Back in the 1970s, Martin Matin was studying anthropology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale when he heard rumors of an upcoming Lincoln presidential library in Springfield.

It's a good thing Matin got some experience in between. His eight years as an exhibit specialist at two other presidential libraries helped land him the senior curator spot at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. He started two weeks ago.

Between 1997 and 2001, Matin, 51, was exhibit specialist at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas. From 2001 to 2005, he held the same post at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum in Austin, Texas. Born and raised in north suburban Chicago, Matin said it's good to be back in Illinois, where he left when he was 25.

Matin will oversee all the permanent and temporary exhibits at the Lincoln museum, which will open amid much fanfare April 19. The museum will include a 3,000 square-foot gallery for temporary shows and scattered exhibits to rotate items from the Lincoln Presidential Library's collection.

He's working on the museum's first temporary exhibit, "Blood on the Moon," a multimedia probe into Lincoln's assassination. The show will run for about five months, from its opening in April, and will include some significant items from other collections that never have been loaned before.

Matin's known as a team player, one who doesn't like to take the credit. Though, through some prodding, he admitted that during the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia he managed to cram nearly 60,000 square feet of materials from George H.W. Bush's presidential library into a temporary 5,000-square-foot gallery honoring the former president.

"Marty has an easygoing and likeable personality," said Sandor Cohen, curator at the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum. "He's fun to work with and very talented and creative.

"He contributed greatly to the success of each of our displays during his time with us ... and played a major role, especially as our team leader, for all exhibit installations."

Matin, who will be paid $80,000 a year, is familiar with the high-tech approach being taken at the Lincoln presidential museum. Its designers, BRC Imagination Arts, used their ghostly Holavision technology at the Texas Spirit Theater inside the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, not far from the LBJ library.

"It's an awesome show," Matin said of BRC's work. "Good for learning."

Still, he didn't know what to expect the first time he toured the new Lincoln museum.

"Honestly, my reaction the first time I walked in here: I got chills," Matin said. "And I'm an old, crusty museum guy."

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Matin recently was joined by the museum's new registrar, William Snyder. Snyder, also an SIU at Carbondale grad, comes to the museum with 15 years of experience, including the last three years as exhibit designer at SIU's University Museum. He's worked there since his graduate school days at SIU, where he earned an MFA in fibers with a certificate in museum studies. He also has undergraduate degrees in architecture and art history from the University of Cincinnati.

Snyder, 39, started last Monday. He'll be responsible for keeping track and taking care of all the items on loan to the library, staying on top of insurance paperwork and making sure priceless artifacts are stored, crated and shipped according to standards mandated by the museum industry. Synder also will have curatorial duties, assisting Matin with exhibits and exhibit graphics.

Like Matin, Snyder remembers his first impression of the Lincoln museum.

"I was awestruck," Snyder said. "I had no real concept that a presidential library could be taken to that level of interpretation. This isn't the Lincoln who's in your fifth-grade history book."

But Snyder, who also has taught courses on museums at SIU, brings some high standards - one of his favorite museums is the Louvre in Paris. He said his primary advice to students about using interactive and high-tech features in museums is "be careful."

Both Snyder and Matin responded to Lincoln presidential museum ads placed with the American Association of Museums. Matin, who will be paid $45,000 a year, said he interviewed for the registrar job in October, a week before the elections.

Pete Sherman can be reached at 788-1539 or pete.sherman@sj-r.com.