Redlands’ Lincoln Memorial Association volunteers keep history at your fingertips By Suze Knobler, Correspondent Posted: 03/13/14 Redlands is known for its character, built in part by its historical relevance that sets it apart from surrounding communities. The Lincoln Memorial Shrine at the A.K. Smiley Public Library is one example of that. The shrine is the only library, museum and archives, west of the Mississippi River, dedicated to Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War. This is made possible by volunteers in the Lincoln Memorial Association. In 1932, Robert Watchorn and his wife gave Redlands the Lincoln Shrine through the library. Watchorn felt the people of Redlands deserved to have a museum about Lincoln. “In the 1930s Watchorn established a private non-profit organization called the Watchorn Lincoln Memorial Association,” said Nathan Gonzales, archivist and head of special collections at the library. The organization was to help raise money, provide educational programs and find acquisitions to add to the collection. “Basically one of the several things the association does today is hold an endowment that people have given to,” Gonzales said. Last year that endowment passed the $2 million mark. According to Gonzales that income has led to the purchase of many items, including manuscripts, which otherwise they would have had no ability to acquire and to help fund the creation of new exhibits. Gonzales, who has been with the library for 15 years, said that while there are other institutions with significant collections, they also focus on other exhibits, while the shrine is full-time. “We are all Lincoln all of the time. That’s a pretty big deal I think,” he said. This year the shrine is highlighting significant things that happened in 1864 because it is the 150th anniversary. The association has eight trustees and includes a university history professor and private business owners, all of whom are members of the community. “The board makes major decisions such as where money is spent and how it is portioned out,” Gonzales said. The association is the private in the private-public partnership which operates the shrine. The public side being the library and the city’s general fund which supports the building and staff. The sub-set of the association is the Lincoln Memorial Association, which is an individual and annual contribution group. “The LMA is kind of a Friends group where people who believe in the mission of the shrine and who want to help perpetuate its work,” said Gonzales. “For those first-timers to the shrine, I think they will be surprised that a museum like this exists outside of the area where the Civil War was really directly fought,” said Gonzales. He said that the museum collections have been used by everyone from Pulitzer Prize winning historians to people who want to find out about relatives who served in the war. “We have all kinds of artifacts related to different soldiers, sailors or women who were involved in the Civil War.” One of the shrine’s major strengths is its holding of manuscripts, including letters, diaries, first-hand narratives and communications. “We have around 6,000 manuscripts written by people during the Civil War,” Gonzales said. There are three ways manuscripts are obtained by the library — the first being manuscripts that are given by families who want to share and have their manuscripts preserved. “These are donated so they can be made available for future research and exhibits. Direct donation is one of the most important ways we acquire things,” Gonzales said. Second is through the income from the association endowment, which allows LMS a budget to acquire items through dealers or auctions. “We wouldn’t be able to have these things without this income,” Gonzales said. Third is the occasional donor that sees something they think the shrine should have and they give the association the funds needed to purchase the item. “We were so fortunate a year ago to have an anonymous donor donate $10,000 to acquire a letter written by Mary Lincoln in 1864, which is on exhibit,” said Gonzales. The shrine is a nationally important institution. “It’s not just this little anomaly in town. It really is of statewide importance,” Gonzales noted. “Sometimes in a community like ours, you’re so used to something being there that you don’t really think about it too much.” A fun fact Gonzales shared was that last fiscal year, with some help of the release of Speilberg’s movie “Lincoln,” the shrine exceeded 18,000 visitors. According to Gonzales, the library and shrine are unique. “To have these gems in our community, it really makes Redlands a special place. There are so many things here that no other community has.” Watchorn believed everyone should have the ability to learn about Lincoln and the important contributions he made to American history, Gonzales said. “We are always looking to expand our collections because the museum and the research component are only going to be as strong as the material we have for people to experience,” he said. Admission to the museum is free and open six days a week and closed Mondays. For additional information or for those interested in making a donation or becoming a member of the LMA, contact Nathan Gonzales at 909-798-7632 or visit lincolnshrine.org. redlandsdailyfacts/general-news/20140313/redlands-lincoln-memorial-association-volunteers-keep-history-at-your-fingertips
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 18:41:45 +0000
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