Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum News


	For Immediate Release: July 31, 2007	Contact: David Blanchette (217) 558-0516
	Experience Mary Todd Lincoln's Springfield September 15 bus tour and presentation by world-renowned author will provide an intimate look at Mrs. Lincoln Springfield, IL — "A life that illuminates the human conditions of family love and loss, of convention and nonconformity, of pride and humiliation, and of determination and destiny." Author and historian Jean H. Baker, who gave the preceding description of Mary Todd Lincoln, will be the luncheon speaker during "Belle of Springfield: An intimate look at Mary Lincoln," a special bus tour scheduled for Saturday, September 15. The narrated tour will depart the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library at 9 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m., and will feature stops at the Lincoln Home, First Presbyterian Church, the Mary Todd Lincoln exhibit at the Presidential Museum, and Lincoln Tomb. An 11:30 luncheon will feature a presentation by Baker, author of the definitive biography, Mary Todd Lincoln. Tickets for the tour are $35 each and may be ordered beginning August 1 at www.alplm.org or by calling (217) 558-8934. Tickets for the luncheon only are $25 each. Signed copies of Bakerís book may be ordered for $13 by tour and luncheon participants. The event is co-sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation. Jean Harvey Baker is the Bennett-Harwood Professor of History at Goucher College near Baltimore, Maryland where she has taught for 20 years. She has also been a visiting professor at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University, and was on the Historical Content Team that developed the interpretive themes of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. Baker is the author of ten books, including: The Stevensons: Biography of an American Family; Sisters: The American Suffragists and Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. "Mary Todd Lincoln: First Lady of Controversy," is an exclusive, temporary exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum that opened April 28. The exhibit is the first major retrospective of the controversial First Lady. Visitors can explore the life of Mary Todd Lincoln beginning with her childhood through her courtship with Abraham Lincoln, to her role as wife and mother, and eventually as the First Lady of the United States. The exhibit also examines the darker times of Mrs. Lincoln's life including the tragedy surrounding the Civil War, the death of her son Willie, the assassination of President Lincoln, and the estrangement from her son, Robert Todd Lincoln. Guests can explore dozens of artifacts that provide an intimate look at Mrs. Lincoln such as her clothing, accessories, jewelry, photos and letters. The exhibit also showcases newly uncovered documents related to two special elements of controversy — the First Lady's precarious finances, and her insanity trial, confinement to the Bellevue Sanitarium and release. ###