New Web site offers chance to comment

By DOUG POKORSKI
STAFF WRITER

Think you've got a great idea about how the nation should celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth in 2009?

Here's your chance to get that idea into the hands of the people responsible for planning that celebration.

Just sit down at your computer and log onto www.lincolnbicentennial.gov - the new Web site of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission - and type in your idea or ideas, as many as you want. The commission is eager to see what you have to say.

The Web site, unveiled at a special meeting of the commission in the Old State Capitol Monday, is one of the principal ways the 15-member panel plans to get ideas to commemorate the Lincoln bicentennial.

"We hope with this Web site that the conversation about Lincoln's unfinished journey will begin in America and reach around the world," said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., co-chairman of the commission.

The Web site also includes links to other Lincoln sites and a timeline and will eventually include Lincoln speeches and other material. It is the first major public activity of the commission, which was created by Congress in 1999 and signed into law by President Clinton a year later.

"People all over America, whether they be grade school or high school students or college students or citizens of this great country, can tap into the Web site and give us ideas, and really translate their ideas to us about what we should be doing in terms of recommending events and activities," said U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, another commission co-chairman.

Norman Hellmers, superintendent of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, and his staff got the suggestion process rolling with several ideas. Hellmers said virtual online tours should be created so people can see Lincoln sites without visiting them."We have some of those now, but we can do more," Hellmers said, noting that the Internet could be used in other ways to promote the bicentennial.

"The commission's Web site could provide unrestricted access to research materials, documents, photographs and other primary materials via the Web, which students of all ages could use for their own research projects," he said. "The celebration of Abraham Lincoln 2009 is the starting point for a larger and farther-reaching program to promote Lincoln's democratic ideals to the world."

In addition to suggestions about promoting Lincoln virtually on the Web, Hellmers said it is important to give people who cannot come to Lincoln sites in person the chance to come into contact with "the tangible Lincoln."

"We could have a Lincoln Train to bring (Lincoln artifacts and documents) to people across the country," he said.

Among other commemorative events the commission is already considering are creation of publications and video productions, the minting of a Lincoln bicentennial penny, the issuance of a bicentennial postage stamp, activities concerning the Lincoln Memorial and the acquisition of artifacts associated with Lincoln.

"Abraham Lincoln embodied the best of American leadership and courage," said Harold Holzer, the commission's third co-chairman. "At a time of such renewed patriotism in this country, his legacy should live on in bold, inspiring and accessible ways. ... Lincoln's legacy remains crucial to guiding us into the future. ... We need Lincoln more than ever, particularly in a time of modern peril."

Doug Pokorski can be reached at 788-1539 or doug.pokorski@sj-r.com.