Community Calendar

Lincoln Presidential Library spotlights campaign memorabilia in online events

Go ‘beyond bumper stickers’ on Oct. 15 and 29

How did Lincoln and Grant promote their presidential campaigns? How do you counter a slogan as catchy as “I Like Ike”? Was there an 1890s version of MAGA hats?

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum will answer those questions when it goes “Beyond Bumper Stickers” in two online events this month.

On Thursday, Oct. 15, historian Jacob Friefeld will highlight some of the amazing campaign memorabilia in the presidential library’s collections. He’ll pay particular attention to items in the Stevenson Collection, which includes material from a U.S. vice president, a Democratic presidential nominee and a candidate for Illinois governor.

That event takes place on the ALPLM Facebook page at 7 p.m. Central time.

The audience can get involved, too. Anyone with a particularly interesting campaign item is invited to share photos by emailing them to alplm.showandtell@illinois.gov. A few of them will be shown and discussed in the second “Beyond Bumper Stickers” event.

The second event takes place Thursday, Oct. 29, also at 7 p.m. Central time on Facebook.

Experts on campaign memorabilia will join us to discuss items submitted by the public, explore pieces captured digitally by the University of Illinois Springfield and examine other tchotchkes in the presidential library’s collection.

“Elections are important, and everyone should do their civic duty by voting. But campaigns also produce some fascinating, creative and even downright weird attempts to capture voters’ attention,” said Friefeld, the ALPLM’s specialist in Illinois and midwestern history. “We hope to explore that with these two events.”

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum uses a combination of rigorous scholarship and high-tech showmanship to immerse visitors in Lincoln’s life and times. The library holds an unparalleled collection of Lincoln books, documents, photographs, artifacts and art, as well as some 12 million items pertaining to all aspects of Illinois history.

For more information, visit www.PresidentLincoln.illinois.gov. You can follow the ALPLM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.