Champaign County's Lincoln
An Exhibit at the Early American Museum

The Exhibit:

This exhibit will have three distinct parts and will be designed to bring about a greater appreciation of Lincoln’s presence in East Central Illinois and Champaign County. Part 1: Lincoln’s Champaign County will give visitors a glimpse of what Champaign County was like when Lincoln spent time here. This section will include a moving horse cart/buggy to simulate travel on the prairie and a depiction of Alschuler’s studio where the fourth known photograph of Lincoln was taken. Part 2: The Puzzle of Slavery will re-create the interior of the Goose Pond church and feature the voices of local anti-slavery and anti-abolition forces through digital voice repeaters placed near interpretive panels. Part 3: Our Friend and Fellow Citizen will explore how Lincoln’s political friends and rivals rallied behind him as he was elected President and executed the Civil War. It will include his relationships with many of our community’s founders.

Expected Outcomes:

The goal of this exhibit is not only to expand museum visitors’ and schoolchildren’s knowledge of Abraham Lincoln’s early years in this part of Illinois, but to also create a means of experiencing a part of history that no longer exists. The built environment that Lincoln knew in Champaign County is almost completely gone and the natural environment is vastly altered. The exhibit will capture the essence of Lincoln’s life and times in this area and engage the visitor in that experience – serving as a virtual gateway to the Lincoln story in Champaign County. For residents of Champaign County and east central Illinois, this awareness of our history brings with it a renewed sense of pride in the community and our area.