Lincoln: Then and Now
Since it is I-Heart-Presidents’ Weekend, I revisited the personal legacy of my favorite President, Abraham Lincoln. Part of this admiration can be attributed to the biographical fact that I grew up in East Central Illinois where everything is named Lincoln – Lincoln School, Lincoln Avenue, and Lincoln Lanes Bowling Alley. Not that I am willing to browse through one of 15,000 books written about him.
This past fall I went on a road trip with my longtime friend Steve. We started in Bloomington, Illinois, got our kicks on Route 66 and spent the night in Springfield, Illinois. Though it is the capital of the State of Illinois, Springfield is best described as “the opposite of vibrant.”
As a youth, my parents took me to Springfield and I remember the Lincoln Tomb (where the statue had a very very shiny nose –you could even say it glows) and my souvenir Lincoln statue is still at my writing desk. Dedicated in 2005, The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Historical Museum is amazing place to get your Lincoln on which includes photo ops with Lincoln’s family. At the museum gift shop you try on their range of stove pipe hats and select from a wide range of colors of the increasingly popular “I Miss Abe” T-Shirt.
100 Copperheads
To complete my I-Heart-President’s Day, I pulled out my copy of Long Life Cool White: Photographs & Essays (2008) by Moyra Davey. In addition to her thoughtful writing, Davey is even more well known as a photographer. I had the good fortune (thanks to my older daughter Cynthia) to see her exhibit 100 Copperheads at the Harvard Art Museum back in April, 2005 where she displayed photographs of 100 Lincoln pennies that she found in various conditions.
The photographs were mounted as a grid on the wall. An example shown here on the left (Copperhead #6), comes from the Art Institute of Chicago website. Davey also likes to take stills of stacks of old books and vinyl records (coated in dust), which looks like they came from my home office.
For the record, just so you think that I am non-discriminating about all things Lincoln. I do have boundaries – I dozed during much the audio version book Lincoln at the Bardo by George Saunders and I consider the Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter series of movies out of bounds.
(Parts of this posting appeared on the original Book Shopper blog on February 16, 2015. My friend Steven Briggs appears with me in Lincoln family photo and he is photographer who chronicled my stovepipe hat experience.)
murraybrowne.org 
Leave a reply to Tom Ramsey Cancel reply