June 28, 2008 – January 3, 2009
The Faces of Lincoln rotating exhibition continues to showcase
items from the Indiana Historical Society’s extensive Lincoln collections with its 10th rotation, “Abraham Lincoln Portrayed in the Collections of the Indiana Historical Society.”

February 12, 2009, will mark the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. The current exhibition features six pieces from 100 years ago that commemorated the centennial of his birth. These items include a sheet music cover of the Lincoln Centennial Grand March that was written to celebrate the occasion; the famous portrait taken by Alexander Gardner on November 8, 1863, reproduced on ceramic tile in England; a poster featuring 100 portraits of Lincoln; an assortment of pins and tokens bearing Lincoln’s likeness; a portrait framed with oak from the original flooring in Lincoln’s first law office; and a lithograph of the Gettysburg Address.

Many of the other pieces on display are portraits. These include photographs, lithographs, and prints based on drawings. There is one photograph of Mary Todd Lincoln and a print of a painted family portrait. The portraits that have been used for the penny and different versions of the five-dollar bill are also on view, as well as a calligraphic portrait of Lincoln formed by the words of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Illustrations that depict scenes from Lincoln’s life include two from his early years in Illinois; one shows him reading by firelight in New Salem and the other shows him acting as judge in a gander pulling contest. There are also scenes from Lincoln’s White House years, including a meeting with a delegation of Native Americans and a reception with notable politicians and military leaders shortly before his death.

Symbolic illustrations include a montage representing the legacy of the Emancipation Proclamation, a print portraying Lincoln’s victory over the Confederates and a montage of scenes with soldiers titled “Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1864.” With his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in 1863, Lincoln had established the holiday as a national annual event.

Many of the items in this exhibition are pictured in the book Abraham Lincoln Portrayed in the Collections of the Indiana Historical Society, which includes an introduction by noted Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer. Published in 2006 by the Indiana Historical Society Press, the book is available in the Basile History Market along with other Lincoln books, DVDs and other items.


About The Faces of Lincoln exhibit

With the generous support of the Lilly Endowment Inc., the IHS purchased three nationally significant collections of Abraham Lincoln materials. The collections are now processed and featured in The Faces of Lincoln, an ongoing exhibition featuring rotating original materials in the Lanham Gallery, located on the fourth floor of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center.

All of the images and descriptions of individual items in the collections also can be accessed through the IHS Web site at www.indianahistory.org as part of the IHS’s growing digital image collection. Digitizing the nearly 1,000 images took more than one year to complete. The process also included extensive conservation treatment and cataloging of each item prior to scanning for online presentation.