‘Strange, but neat’

Lincoln, Ill. -

Media representatives got a sneak peek Wednesday morning at some of the memorabilia and artifacts that will be on display at Fricke-Calvert-Schrader Funeral Home Sept. 12 and 13 during an exhibit entitled “Now He Belongs to the Ages: A Presentation of Abraham Lincoln’s Life, Death and Funeral.”

The exhibit will kick off the annual Abraham Lincoln National Railsplitting and Crafts Festival. It is also an official event of the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial, an observation of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday, and is sanctioned by both the local and state bicentennial commissions.

On hand for questions Wednesday were Virgil Davis, founder of the Museum of Funeral Customs in Springfield, who will loan many pieces from his private collection for the exhibit; Hal Smith, director of the Lincoln Heritage Area; local historian Paul Beaver; and Darlene Begolka, president of the Logan Railsplitting Association.

Beaver, who has been associated with Logan County history for decades, called the exhibit “the most interesting historical endeavor I’ve ever embarked on – strange, but neat and different.”

He said several elements of the exhibit clearly tie the display to the area, including an enlargement of a Lloyd Ostendorf print showing a painting of Lincoln’s funeral train and a picture of Illinois Governor Richard Oglesby of Elkhart, who was Lincoln’s last visitor in Washington, D.C.

Smith noted that the city oif Lincoln may have the most unique connection to Abraham Lincoln of anywhere in the world.

“These are great artifacts that will be on display,” he said. “They’re exactly the kind of thing visitors tell us they want to see – experiential travel.

“It also gets us in touch with what life was like back then.

“I’m proud to support this effort on behalf of the 42 counties in the Lincoln Heritage Area. This is a great place to have it.”

The event will be sponsored by Fricke-Calvert-Schrader Funeral Home and hosted by Chuck and Penny Fricke and Dennis and Marcia Schrader in association with the Illinois Bicentennial Commission, the Logan Railsplitting Association and Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County.

Fricke called the exhibit an attempt to show Lincoln’s funeral “from the inside out, from the perspective of a funeral director.”

He said Davis, the former owner of Ellinger, Koonz, Davis Funeral Home in Springfield, was the person who first suggested working together for the exhibit.  Fricke called Davis after Begolka asked him if the funeral home would sponsor the Illinois Funeral Director’s Traveling Exhibit for the railsplitting festival.

Fricke learned the traveling exhibit is no longer available, but that Davis was willing to work with him to mount another kind of exhibit.

“Then Betty Hickey (widow of Lincoln expert James Hickey) found out,” Fricke said. “Then Ron Keller (curator of the Lincoln College Museum) found out and then the State Bank of Lincoln.”
The project snowballed from that point.

One of three authentic replicas of Abraham Lincoln’s coffin, on loan from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, will be displayed and an 1860s horse-drawn hearse from Mott-Henning Funeral Home in Athens will be on hand.

Fricke said getting the coffin to Lincoln and in place in time for the opening of the exhibit will be tight, since the museum won’t release it until 3 p.m. Friday and the exhibit begins at 5 p.m.
“Thursday during the day and Friday, we will change the funeral home into the 1860s,” Fricke said.

Davis will loan a portion of one of Lincoln’s coffins. He said about 200 pieces of George Washington’s coffin are in collections around the country, but he doesn’t know of anyone else who has an actual piece of Lincoln’s coffin.

He will also loan a very unusual barrel-shaped coffin, made by the Walrus Casket Co. of Lincoln around 1910-20; numerous pieces of the mourning jewelry he has collected since he was about 20 years old; and pieces of hair from the heads of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Surratt, a Lincoln conspirator, that was taken at her hanging.

Most pictures of Lincoln’s funeral were destroyed by order following the ceremony. However, one photo was discovered in a file in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and a copy of it will be displayed during the exhibit.

Other items will come from the Hickey Collection and from Lincoln College Museum and State Bank of Lincoln. Hickey’s contribution will include a collection of mourning clothes, customarily worn for two years by widows in the mid-1800s.

The exhibit will be open to the public from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Sept. 13 and Davis will be on hand to give a synopsis of the display at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

“I didn’t imagine how large a scope it would be,” Fricke said. “If it’s successful, it might become an annual event.”