Saturday, June 11, 2011

Free Guided Tours of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library



The Federation of Genealogical Societies and the Illinois State Genealogical Society have teamed up with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library to offer conference attendees free behind-the-scene tours of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library during the FGS/ISGS Conference in September 2011. Tours include a visit to the following areas of the library:

* Closed Stacks
* Steve Neal Reading Room
* Newspaper/Microfilm Collection
* Manuscripts Collection
* Audio-Visual Collection
* Conservation Lab
* Microfilm Lab

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is “the premier repository for materials relating to the history of the Prairie State.” Originally created in 1889 as The Illinois State Historical Library, it was charged with collecting and preserving "books, pamphlets, manuscripts, monographs, writings, and other materials of historical interest and useful to the historian, bearing upon the political, religious, or social history of the State of Illinois from the earliest known period of time."[1]

The new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is a public, non-circulating research facility that houses this material documenting all aspects of Illinois' history. Its most noteworthy holdings are its published resources, manuscripts, newspapers, audiovisual materials, and Lincolniana.

For genealogy purposes, the published resources include family histories, cemetery inscriptions, birth, death, naturalization and marriage transcriptions (NOT vital records as most of these records are from pre-1900s). Material on most Illinois counties including county histories, atlases and plat books, census schedule indexes and/or census transcripts is also very valuable to genealogists and can be found at the library.

Conference attendees can pick up your FREE tour tickets at the conference Hospitality Table located in the lobby of the Prairie Capital Convention Center beginning at 3:00 on Tuesday, September 6th.  You will need to stop at the registration booth first to pick up your registration packet and nametag. Then show your nametag to the person at the Hospitality Table and they will provide you with a tour ticket. Space is limited and you must have a ticket, so pick up your tickets as soon as you arrive. ALPL Tours are for registered conference attendees only.

Library Location:
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is located at 112 N. Sixth Street, Springfield, just a 3.5 block walk from the Convention Center. Directions and further instructions will be available at the Hospitality Table or you can download the Visitor Map here.

Tour Schedule:
Wednesday, September 7
10-11 AM & 2-3 PM

Thursday, September 8
10-11 AM & 2-3 PM

Friday, September 9
10-11 AM & 2-3 PM

Between now and September learn more about the library at alplm.org. This is an exciting opportunity you don’t want to miss!

Questions? Direct tour questions to: isgsfallconf2011_02@ilgensoc.org




[1] The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, website (http:// http://alplm.org./home.html : 10 June 2011). 

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