Final Call: Its the last week of the "Forever Free" traveling exhibition

Why did a nation founded on ideals of freedom and equality tolerate for so long one of the harshest labor systems the world has known?  A new traveling exhibition opening at the Keene Public Library on July 8 looks for answers to this question by tracing Abraham Lincoln's gradual transformation from an antislavery moderate into "The Great Emancipator," who freed all slaves with a revolutionary war-time proclamation in 1863. 

Organized by the Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif., and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York City, in cooperation with the American Library Association (ALA), this traveling exhibition is made possible through major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, created by Congress and charged with planning the national celebration of Lincoln's 200^th birthday. 

"We are pleased to have been selected as a site for this exhibition," said Gail Zachariah, Head of Youth and Community Services.  "The Civil War and slavery are topics which must constantly be revisited in order to help 21st century Americans better understand their causes and more clearly see how their effects are still with us today.   This exhibit offers our community an opportunity to learn more about how Abraham Lincoln decided upon emancipation of the slaves, even as he tried to hold together a fragile coalition of states in order to preserve the Union.  It is a revealing insight into the values, principles, and ideals that guided one of our greatest Presidents."

The Horatio Colony House Museum and the Historical Society of Cheshire County are hosting related exhibits. From June 26 through October 15, the Horatio Colony House Museum will display "The Lincoln Era: Items from the Time of Lincoln" curated by Anita Carroll-Weldon, The Historical Society of Cheshire County will display "Free at Last: A History of the Abolition of Slavery in America" that traces the history of the movement to abolish slavery from the framing of the Constitution to its abolition during the Civil War. The dates of the exhibit will be July 24-August 28.  

The Keene Public Library is offering free programs and other events for the public in connection with the exhibition.  The exhibit opening celebration is a public presentation on Thursday, July 8 at 7 pm.  The program "Nineteenth Century American Popular Music" by Eric Bye presents and discusses the hymns, minstrel tunes, sea chanteys voyageur tunes, ragtime, and patriotic songs from the Civil War. Come hear history played live on the banjo and mandolin. 

Other programs include a book discussion series, a film series, a presentation by author Howard Frank Mosher, and our annual Chautuauqua and Young Chautauqua.  Books in the discussion series include Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, Walking to Gatlinburg by Howard Frank Mosher, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet A. Jacobs.

Please call the library at 603-352-0157 for more information.