Hildene Partners With Brown University In Bid To Bring Significant Lincoln Collection To Northeast

After 77 years the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which housed one of the great Lincoln collections, has closed its doors.  Owned and operated by The Lincoln Financial Group, the museum has suffered from lack of visibility and declining attendance according to Annette Moser, a spokeswoman for the group. Regrettably these problems are not uncommon in the museum community of the last decade.  In light of these developments, “The Lincoln Financial board decided they really wanted to make the collection more visible to a greater number of people.  With the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth next year, it would be a great way of celebrating by gifting the collection,” Moser said.

The museum is offering its collection to the “public spirited” organization or organizations that put forward the best proposal for caring for it, making the contents  available to researchers and scholars and exhibiting appropriate parts to the public.  Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and The Lincoln Family Home at Hildene in Manchester, Vermont, recently announced that they have sent a joint proposal to bring the collection to their institutions.

Events leading up to the formation of the partnership and subsequent submission of the formal proposal evolved quickly.  The moment Hildene Executive Director, Seth Bongartz, learned that the search was on he set his sights on the task at hand.  What Bongartz couldn’t know as he traveled to the invitation only March 2008 meeting of potential bidders at the Philadelphia headquarters of The Lincoln Financial Group is that there he would meet Samuel Streit, the Director for Special Collections at Brown University.  When the two men met it became apparent that the shared philosophies, possibilities for synergy and geography of the institutions was a good fit.  Hildene’s northeastern location would bring the Lincoln legacy to a part of the country currently without access to it. To partner with a  New England academic institution of Brown’s stature with ready access to scholars was ideal.  Both sites possess Lincoln collections of their own as well.  With the support and advice of long time friends of Hildene from the Lincoln community of scholars, academics and museum directors including Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Williams;  author and Lincoln scholar, Harold Holzer; Peter Wisbey, Executive Director of the Seward House; Surratt House Museum Director, Laurie Verge and Lynn Ellsworth of the Harlan – Lincoln House, Brown University and Hildene submitted a joint proposal for “taking responsibility for and ownership of the collection of The Lincoln Financial Foundation.”

The community of Lincoln scholars and museum directors share a belief in the goal of the Brown/Hildene partnership which states that their,  “proposal is built on the concept that the Lincoln Museum Collection should remain intact and shared so that the complementary strengths of the two institutions can expose the Collection to the widest possible audience.”  Streit is quick to point out that Brown brings to the proposal its “own great McClellan Lincoln Collection and the resources of a major academic research institution which has teaching and research as its mission.  Brown in Rhode Island and Hildene in Vermont are sufficiently close together geographically to foster a vibrant cooperative program, but far enough apart to attract disparate audiences.”  In describing Hildene’s role in the partnership, Bongartz stresses that the “412 acre estate is The Lincoln Family Home, the site where more Lincolns lived for a longer period of time than anywhere else in America.  It is one of the few remaining estates from the Gilded Age still intact and includes 14 historic buildings, a working farm, a library and research center, and an active program of education for children and adults.  It is one of the most vibrant, relevant cultural heritage sites in New England and contrary to national trends, 2008 visitation is up for the third year in a row.”

The Fort Wayne items would greatly enhance the growing Hildene Lincoln collection.  Among the artifacts to be gifted are: a cane from President Lincoln and a shawl that belonged to wife Mary Todd Lincoln, toys of their children; a Lincoln desk, inkwell, glasses and leather portfolio wallet; a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th amendment abolishing slavery; hundreds of signed Lincoln documents, photographs and rare books.

For his part, Bongartz knew he would need support in the Lincoln community for the proposal from Hildene, a collaboration with an academic or research institution, which he had with Brown, and to build the case for Hildene’s viability as a contender.  Hildene was undeterred by the roster of competitors for the coveted prize.  That list includes two Washington powerhouses, Smithsonian Institution and a consortium that includes The Library of Congress, National Museum of American History, Ford’s Theater and President Lincoln’s Cottage.   The Lincoln Museum and Library in Springfield, Illinois and a recently formed consortium from the museum’s host community of Fort Wayne, Indiana are also vying for the collection.

If selected to receive the Fort Wayne collection, Brown and Hildene are committed to working with each other and new partners to ensure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to experience this remarkable gift.  Both parties agree that while they wait for word on the status of their proposal, with a decision expected by January 2009, whatever the conclusion, their new partnership is here to stay.