Summer means history and music come alive at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
Live performances and visits by historic interpreters all summer long

 

[June 01, 2023] 

Summer brings new opportunities to meet President Lincoln and enjoy live music at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

Starting June 2, historic interpreters portraying Abraham Lincoln, Mary Lincoln and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant will appear at the ALPLM as part of the city-wide “History Comes Alive” program. Visitors get to meet the historic characters, chat with them about life in the past and pose for pictures.

They will appear Wednesday through Saturday each week.

The ALPLM’s music line-up includes the Lincoln Troubadours vocal group, the Springfield Municipal Band, and a string quintet performing music written especially for the museum’s new exhibit “Here I Have Lived: Home in Illinois” by Randy Erwin. In addition, the ALPLM will continue to offer Erwin’s frequent acoustic performances of music from Lincoln’s era.

“History can be fun and accessible. One way to achieve that is giving folks a chance to interact with figures from the past. Another is letting them hear the same music that filled the air 150 years ago,” said Christina Shutt, executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

The schedule for the historic interpreters is:

Wednesdays

General Grant: 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Mary Lincoln: 2:30-3:30 p.m.
President Lincoln: 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Thursdays

President Lincoln: 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Fridays

General Grant: 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
President Lincoln: 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Mary Lincoln: 12:30-1:30 p.m.

Saturdays

President Lincoln: Noon-2:00 p.m.
Mary Lincoln: 1:00-2:00 p.m.

The Lincoln Troubadours will perform in the museum’s main plaza on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays throughout the summer. The Thursday and Saturday performances are 1-1:30 p.m. The Friday performances are noon-12:30 p.m.

The string quintet will perform music from “Here I Have Lived” on:

Saturday, June 3, 11:00 a.m.
Sunday, June 4, 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday, June 6, 11:00 a.m.
Saturday, June 10, 1:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 18, 1:00 p.m.
Friday, June 23, 1:00 p.m.
Monday, June 26, 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, June 27, 1:30 p.m.

The Springfield Muni Band performs outside the museum on Saturdays at 10 a.m. The band will play on June 10 and then July 1, 8, 15 and 29.

History Comes Alive is a party of a city-wide event through Visit Springfield Illinois. Check out more events and opportunities at www.
VisitSpringfieldIllinois.com/Historycomes
alive.

The ALPLM will also help provide connections to the fascinating Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site, near Petersburg. The presidential library’s Union Station (500 E. Madison Street) will be the departure point for a History Comes Alive shuttle taking visitors to New Salem. Every Saturday morning from June 4 through Aug. 6, the van will depart at 8:30 a.m. and return visitors to the same spot about 11:30 a.m.

The mission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is to inspire civic engagement through the diverse lens of Illinois history and sharing with the world the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. We pursue this mission through a combination of rigorous scholarship and high-tech showmanship built on the bedrock of the ALPLM’s unparalleled collection of historical materials – roughly 13 million items from all eras of Illinois history.

For more information, visit www.PresidentLincoln.illinois.gov. 

[Christopher Wills]