DIRECTOR’S LETTER
Dear Friends,
President Lincoln’s Cottage was awarded a Presidential Medal on Monday for our Students Opposing Slavery (SOS) program. The magnitude of this honor is still sinking in for our entire team and the student participants. The SOS program is central to our mission and vision and we could not be more proud of and inspired by the efforts and accomplishments of the students who have been involved — some since the program’s inception in 2011. Our dear friend, Board Member, and supporter of SOS since the beginning, Dr. Jean Baderschneider put it perfectly:
“This is a powerful recognition and platform for the work of SOS. With the home of the Emancipation Proclamation as its base, SOS is creating a global network of young abolitionists fighting modern day slavery. These students are building a movement for freedom from the ground up, starting in their schools and communities. This honor will, no doubt, inspire them to go further.”
Despite the scale of this recognition and the impact of this vital work, it may surprise you that our SOS program is supported by only a handful of devoted individuals. To grow this and our other mission-critical programs, we need your help. Please consider making a donation to President Lincoln’s Cottage to grow this important program and to show your support for our work today.
Thank you for your friendship and support,
STUDENTS OPPOSING SLAVERY PRESENTED WITH PRESIDENTIAL AWARD
SOS participants Daniel Becker, Courtney McCrimmon and Beatrice Greeson, and President Lincoln Cottage staff Callie Hawkins and Erin Mast with Ambassador Coppedge at the White House
President Lincoln’s Cottage is thrilled to announce that its youth education program, Students Opposing Slavery (SOS), was awarded the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons on Monday, October 24th, 2016 at the meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the White House. The award, presented by Secretary of State John Kerry, was accepted by three students, Daniel Becker, Courtney McCrimmon and Beatrice Greeson, representing all SOS participants. President Lincoln’s Cottage staff Erin Mast and Callie Hawkins were also present for the ceremony.
In his remarks, Secretary Kerry described the “student-led network committed to empowering young leaders’ awareness [of] how to stop trafficking” as “pioneering an innovative movement.”
Read the press release HERE.
HELP PRESERVE LINCOLN’S BRAVE IDEAS
Please help! This is the second time this year we have patched the current carpeting in the Cottage. We are continuing our campaign to raise the necessary funds for an entirely new carpeting made FREE of any enslaved labor and certified as such by GoodWeave. Guided by participants in our SOS program, the recent recipient of the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons, we’re an organization that doesn’t just talk the talk, but walks the walk. In the spirit of President Lincolns’ opposition to slavery, we’re looking for a permanent, ethically sourced replacement. But we need your help. Please consider donating today.
DONATE and LEARN MORE about this campaign to preserve the Cottage and Lincoln’s brave ideas.
TWO FACES COMEDY SERIES
Brittany Carney warms up the crowd during the October comedy night
Guests crowded in Lincoln’s drawing room once more on Wednesday, October 18 for the third and final night of the Two Faces Comedy Series. The show opened with stand-up from PLC alum Brittany Carney, and featured ComedySportz, a fast-paced improv troupe incorporating audience participation and focusing on Shakespeare, history, and of course, Lincoln. See more photos from that night.
Due to its overwhelming success, stay tuned for future collaborations between PLC and the DC Improv.
HOST YOUR HOLIDAY EVENT AT THE COTTAGE
Guests mingle in the atrium of the Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center
Tired of banquet halls or bland conference rooms for your holiday staff parties? Host your corporate holiday event at President Lincoln’s Cottage. The Cottage, built in Gothic Revival style in 1842, and the Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center, a 1905 Beaux Arts style building, make a sophisticated and unique backdrop for any event. We can host anywhere from 25 to 250 guests and tailor each event to your specific vision and needs.
Dates are filling fast! Contact Sahand Miraminy to book your event today. Click here for more information on our variety of site rental packages.
All proceeds from your event go towards supporting our preservation efforts at the Cottage.
COTTAGE CONVERSATION: Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln
Join us on Thursday, November 10 as author Charles Strozier and consulting public historian Susan Ferentinos discuss Strozier’s book, Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln: The Enduring Friendship of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed.
Joshua Speed was arguably Lincoln’s closest confidant. Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln is an analysis of a relationship that was both a model of male friendship and a specific dynamic between two brilliant but fascinatingly flawed men who played off each other’s strengths and weaknesses to launch themselves in love and life. Their friendship resolves important questions about Lincoln’s early years and adds significant psychological depth to his later decisions as husband, war leader, and president.
Strozier and Ferentinos will discuss Lincoln’s lifelong friendship with Speed, and deeper examine how male intimacy has been treated in our country during the Civil War, and over time.
CLICK HERE for more information and how to RSVP.
PRESERVATION UPDATE
With help from workers at Hayles and Howe, the Cottage’s stucco got a new coat of limewash this month. “Limewash is really just lime and water and applied in multiple thin coats,” Senior Preservationist Jeff Larry explained. “The Cottage receives a new coat every ten years, but touch ups annually.”
READ MORE about Jeff’s preservation work and details on the stucco that adorns the exterior of the Cottage.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Lincoln’s Playlist
This month, we asked the Programs department including our Museum Program Associates to come up with a soundtrack for the Cottage during a training and reflection exercise. From the drawing room to the veranda, each staff member was asked to pick a room of the Cottage and then choose a song that either represented the theme or the feeling of walking into that space. The songs span bluegrass to Drake. Check out our playlist:
CLICK HERE to listen to the playlist on YouTube.
CLICK HERE to find the link to our Spotify playlist.
CLICK HERE to read the explanations behind the song selections.
DISCLAIMER: the views and opinions expressed by the performers do not necessarily reflect those of President Lincoln’s Cottage. Some of the songs contain explicit language.
HERO HEADS T-SHIRTS FOR SALE: Harriet Tubman
PLC’s new Museum Program Associates Ashlee and Phoebe model our Hero Head t-shirts
Hero Heads is a local t-shirt brand with unique designs to celebrate your love for legends that inspire you. This soft blend, fitted t-shirt, sports a unique image of Harriet Tubman on the front of the t-shirt and was designed and customized for President Lincoln’s Cottage to support our award-winning Students Opposing Slavery program. Each t-shirt provides extreme comfort and coziness while you show off your Hero, Harriet Tubman. We offer a variety of colors and cuts, including lilac, ice blue, and the new additions of stone gray and heather gray.
CLICK HERE to purchase your own Harriet Tubman t-shirt.
TEAM LINCOLN SPOTLIGHTS
SOS participants Daniel Becker, Courtney McCrimmon and Beatrice Greeson discuss their thoughts after accepting the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons. CLICK HERE for the full video.
Friend of the Cottage and teacher Emily Jacobs shares with us her reflections on the American by Belief exhibit, and what it means for this year’s presidential election. She explains, “as we approach a historic election, it is important to remember that politics is personal.” For the full reflection, CLICK HERE.
The American by Belief exhibit, which introduces the public to Abraham Lincoln’s little known immigration policies, will run until October 2017.
NEWS and AWARDS
- Secretary of State John Kerry presented Students Opposing Slavery the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons at the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the White House.
- Washington Post writer Philip Kennicott reviewed President Lincoln’s Cottage for Washington Post’s Museums Issue focused on presidential sites.
- German Public Radio featured President Lincoln’s Cottage on their recent episode of “Our Nation’s Capital, Away From the Mall.”
SUPPORT PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S COTTAGE
Support our educational programs, preservation efforts and public events by making a contribution to President Lincoln’s Cottage. Donate online today.
Categories:Newsletter
