21st-Century Abe sheds light on Lincoln’s views on race, his patterns of thought and rhetoric, and his role as a celebrity, both in his own day and ours. The 30 featured documents, many rarely seen by the public, range from the Baltimore Address to Lincoln’s attempt to explain his family history.
The site features creative interpretations of the Lincoln materials by scholar Douglas Wilson, artist/illustrator Maira Kalman, musician Bryce Dessner of the band The National, Philadelphia comedy theater company 1812 Productions and multimedia artists Archive (Anne Walsh and Chris Kubick). [Additional information about the artists follows below.]
Inside 21stCenturyAbe.org
Site visitors can interact with the diverse content in a variety of ways including:
*Read and listen to short essays about each of the documents in 21st-Century Abe by Douglas Wilson, Ph.D., one of the country’s most renowned Abraham Lincoln scholars.
*View the illustrated “Finding Lincoln” by Maira Kalman, a 44-panel story which weaves the life of Abraham Lincoln with Kalman’s own personal story about her journey to find Abe.
*Download an original Lincoln playlist. Created by Bryce Dessner, “The Lincoln Shuffle” is a series of non-linear compositions (based on the work of George Ives, a contemporary of Lincoln) featuring a variety of acoustic instruments.
*Explore “One Lincoln after Another”, a series of videos, photographs, and commentary created by multimedia artists Archive (Chris Kubick and Anne Walsh). The project features photographs of the Lincoln documents, a trip to several Lincoln monuments - including one in Tijuana - and more.
*In the spring, 1812 Productions will explore Lincoln’s humor through a series of audio pieces.
*Ongoing contests encourage visitors to find Lincoln in their world and interact with the site content in a variety of creative ways, including contests for best poster design, best punditry, and best original media submission. Prizes include a limited edition 21st-Century Abe hat, winning work displayed online and at the Rosenbach, and a grand prize trip for two to Philadelphia with a private tour of the museum and its Lincoln exhibition.
Taking a look at Lincoln’s legacy and ideas through modern eyes has been a popular topic in the media as President Obama begins his own historic presidency. Obama was sworn into office on President Lincoln’s inaugural bible; he also quoted Lincoln in his campaign victory speech and cited Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin as essential Oval Office reading.
In addition to 21st-Century Abe, the Rosenbach Museum & Library (2008-2010 Delancey Place) will present a physical exhibition in two of its galleries from May 27 - August 30, 2009. The exhibition will include the Lincoln materials as well as contributions from the project artists and website visitors.
As a complement to 21st-Century Abe, the Rosenbach has also launched a Lincoln section of its Manuscripts Online (MO), a growing searchable database containing high-resolution images and transcriptions of American historical manuscripts from the Rosenbach''s collection. All of the Rosenbach’s Lincoln documents, which total over 80, are available to those who wish to delve further into the Rosenbach’s important Lincoln manuscript collection. The provenance of each object is presented, along with a searchable transcription and other advanced functionalities. In addition to Lincoln, the Rosenbach also has its George Washington and Robert Morris documents digitized and available online.
21st-Century Abe is designed by the Philadelphia firm Night Kitchen Interactive. The project has been funded by The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, through the Heritage Philadelphia Program with additional support from the Marketing Innovation Program. Additional support has come from the Samuel S. Fels Fund and The Raab Collection.
About the 21st-Century Abe Artists
DOUGLAS WILSON, Ph.D is one of the country’s most renowned Abraham Lincoln scholars. Dr. Wilson is the director of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College and has taught American literature there for more than thirty years. His most recent book, Lincoln’s Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words, examines Lincoln’s formidable writing talent and its role in his leadership. It received the Lincoln Prize in 2007. He is also the author of Honor’s Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln, which was also Lincoln Prize recipient.
MAIRA KALMAN is one of the most recognized and important artist/illustrator/designers working today. Kalman has designed numerous covers for The New Yorker (including the famous “Newyorkistan” map she created with Rick Meyerowitz), and illustrations for the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek and Interview. Her illustrated New York Times blog The Principals of Uncertainty (May 2006 - April 2007), was published in a book of the same title to critical acclaim. She now publishes the illustrated Times blog, And the Pursuit of Happiness (http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com). She has written and illustrated 12 children''s books, and her artwork is featured in The Elements of Style Illustrated, a new publication of the classic title by E.B. White and William Strunk. In addition to book illustration, she has designed fabrics for Isaac Mizrahi and Kate Spade, and set designs for the Mark Morris Dance Group. Kalman maintains a leading role at M&Co., a New York-based design group founded by her late husband, Tibor Kalman, which has designed several iconic pieces now in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art. Kalman’s work is consistently infused with progressive views on contemporary political and social issues including homelessness, globalization, and the environment. WEB: www.mairakalman.com
BRYCE DESSNER, a hybrid classical and rock musician, creates and plays music that is rooted in history but with a very edgy rock sound. He regularly performs as a solo classical guitarist and in rock and new music settings on the electric guitar. Dessner is an active member of two contemporary music groups, the hybrid jazz / rock band Clogs and the rock band, The National; he also performs with the Michael Gordon Band and Bang on a Can All-Stars. The National''s third album, Alligator (Beggars Banquet), was named a 2005 album of the year in publications throughout the world. Dessner has performed and collaborated with some of the world’s leading musicians including cellist Erik Friedlander and composer Michael Gordon, and most recently with pianist/composer Philip Glass.
ARCHIVE, under the direction of artists Chris Kubrik and Anne Walsh, creates historically-based multimedia work utilizing a variety of formats and tools including performance lectures, spoken-word CD’s, video games, exhibitions, and works on paper. As part of their work, ARCHIVE commissions professional psychics to interview long dead historical figures and audio records these interviews. ARCHIVE has given performance lectures at museums and other institutions throughout the U.S. and Europe. From 2001-2004, ARCHIVE produced the project Art After Death, a wry hybrid of metaphysical storytelling, art history, biography, and autobiography, which originally debuted at the Whitney Museum of American Art’s 2002 Biennial exhibition and has been heard on public radio in the U.S., Germany, Denmark, Australia, England and Canada. In 2005 ARCHIVE’s sound library works were seen at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Bay Area Now 3 exhibition, in ‘Blur of the Otherworldly: Art, Technology, and the Paranormal” at Baltimore’s Center for Art and Visual Culture and at the Royal Academy of Art in London. WEB: www.doublearchive.com
1812 PRODUCTIONS, a multiple Barrymore Award-winning theater company, was founded by Artistic Director Jennifer Childs and Resident Artist Pete Pryor to entertain and educate audiences through comedy, and to support and hire local artists. 1812 Productions’ education program, 1812 Outreach, has received multiple nominations and been awarded the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service. In 2005, the company received an honorary citation from the City of Philadelphia for outstanding work and commitment to the Philadelphia arts community. 1812 Productions, while continually on the search for a permanent home, continues to perform at various locations in Philadelphia.
WEB: www.1812productions.org