Nature
and haiku poetry
to be featured in reading
[JUNE
26, 2002] Two
award-winning poets will present a varied program of readings and
discussions at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 27, at Coffee With Einstein,
201 S. Sangamon in Lincoln. The program will feature the
husband-and-wife team Penny Harter and William J. Higginson.
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Harter, who has received national
recognition for her poems on nature themes, will share poems from
some of her 16 published collections, as well as new work. Higginson,
an internationally acknowledged author and lecturer on the brief
Japanese nature poems called haiku, will include translations from
his several books on the subject, as well as reading some of his own
original work in English. The reading is sponsored Modern Haiku and
the Vachel Lindsay Association. An open mic session will follow.
This is the inaugural program in the "Poetry with Einstein" poetry
reading series.
Harter’s poems reflecting the natural
environments of the Northeast and Southwest have won repeated
inclusion in the annual volumes of the "American Nature Writing"
series established by the Sierra Club. She recently received the
first William O. Douglas Nature Writing Award, for her poems in the
2002 volume. She is also fascinated with human cultures and has
written poems based on Japanese and Tibetan life. She will round out
her portion of the program with poems dealing with family
relationships and social consciousness, including some of the
environmental and human problems of our time.
Higginson has translated a wide variety
of traditional Japanese poems, including the brief, season-based
haiku, the lyric tanka and the collaborative linked poems composed
by groups of poets who hold parties to write together. He will share
these, as well as his own haiku and haibun (haiku-prose) in English.
His reading will also include some of his longer poems on family
relationships.
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article]
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In addition, the pair will read from
the haiku journal of their previous cross-country drive through
Lincoln, 11 years ago. Harter and Higginson return to Lincoln to
once again visit their friend Lee Gurga, poet and editor of Modern
Haiku, the leading magazine in its field. They are traveling
cross-country from Santa Fe, N.M., to their new home in New Jersey.
Both authors have written numerous
books, including Harter’s "Turtle Blessing," "Lizard Light.Poems
from the Earth" and "Buried in the Sky" and Higginson’s "The Haiku
Seasons," "Haiku World" and "Over the Wave: Selected Haiku of Ritsuo
Okada." They collaborated on "The Haiku Handbook — How to Write,
Share, and Teach Haiku," one of the most widely read books on the
subject. Many of their books will be available for sale at the end
of the program.
Coffee With Einstein is located at 201
S. Sangamon in downtown Lincoln. Phone: (217) 735-5282.
For
information concerning the program, please contact Modern Haiku
editor Lee Gurga, phone (217) 732-8731; e-mail
gurga@ccaonline.com.
[News
release]
Click
below for more information on the poets:
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Penny Harter
Penny Harter has published 16 books of
poetry, six since 1994. The most recent are "Grandmother’s Milk"
(Singular Speech Press), "Shadow Play: Night Haiku" (Simon &
Schuster), "Stages and Views" (Katydid Books/U. Hawaii Press),
"Turtle Blessing" (La Alameda Press/U. New Mexico Press), "Lizard
Light: Poems from the Earth" (Sherman Asher Publishing) and "Buried
in the Sky" (La Alameda Press).
Known for both longer poems and haiku,
she is the recipient of awards and fellowships from the New Jersey
State Council on the Arts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the
Haiku Society of America and the Poetry Society of America. She
recently received the first William O. Douglas Nature Writing Award
for her poems in the anthology "American Nature Writing 2002." She
is listed in "Who’s Who in the West," and her autobiographical essay
about becoming a writer appeared originally in Volume 28 of the
"Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series" and was reprinted in the
regular "Contemporary Authors" series in 1999.
Her work appears in numerous
anthologies and literary magazines worldwide and has been translated
into Dutch, French, Japanese, Korean, Polish and Romanian, She has
presented readings, talks and workshops from coast to coast at
venues such as the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, Santa Fe, N.M.; the
Border Book Festival, Las Cruces, N.M.; Haiku North America, in
various cities; and the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, Waterloo
Village, N.J.; and in Japan.
Contact information: Penny Harter, P.O.
Box 2740, Santa Fe, NM 87504; (505) 438-3249;
penhart@att.net.
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section]
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William J. Higginson
William J. Higginson has been a leading
figure in the North American haiku movement since his first small
book of translations from Japanese appeared in 1968. "Twenty-Five
Pieces of Now" was followed in 1971 by the first book of critical
essays about haiku in English, "Itadakimasu: Essays on Haiku and
Senryu in English," which received one of the first Haiku Society of
America Merit Book Awards.
Since these early efforts, Higginson
has published three of the leading books in the field: "The Haiku
Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku" (McGraw-Hill, 1985),
"The Haiku Seasons: Poetry of the Natural World" and "Haiku World:
An International Poetry Almanac" (both Kodansha International,
1996). In addition, he has published two volumes of longer poems, a
book of haiku and an international anthology of haiku for children.
His longer poems and haiku, as well as translations and articles,
have appeared in magazines and anthologies worldwide and on the
Internet. He is also the volunteer editor of the "Haiku and Related
Forms" section of the Open Directory, the world’s largest actively
edited directory of Internet sites.
Higginson is also known internationally
as a speaker and reader of poetry, and has given keynote addresses
at conferences in Tokyo, San Francisco, Duluth and Boston. For 10
years he made his living as a visiting poet in the National
Endowment for the Arts Writers in the Schools Program, and he has
led workshops and literary events at community centers, colleges,
schools and Y’s in the United States, Canada and Japan.
Contact
information: William J. Higginson, P.O. Box 2740, Santa Fe, NM
87504; (505) 438-3249;
wordfield@att.net.
[News
release]
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6-26-02
To the editor:
We all want the tax dollars we pay to
the state to be used wisely, don’t we? Of course we do. But are they
being used wisely by the state treasurer’s office?
Many Illinois municipalities
participate in a pooled investment program run by the treasurer’s
office. This fund is called "The Illinois Funds." Records from the
auditor general and state comptroller show that at the time the
current state treasurer, Judy Baar Topinka, took office in 1995 the
number of employees in the treasurer’s office was 16. During Ms.
Topinka’s term that number rose to 39. It has recently dropped back
to 37. Was it necessary for Ms. Topinka to more than double the
number of employees in her office to run this program?
The Democratic candidate for state
treasurer, state Rep. Tom Dart, thinks not. He believes Treasurer
Topinka should return at least $1.5 million in fees to local
governments that participate in this program. He wonders whether Ms.
Topinka is unnecessarily stockpiling money to add unneeded staff and
unnecessary spending to her office budget. We should all wonder.
In these economic hard times in the
state of Illinois, state workers, businesses that provide services
and products to the state, and many citizens who are dependent on
state programs, are being asked to sacrifice. Meanwhile the
governor’s staff gets raises, and spending in the treasurer’s office
skyrockets.
It is time for a change. The state
treasurer should no longer be allowed to spend like there is no
tomorrow while ordinary citizens of Illinois suffer. Tom Dart will
manage your tax dollars wisely and control spending in his own
office. Elect Tom Dart Illinois state treasurer.
Steven J.
Holtz
6-26-02
To the editor:
THANK YOU to all the businesses who
helped with, donated to, or attended the benefit for Ryan Donley:
K of C, Guzzardo’s, IGA, Waterstreet Catering, LCHS cafeteria staff, MKS, Cookie’s Bakery, Franz Express, Hallmark, Treasure Chest, Jim and Nancy Ireland,
Jimmy John’s, Eagle Country Market, NAPA, Blades, Kandy Korn -- Dan and Christa Stauder, AutoZone, Big R;
Images, Glenn Brunk Stationers, The Tannery, Cape Landing Salon, Brandt’s Arcade Café, Arcade Hair Creations -- Pam Mattson, Steak-N-Shake, SunSpot, Northgreens Golf Course, Time Out, Sports Plus, Mitchell-Newhouse, Family Video, Cracker Barrel, Abe’s Carmelcorn, Deb Theobald, Laraine Gardner, Weddings by Crystal;
The Feldman family, Shirley Curry, Doris Curry, Dena and Aaron Bergman, Ritchhart Family -- Shirley Awe, Linda Franz, Clark gas station, Jim Simmons, Matt and Teresa Young, Jerry Berglin, J & S Auto, Lincoln Daily News
A special thanks to all the people who
came and helped out with the benefit in any way. Also to anyone whom
we may have inadvertently forgotten.
Sincerely,
Daphne Donley
Chris and Margie Donley
Barb and Tom Winegardner
(Jackie
McCray and Shannon McCray)
The family of Ryan J. Donley would like
to extend our deepest appreciation for your countless prayers and
expressions of sympathy given to our family during our loss of Ryan.
We have found much comfort in the countless cards, flowers, calls,
visits, donations and gifts of the heart. Many of you we know
personally, many we do not. It is wonderful to see so many caring
people willing to help in any way that they can when you need it.
When your whole life has been devastated, it is reassuring to see
such human kindness in this day and age. It certainly gives you hope
that tomorrow will be brighter. I don’t know how we would have made
it through such a difficult time without all of you. You are our
blessings from God.
Love,
Daphne Donley
Chris and Margie Donley
Barb and Tom
Winegardner |
|
Weekly outlook: Reports and prices
[JUNE
26, 2002]
URBANA — Weather conditions
and crop prospects will be the dominating price factors for the next
few months, said a University of Illinois Extension marketing
specialist.
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"U.S. corn and soybean yield prospects
may be the most important price factors, but developments in other
areas will also be critically important," said Darrel Good. "In
particular, the market is taking note of dry conditions in
Australia, flooding in parts of China and Russia, and the slow
development of the monsoon in India.
"For coarse grains, world production
has been at a relatively high level since 1995-96. Individual
countries have had shortfalls in production, but the U.S. has had
consistently large crops since 1996."
For wheat, Good added, world production
has been relatively large since the consecutive small crops of
1994-95 and 1995-96.
"The current relatively low level of
U.S. and world stocks and the generally low prices of wheat and
coarse grains suggest that production shortfalls could have
significant price impacts," he said. "The market is beginning to
reflect production concerns, but price action may be relatively
conservative until the U.S. crops reach the critical reproductive
stages of growth."
Good’s comments came as he reviewed the
markets where corn and soybean prices continue to demonstrate
seasonal strength, influenced by a high rate of consumption and U.S.
and world crop concerns.
For soybeans, both the domestic crush
and exports continue at a pace above that projected by the USDA. The
expected return of China to the import market should keep the pace
of U.S. exports high, especially in the light of continued problems
in Argentina.
"Based on the USDA’s weekly export
inspection report, U.S. exports through June 20 were 5 percent
larger than cumulative shipments of a year ago," said Good. "For the
year, the USDA has projected a 3.5 percent increase. Unshipped sales
as of June 13 totaled some 97.5 million bushels, compared to 74.2
million bushels of outstanding sales on the same date last year.
"Similarly, the cumulative domestic
crush during the first three quarters of the marketing year is
estimated at 1.3 billion bushels, 4.7 percent larger than the crush
during the same period last year. For the year, the USDA has
projected an increase of 3.3 percent."
[to top of second column in this
article]
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Good said that for corn, the pace of
exports compared to that of last year, accelerated in the second and
third quarters of the marketing year. The USDA’s export inspection
report indicated that cumulative shipments as of June 20 were 3
percent larger than the total of a year ago. However, unshipped
sales as of June 13 totaled 252.5 million bushels, compared to 290.1
million on the same date last year. For the year, the USDA projects
that exports will reach 1.925 billion bushels, 10 million less than
shipments of a year ago.
"Corn exports were very large during
the summer of 2001," said Good. "The recent rapid pace of shipments
will have to continue if the USDA projection is to be reached."
The USDA’s June Grain Stocks report
will be released on June 28. The market will use the June 1 corn
stocks estimate to gauge the rate of domestic use of corn during the
third quarter of the marketing year.
"If the pace of consumption was in line
with the USDA projection, June 1 stocks of corn should have been
near 3.67 billion bushels, about 250 million less than on the same
date last year," said Good. "Soybean stocks on June 1 should have
been near 690 million bushels, based on the estimates of use during
the third quarter of the year."
In addition to the grain stocks report,
the market will have considerable interest in the acreage report to
be released on the same date.
"Late planting, particularly in the
eastern Corn Belt, suggests that the acreage report will reflect a
fair amount of intentions rather than actual plantings," said Good.
"Still, the report will be an important benchmark for judging the
final planted acreage of the major crops. The market expects the
report to show a significant switch from corn to soybean acreage due
to the lateness of the planting season in some areas.
"The report
is also expected to reflect failed wheat acres being planted to
other crops. Some private analysts have projected a significant
increase in sorghum acreage, compared to March intentions, due to
replanting of failed wheat acreage. In addition to the acreage of
individual crops, the report will give some perspective on the
magnitude of abandoned acreage."
[U of I
news release] |
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‘Shoeless Joe and Me’
[JUNE
26, 2002] "Shoeless
Joe and Me." Dan Gutman. HarperCollins, 2002. 163 pages. Grades 4-7.
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Joe Stoshack is 13 and plays baseball
for the "big league." Well, that doesn’t mean major league,
just that they’ve outgrown Little League. Not only does he play
baseball, he’s a baseball fan and lives in Louisville, Ky., home of
the Louisville Slugger Museum. Joe’s favorite hangout is Flip’s Fan
Club, a little sports card shop where he has purchased many baseball
cards.
Flip was watching Joe’s championship
game the day he knew he was safe and the umpire called him out.
"It’s not fair! I was safe! If the ump
hadn’t blown the call, we would have won the championship," Joe
complained.
That was when Flip told Joe the story
of another baseball player who may have been treated unfairly. He
listened as Flip told about Shoeless Joe Jackson and the 1919
Chicago White Sox World Series game the players deliberately lost.
Eight players were banned from baseball for the rest of their lives,
but Flip thinks they didn’t deserve that fate, especially Shoeless
Joe.
A plan begins to form in Joe’s mind.
Using baseball cards, he has been successful traveling back in time
to 1909, 1932 and 1947 for visits with Honus, Jackie and Babe. Why
wouldn’t it work just one more time? His plan is to somehow prevent
the scandal from happening and restore to Shoeless Joe the respect
he deserves.
[to top of second column in this
review]
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Joe is successful in finding the right
card to help him travel back to 1919 and lands on the other side of
a wall that separates him from the gamblers. He is able to listen as
they are planning the World Series fix. Because Shoeless is such a
good hitter, they want to make sure he is in on the deal.
At just the wrong time Joe makes too
much noise and is discovered by the gamblers. The action intensifies
as Joe is chased, caught and locked in a closet.
Eventually, Joe does get to meet
Shoeless Joe and tries to explain why he shouldn’t accept any money
offered for a deal to lose the game.
Shoeless is presented as a player who
plays for the love of the game and plays to win. Children will be
fascinated with the mental and physical exercises he uses to prepare
himself for each game and the special care of his bats, especially
Black Betsy.
By the end of the story every reader
will be wishing that he or she could travel back in time and change
history for Shoeless.
There is also some humor in Gutman’s
story as Joe Stoshack tries to adjust to life in the early 1900s
when he wants to use his cell phone. The copies of photos and
newspaper articles from the time period also add to the total
package.
This book
will be enjoyed by children in grades four through seven and should
hold the attention of reluctant readers as well.
[Patricia Schlough,
Lincoln Public Library District] |
|
History and lessons offered in Underground Railroad signal quilts
History and lessons offered in Underground Railroad signal quilts
[JUNE
xx, 2002]
Because of a recent surge of interest in Underground
Railroad signal quilts, an exhibit of replicated quilts will be
displayed in the rotunda of the Logan County Courthouse during
Lincoln’s sesquicentennial celebration Aug. 21-31, 2003. Lessons on
making these historic quilts will be offered monthly through next
April.
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The
history of the signal quilts dates to the days of slavery, in the
low country of South Carolina. There, some blacks who were planning
to escape their bondage were taught an intricate code of signals
that would help them successfully complete their journey north to
freedom. The signals
were pieced into colorful quilts that were displayed on the
plantations prior to the trip as mnemonic devices, or reminders, of
what they had learned, to increase their chances of success. Because
quilts were such a common household item, they aroused no suspicion.
The signals were "hidden in plain view."
The quilt code
remained a highly guarded secret, passed down through oral tradition
only to those deemed trustworthy. As time passed, fewer and fewer
people remembered the code, and some of those who learned it
considered it no longer important.
The late Ozella
Williams of Charleston, S.C., was one of the people who learned the
code from her grandmother and mother. Childless, Williams tried to
share the code with a niece, who found no value in it. In her old
age, seeking to complete her obligation to pass the code on,
Williams shared the information with Denver writer Jacqueline Tobin.
Tobin teamed with
quilter and historian Raymond Dobard to produce a book, "Hidden in
Plain View," which became an overnight sensation in the quilting
world. The book is available at Lincoln Public Library.
Sue Bidwell of Sew
Many Friends quilt shop, 127 S. Kickapoo St., will give a series of
lessons on preparing signal quilt blocks. All lessons will be
presented from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Sew Many Friends. The shop is handicapped-accessible.
The lessons are for
people who would like to learn about and make the signal quilt
blocks, either to make into a quilt for the display or for their own
pleasure. Quilters will retain ownership of the blocks they make.
Beginning quilters,
as well as those with experience, are encouraged to participate in
both the quilting workshops and the show. One class will be given
for each of the 10 primary signal blocks listed in "Hidden in Plain
View." Because of limited space, each class will be limited to 15
participants, who must preregister.
[to top of second column in this
article]
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The fee for each
class is $5, which includes a free pattern and hands-on
instructions. Each person who completes the class will receive a $5
gift certificate good for fabric from Sew Many Friends.
• Participants have
the following choices: Buy a pre-cut quilt block kit at a cost of
$5; or bring pre-washed and ironed fabric and cut the block pieces
at the workshop. Those who plan to cut their own fabric should also
bring a plastic ruler, rotary cutter and mat. Information on the
shades and amount of fabric needed will be available when you
register.
• Bring your own
sewing machine, or bring a quilting needle and thimble and sew by
hand.
• Each participant
also should bring his or her own choice of thread, scissors, a
ripper and a gallon-sized reclosable bag for storing the quilt
pattern and pieces.
The quilt blocks will
be completed in order of ease of sewing, rather than the order of
the code. Lessons have been scheduled as follows:
• Bow Tie, July 14;
reservation deadline July 6.
• Crossroads, Aug.
17; reservation deadline Aug. 10.
• Log Cabin, Sept.
15; reservation deadline Sept. 7.
• Bear’s Paw, Oct.
12, reservation deadline, Oct. 5.
• Flying Geese, Nov.
10, reservation deadline Nov. 2.
• Monkey Wrench, Dec.
14, reservation deadline Dec. 7.
• Drunkard’s Path,
Jan. 12, reservation deadline Jan. 4.
• Double Wedding
Ring, Feb. 15, reservation deadline Feb. 8.
• Wagon Wheel, March
16, reservation deadline March 8.
• The April 19 class will provide tips
for setting the blocks together into a quilt top. Students will be
responsible for quilting or tying their own quilts or having them
quilted or tied.
[Thressia Usherwood,
Lincoln sesquicentennial publicity chairman] |
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Lincoln native gets his wish
[JUNE xx, 2002]
SCOTT
AIR FORCE BASE — Two years ago, Chad Bryant of Lincoln left home to
fulfill a lifetime dream of traveling.
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Now he’s helping
fight the war on terror.
"I always wanted to
travel," Bryant said. "So, I got my associate’s degree from Lincoln
College in 1998, I got married, joined the Air Force and left for
training two months later.
"My wife and I even
moved our wedding date up so we could get married before I left for
basic training!
"But I had no idea at
the time just how important my job would be."
He is the son of Mr.
and Mrs. Don Bryant of Lincoln.
It was a very big
year for Bryant in 1999, and the pace has never slowed. Since his
graduation from basic training — an event he considers one of his
proudest achievements — Airman Bryant has had the opportunity to
work in the long and winding halls of power at the Pentagon, a bit
off the beaten path from Lincoln.
"My wife and I had a
lot of fun in D.C.," Bryant said. "We got out of Illinois and got to
see another part of the United States."
After assignment at
the Pentagon, it was back to Illinois for a tour at U.S.
Transportation Command — the military’s transportation center.
Bryant is an intelligence systems administrator, responsible for
ensuring computer servers are up and running, allowing the command’s
1,000-plus military men and women and civilians to communicate
electronically at a moment’s notice. Information technology is of
paramount importance in coordinating worldwide transportation and
delivery of personnel and supplies for the military.
Almost all of the
personnel and equipment delivered to fight Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan,
a land-locked country, was flown into that mountainous country by
Transcom C-17s and C-130s. The effort required a great deal of
traffic on computer systems handled by Bryant and others in his
department.
"We sustain several
main servers as well as hundreds of client workstations," he says.
"I was never really into computers before, but that has changed. The
Air Force gives you incredible training, and I was really enjoying
my job."
Sept. 11 was
something Bryant says he will never forget.
He was at work in the
Communication Center at the transportation command when the
terrorists hit the World Trade Center towers. The event changed his
job and his view of its importance.
"I saw how vital my
position is to the command. My work became more important, knowing
that keeping lines of communication open for our command — and all
the people who depend on us — rested partly upon my work," he said.
[to top of second column in
this article]
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Things have slowed
down a bit since then as Bryant makes sure that the command’s
information technology system gives us an edge in the war against
terrorism.
After working
often-long hours, Bryant spends most of his free time with his
children, Isaiah, 2, and Brianna, 4 months.
"I’m always doing
something with them, whether it is crawling around on the floor or
completing a college education to provide them with a good example."
Bryant received his
bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from Greenville
College this spring and planned to apply for Officer Training
School. The Air Force will pay most of the bill for his college
education.
Bryant says he would
like to make the Air Force a lifetime career.
"I enjoy the
challenge, and it is interesting meeting new people," he said. "I’ve
learned from working within a joint command that each branch of
service helps one another and how essential they are to one
another’s success."
Bryant has been
making a name for himself around the transportation command. The
command is responsible for most air, land, and sea transportation
needs worldwide for the Department of Defense. Recently, Bryant was
selected as U.S. Transportation Command’s Junior Servicemember of
the Quarter, an honor given only to the command’s most deserving
servicemen and women.
His selection was
based in part on his active community work, supporting the local
Airman’s Attic, a charity providing various household items to
military families — senior airman rank and below. Bryant also
donates his time to various cancer walks in the St. Louis area.
"My parents are both
survivors of cancer. I feel it is my responsibility to walk in honor
of them," Bryant says. "I enjoy volunteer work because I know that
my community was there for me during rough times. So, I am there to
provide that same support."
And still on the
airman’s mind is his continued desire to travel.
"I want to travel,"
he said "Italy is my first choice, but I am ready to go anywhere."
He will get his wish
when his tour at Transcom ends in 2003. He will be deployed, and it
will be far from Illinois.
In the military, that’s something Bryant
knows he can count on.
[Kelly Thompson,
U.S. Transportation Command,
public affairs] |
|
Lincoln College athletic center
and museum are $2 million closer
[JUNE xx, 2002]
"It’s
fantastic! Fantastic!" said Lincoln College President Jack Nutt of
the $2 million in additional capital funding for the school in the
state budget approved by the General Assembly Sunday.
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Nutt said he had
received no word but assumes the money is an Illinois FIRST grant
resulting from the letter he sent Gov. George Ryan six months ago.
He emphasizes that the grant is "not a done deal" since it could
still be removed. But since the General Assembly has adjourned and
the governor approved the funding, Nutt is optimistic it won’t be
removed or vetoed.
Nutt also said he
does not know whether the grant is for the proposed museum, athletic
center or unspecified "capital construction," as in the case of two
previous Illinois FIRST grants totaling $1.1 million. If either of
the last two is the case, Nutt said, he’s ready to "put the hole in
the ground."
Once designed as a
single structure, the proposed Lincoln College athletic center and
museum now stand separate in architectural drawings. At graduation
on May 11, Nutt formally kicked off the fund drive for the two
buildings, with a substantial sum from individual and governmental
sources already in the coffers.
The athletic and
convocation center site is on Nicholson Road, just beyond where it
bends off Ottawa Street. Tentatively called the Lincoln Center, the
building includes a multipurpose gymnasium with bleacher seating for
1,000, wrestling area, offices for all members of the athletic
department, locker rooms, a community fitness center, hall of fame
and training room.
The proposed Lincoln
College Museum is located on the corner of Keokuk and Ottawa, across
from the college library, on the former site of the college tennis
courts. The facade, including limestone columns and facing, is
designed to remind the viewer of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington,
D.C., and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum to be
built in Springfield. "A stately museum to a stately president" is
how curator Ron Keller puts it.
Though Nutt expects
both structures to be built within a couple of years, the athletic
center will come first because it directly affects the students. "We
have to have the gym," Nutt said. The Davidson-Sheffer Gymnasium, in
current use, was built in 1933.
The construction
budget for both projects totals $6.5 million, with the athletic
center accounting for $4.5 million. The college already had $4.5
million in May, Nutt said, but some of it is designated for
scholarships and restricted gifts. Besides the fund drive and
Illinois FIRST application, he has asked for a federal grant to
cover approximately half the $2 million cost of the museum.
A factor in
fund-raising is the proposed federal Charity Recovery and
Empowerment Act, which has already passed the House of
Representatives. Retroactive to Jan. 1, 2002, it provides for the
conversion of IRAs to charitable purposes without tax consequences.
If the Senate passes the bill, Nutt expects to raise any money he
still needs in a short time.
Several reasons
account for splitting the original building plan. First, Nutt said,
vouchers for the first two Illinois FIRST grants totaling $1.1
million, which were expected to be earmarked for the museum, said
capital construction instead, so the money can be used for the
athletic center. The two checks have time limits ending in June and
July of 2003. Second, the combined structure grew too large for its
site. Finally, some donors prefer to support a separate museum.
Dennis Shoemaker of
Diversified Buildings in Morton is architect for both projects. The
athletic and convocation center comprises 40,000 square feet. Nutt
said that with chairs on the floor the gymnasium will seat up to
3,000. Besides hosting graduation ceremonies and being home to Lynx
teams, it can accommodate end-of-the-season tournaments.
Plans also include a
fitness center with aerobic, cardiovascular and ergonomic equipment.
Membership will be available to the public. A pet project of Nutt’s
is the Logan County Hall of Fame, with photos of famous LC residents
from a variety of fields, though he expects sports to predominate.
Nutt hopes to install
a composition floor and dropped ceiling in Davidson-Sheffer
Gymnasium and use it for a variety of purposes. Physical education
classes, however, will be located in the new field house.
The
10,000-square-foot museum has an open design, specialized lighting
and environmental controls to protect the collection. Separate rooms
house the college’s rare-book collection and a 50-seat tiered
lecture room, which will also be used for presentations to tour
groups. Work areas, a vault and a kitchen complete the main floor.
There is also a full basement.
Ron Keller, curator
of the museum, is in no hurry to build. The museum must last for 50
years, he said, so it is important to take time and be sure all
needs have been anticipated. Besides, Keller and assistant Paul
Gleason, both at LC for about two years, have not yet completed
inventorying the collection.
Museum collections and tourism
Most impressive to
tourists are artifacts such as the rails split by Lincoln’s cousin
John Hanks in 1830 and the replica of Lincoln’s chair in Ford’s
Theatre. These three-dimensional objects are on display in the
current museum in McKinstry Library.
However, the museum
has many documents that are not displayed. These include letters
from every member of Lincoln’s cabinet, correspondence between
Lincoln and his eldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, and documents from
people ranging from Robert E. Lee to Frederick Douglass.
Although most of the
collection deals with Lincoln’s presidential years, Keller plans to
emphasize the young, unbearded, pre-presidential Lincoln in the new
museum because that was the man who lived here. Tourists want to
know Lincoln as he was in Logan County, Keller said.
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He sees the LC museum
and the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield as
"both in business doing the same thing — increasing awareness of
Lincoln and educating the public." He and Nutt believe both will
increase tourism in the area.
About 2,300 visitors
toured the college museum last year, representing at least 30 states
and five foreign countries. The single biggest month is May, with
its many school tours, but the LC Parents Weekend logs the biggest
day. Most school tours are elementary classes, with five scheduled
this week. In summer, charter tours often have an Abraham Lincoln
theme but sometimes focus on Route 66.
Admission is free and
expected to remain so in the new structure. Keller said that because
the museum has "so many great benefactors" it need not be
self-sustaining. However, some revenue is generated by sale of items
such as Lincoln busts and statues, beanbag Lincolns, prints,
placemats, pens and pencils, toy soldiers, Lincoln penny earrings,
and over 40 book titles.
In the new museum
Keller plans exhibits consisting of panels using local sources, such
as Lawrence Stringer’s 1911 "History of Logan County, Illinois,"
with Lloyd Ostendorf prints as background. Ostendorf was widely
known for his depictions of Abraham Lincoln. The college owns one of
his paintings, "Lincoln and the Women He Loved," showing portraits
of Lincoln, his mother, stepmother and sister. Keller has obtained
permission to use other prints from Ostendorf’s heirs, who he says
are "quite excited" about the project.
The museum design
allows space for rotating displays as well as the permanent
collection. Nutt expects to see loaned exhibits from other
institutions at least twice a year. "We send Lincoln artifacts to
museums all over the world," he said, "so a lot of museums owe us."
He envisions exhibits on various themes, not necessarily
Lincoln-related, put together with pieces from several collections.
The LC museum’s
collection contains a repository of presidents, including signatures
of all U.S. presidents.
It also holds many
Logan County articles and maps. These are mostly documents and not
of high interest to tourists, but Keller does currently display a
1905 plat book and an 1800s document about building a road to
Middletown. Artifacts of local interest include a table owned by
Robert Latham and a chair from the Scully house. The new museum will
have a somewhat larger local history display. Keller said this idea
is still evolving.
For about a year the
college museum has been home to the Edward Madigan Collection,
consisting of papers dealing with the Lincoln native’s years as
congressman and secretary of agriculture, books on state government
and agriculture which he collected as a state representative,
pictures, and some personal items. At the request of Madigan’s
family a few books and letters were de-acquisitioned from the Bush
Presidential Library. Again, the collection is not of high tourist
interest but noteworthy in Logan County and Lincoln College history.
Madigan was a 1955 graduate and trustee of the school. "It’s a
priority in our minds" and worthy to be part of the permanent
exhibition, Keller said, even though the display will not be large.
The Lincoln Group of
Illinois, consisting of over 100 amateur Lincoln scholars currently
based at Illinois Benedictine College in Lisle, is moving its
headquarters to the LC museum in June. The group has some archives
and produces a newsletter, which will be coordinated with the one
published by the museum. Keller sees the move as a step toward
creating a research center.
Although
architectural drawings show stoplights and crosswalks at the
intersection of Keokuk and Ottawa, Nutt does not anticipate much
foot traffic across Keokuk. "I don’t view the museum as a part of
the college," he explained, expecting most visitors to be tourists.
Keller, on the other
hand, dreams of a museum and history program that will be a magnet
for students. Rosemary Porter, Keller’s first student intern, has
worked this year at "transcribing and documenting material on Logan
County history and Civil War warrant records, researching and
writing about Abraham Lincoln, assisting in the preparation of
museum displays, and giving tours for visitors to the museum," he
said. Her article on the Lincoln courtship appeared in the spring
2002 issue of the museum’s quarterly, The Lincoln Newsletter.
Ron Keller grew up in
Newton, Ill., and earned baccalaureate and master’s degrees in
history at Eastern Illinois University. He came to Lincoln College
after teaching one year at the elementary level and six years in
middle and high school. Besides being curator of the museum, he
teaches four courses per semester in history and government.
Former Lincoln Junior
High School history teacher Paul Gleason is assistant curator. Among
other tasks, he researches and answers questions on local history.
The two are organizing, cataloging and preserving materials on Logan
County in the 1860s borrowed from the local courthouse. This project
sparked collaboration on a book on Logan County soldiers in the
Civil War. Gleason is currently writing an article to submit to The
Lincoln Newsletter on how Logan County became involved in the war,
the number of troops and their experience at Shiloh. He expects to
use the article as prelude to the book.
After the museum’s move, its present
quarters in McKinstry Library will become an art gallery, and the
current Layman Gallery, with entrance beside the card catalog, will
be absorbed into the college library.
[Lynn
Shearer Spellman]
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