Teaching with Primary Sources at Eastern Illinois University

White House South Portico The Lincoln family is posed in the Plaza in front of the White House. Generals McClellan and Grant stand on the veranda and eye each other with suspicion. On the other side of the portico veranda, Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth stand, waiting for the opportunity to speak to the president. Off to one side, a menacing John Wilkes Booth keeps watch on Lincoln's back.

As you enter What Are They Wearing in Washington? you step through the White House door and enter the White House "Blue Room." Mary Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley, her dressmaker, are on a platform in the middle of the room. Mary is being fitted for a ball gown. Around the room, you will find reproductions of the ball gowns of Mary's social rivals, who all seem to be younger, richer, thinner and more popular than Mary. Each of these women has something nasty and cruel to say about Mary. As a result, most guests will immediately empathize with Mary.

Fort Sumter is a gallery presenting a dramatic mural of Confederate forces attacking Fort Sumter only six weeks after Lincoln's inauguration. The Civil War has begun.

The Whispering Gallery is a twisted, nightmarish hallway where you will hear brutally unkind things said about Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln during their early months in Washington. On the walls are cruel caricatures and mean political cartoons that attack the Lincolns.

The Death of Willie is an immersive scene. You are standing with Abraham and Mary in Willie's bedroom inside the White House on the night of February 5, 1862 during a lavish White House party celebrating Mrs. Lincoln's redecoration of the house. Abraham and Mary are in their formal party clothes at Willie's bedside. Earlier, doctors had assured them that Willie was recovering, so the Lincolns have gone ahead with plans for the party. Now, during the party, Willie is taking a turn for the worse. Two weeks later, he will die. The Hall of Sorrows is a small alcove with a figure of Mary grieving the death of Willie.

Rumors in the Kitchen takes you through a reproduction of the White House Kitchen where you will hear servants whispering rumors. These servants are discussing Mary's sanity, the mounting war casualties, Lincoln's inability to find a winning general, and rumors that Lincoln is working on an Emancipation Proclamation.

Lincoln's Office in the White House brings you into an exacting reproduction of Lincoln's White House office. As you enter, Lincoln has just unveiled his plans to issue an Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet. Each in their own way disapproves. Some say it goes too far, others not far enough; a few believe it is political suicide.

The Emancipation Proclamation places you in a special effects "Illusion Corridor" with a gauntlet of dream-like images of people yelling at you, as if you were Lincoln. Everyone is telling you what you should do about the emancipation controversy. The mix of very different, sometimes racist opinions reminds you that, even in the North, Lincoln was leading a deeply divided, mostly racist nation. You discover that, contrary to what you may have learned in school, the Emancipation Proclamation was not the obvious thing to do at the time and that it took great political courage to issue it.

The corridor of yelling people opens up into a room containing the figure of Lincoln standing behind a desk. On the wall above and behind him, enlarged and twisted shadows The Shadow Play argue opposing points of view regarding emancipation. Lincoln hears their arguments but is resolved to proceed with his plan for emancipation.

The surrounding curved walls hold framed reproductions of period poster copies of the Proclamation.

Black Troops Go to War contains a mural depicting one of the immediate effects of the Emancipation Proclamation, which overnight converts a war about states rights into a crusade for human rights. Thousands of African-Americans enlisted in the northern armies. Here you see them in combat, fighting and dying with courage and honor.

The Civil War in Four Minutes is a map of the war with battle lines that continuously move, showing the changing progress of the war. Here, each week of the war has been condensed to one second. In the corner of the map, a casualty counter tracks the mounting butcher's bill - an odometer of death.

Eight Soldiers' Stories The reproduction uniforms, letters, pictures and moving stories of four ordinary soldiers from the North and four from the South.

The War Gallery Scrapbook is an interactive experience presenting images of the Civil War.

Casualties of the Telegraph Office is a mural showing a sad and grieving Lincoln receiving casualty counts from the front. Photos and life castings of the president show how the war has aged him.

In The Gettysburg Gallery the spectacular Gettysburg Mural (42 feet long), moves from the action of the battle to the sad aftermath of death, on to a mass burial ground, and then to the dedication ceremony and Lincoln's famous speech. At the far end of this gallery, you can learn the fate of the Eight Soldiers introduced in the War Gallery.

The Tide Turns and Washington Celebrates is a gallery space where a series of spectacular new historical paintings depict Lincoln's last months, supported by cases exhibiting original objects from the same period. Suddenly, everything seems to be going right for Lincoln. He wins re-election, the 13th Amendment is passed, ending slavery, Lincoln is sworn in for a second term, Richmond falls and Lincoln tours the Confederate capital, Lee surrenders, and Lincoln speaks to celebrating crowds in Washington. The final part of this space takes you from Lincoln's last speech into a mural depicting the joyous celebration rocking Washington D.C. as peace breaks out.

Ford's Theater is a recreation of the presidential box in Ford's Theater. Lincoln holds Mary's hand. Behind him, John Wilkes Booth is just entering the presidential box. Booth's hand is suspiciously reaching under his jacket. On the opposite wall, we read Lincoln's touching last words to his wife, spoken moments before he was shot.

As you enter The Funeral Train you learn that the president is dead. This gallery displays a map of the route of Lincoln's funeral train together with advertisements and announcements inviting mourners to pay their last respects. You can easily see that this was the longest, most elaborate funeral in American history. In this area, you also find the story of the long lost last photo of Lincoln and how it was eventually discovered in the Library's collection by a 14-year-old student.

Lying in State is an immersive scene. It is a nearly full-scale recreation of the Representatives Hall in Springfield's Old State Capitol, recreating the exact moment in May, 1865 as Lincoln lies in state, complete with all the lavish trappings of Victorian-era mourning. Having walked through Lincoln's life, you will now file past the closed casket as though you too are paying your last respects.

Holding on to Lincoln Lincoln may have been a polarizing figure during his presidency, but his death created a vast emotional response in a country whose people suddenly wanted to "get close" to Lincoln and to "hold on" to the security and leadership he represented. As a result, they collected and saved as souvenirs some of the objects he had touched, some fascinating, others strange. Here you can see some of these objects and read their stories.