING! Next, we finalized our presentations and then had a really fancy meal and closing banquet in the open hall of the library.
|
Day 5 - Friday (The last day)
Friday was a bummer because we knew we were going home and would miss all of the new friends we had made. We learned about artifacts and forensics, which taught us how they select things for the library and museum and how to tell fakes! We practiced telling if the Abraham Lincoln signature was real or if it was a fake. We then shared our presentations we had been working on all week and finished up with a discussion called, A Civil Conversation which included us reading the Gettysburg Address piece by piece. There were a few tears in the room.
Finally, we said our goodbyes and packed up our belongings. Guess who we ran into at our hotel? See the photos to find out! We had some free time, so a few of us walked to the Dana-Thomas house, which is a VERY fancy house built by famous builder Frank Lloyd Wright. Then we got on a nice shuttle bus and were driven to St. Louis. We went out to eat one last time (everyone who went to St. Louis, that is) at Bandanas. Everyone flew home the next morning and began putting their new learnings into their classroom instruction.
Finally, we said our goodbyes and packed up our belongings. Guess who we ran into at our hotel? See the photos to find out! We had some free time, so a few of us walked to the Dana-Thomas house, which is a VERY fancy house built by famous builder Frank Lloyd Wright. Then we got on a nice shuttle bus and were driven to St. Louis. We went out to eat one last time (everyone who went to St. Louis, that is) at Bandanas. Everyone flew home the next morning and began putting their new learnings into their classroom instruction.
|