The conference, for which Eisenhower will deliver the keynote address, coincides with the opening of an exhibit on first ladies at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.

Eisenhower’s address will precede a panel discussion by social secretaries from the Johnson, Ford and George H.W. Bush administrations.

The exhibit, “Mrs. President: From Martha to Laura,” will run from May 13 to Oct. 29 and will include more than 100 artifacts, some of them more than 200 years old.

Museum officials promise to go beyond the notion of first ladies as promoters of pet social causes who lived in their husbands’ shadows.

“This exhibition brings to life the individual stories of the first ladies in a way that has yet to be told, providing insight into the collective story of women in America and how their roles have evolved over the past two centuries,” said Tom Schwartz, interim director of the library and museum.

A mold Abigail Adams used to make bullets for Revolutionary War soldiers will be one item on loan to the museum. Other artifacts will include Lou Hoover’s rifle and Lucy Hayes’ college essay, in which she concludes that a woman’s mind is “equal in all things to (a man’s) and superior in some.”

Perhaps one of the most valuable items in the exhibit will be Mary Lincoln’s hand-carved coral necklace. This is the first time the necklace will be on public display.

The first ladies conference, lunch provided, costs $50. Reservations are required. They can be made starting Thursday by calling 558-8881.

For more information about the exhibit, visit www.alplm.org.

Pete Sherman can be reached at 788-1539 or

pete.sherman@sj-r.com.