Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War Exhibit on St. Helena

The Penn Center, in partnership with St. Helena Branch Library, has been awarded a grant for a Civil War Sesquicentennial national traveling exhibition "Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War."  

The traveling exhibition and tour are funded by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to the National Constitution Center.  This exhibit is sponsored by the National Constitution Center, the American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Using the Constitution as the cohesive thread, “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War” offers a fresh and innovative perspective on Lincoln that focuses on his struggle to meet the political and constitutional challenges of the Civil War. Organized thematically, the exhibition explores how Lincoln used the Constitution to confront three intertwined crises of the war—the secession of Southern states, slavery, and wartime civil liberties. Visitors will leave the exhibition with a more complete understanding of Abraham Lincoln as president and the Civil War as the nation’s gravest constitutional crisis. 

Because Penn Center partnered with the new St. Helena Branch Library, the 1,000 foot exhibit will be on display in the St. Helena Branch Library's community room beginning December 31^st – just in time for the 150^th Anniversary of the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation.  The exhibit will continue until February 2, 2013.  

St. Helena Branch Library is open 1:00 pm - 8:00 pm Mondays and Wednesdays; 10 am - 5 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays; Fridays 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm; and, Saturdays 9 am - 5 pm.  Call 255-6486 if you have questions about the exhibit.