Library events, exhibit spotlight Lincoln

Alpena County Library is putting the spotlight on the nation's 16th president during the month of November. A series of programs about Abraham Lincoln born 200 years ago in 2009 kicks off Sunday with a two-hour presentation on "Alpena in the Civil War."

Other related programming includes a Michigan storyteller, a performance by a Civil War era band, a kid's craft day and a lecture on The Emancipation Proclamation. All are planned in conjunction with a national traveling exhibit, "Abraham Lincoln: A Man of His Time, A Man for All Times," that arrives at the library next week.

"The exhibit starts from Lincoln's young life and continues through his career as a corporate attorney, how he became president, the issue of slavery, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the election, Civil War, his assassination and the end of the war," said Library Director Eric Magness-Eubank. "It is a series of panels with newspaper accounts and lots of primary source information."

The traveling exhibit, set to arrive at the library Nov. 9, was made possible through a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Alpena in the Civil War

This Sunday, Alpena resident Don Londo, a member of Lockwood Camp #139 of the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War , will give a talk from 1-3 p.m. on Lincoln and Alpena's role during the Civil War.

"We also are encouraging people if they have Civil War artifacts or documents from their family to bring them in for a show and tell after the main program," said Marlo Broad, head of special collections at Alpena County Library.

Broad also said access will be made available to footnote.com, which features many original Civil War documents that can be printed off for people attending Sunday's program. Old newspapers and other documents from Alpena's past will be on display as well.

Visitors also will get a chance to sample Civil War era foods such as Hardtack, Deep South Harvest Bread and Granted It's Good Rice Pudding.

An Evening on the Underground Railroad

Michigan storyteller Lois Sprengnether Keel will give an oral history program Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. She will share about a family from Michigan whose deep roots were entwined with the Underground Railroad and the Civil War.

Keel's story is that of Liberetta Lerich Green and is taken from Liberetta's own oral history, newspaper accounts, letters and other research tied together with an abolition song sung at the planting of the "Beacon Tree" that marked the Lerich family Underground Railroad station in Shelby Township.

Liberetta's brothers, Will and Isaac, served in the Civil War while Liberetta was active on the homefront. The Lerich family were both abolitionists and Michigan pioneers.

Abe Lincoln Day

On Nov. 14, the library will celebrate the 16th president of the United States with an Abe Lincoln Day for kids from 10 a.m. to noon. There will be crafts, stories, games and treats aimed at children in preschool through fourth grade.

5th Michigan Regimental Band

Also on Nov. 14, the 5th Michigan Regimental Band will give a concert at 2 p.m. The band's repertoire of 1860s music includes marches, polkas, waltzes and songs arranged for the group by Lt. Col. Guy Smith, conductor.

The band plays on antique and replica Civil War instruments such as saxhorns and wood rope tension drums. Performances include music and narration describing the music, instruments, attire, flags and customs of the era.

During the Civil War, the band originally was known as the 5th Michigan Infantry Band. For 108 years, from 1865 to 1973, it was just a memory. Then in 1973, it was recreated as the 5th Michigan Regimental Band as a State of Michigan Bicentennial project.

Emancipation Proclamation lecture

Dr. Jennifer Green, a professor of U.S. history at Central Michigan University, will give a lecture on The Emancipation Proclamation on Nov. 21 at 2 p.m.

Lincoln issued the historic Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of the Civil War. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war.