Presidents Day is celebrated yearly on the third Monday in February. It was created in 1977 with the merging of the celebrations of Presidents Lincoln and Washington. The Encyclopedia of American Studies (from Credo Reference) notes, “although some communities still mark the observance with patriotic speeches by public officials, most Americans associate the day with department-store sales.” While the library is hosting neither patriotic speeches nor any type of sale, we have found a couple of President Lincoln web pages that you might find interesting.
Tower of Abraham Lincoln Books: A group of historians in Washington D.C. created this exhibit made of the approximately 1,500 books that have been written by President Lincoln. Their intention of this 34 ft. tall tower, was ” to physically illustrate Lincoln’s importance.”
Lincoln Reading Room: The Mudd Library is home to the Lincoln Reading Room. This room, which was dedicated in May 2000, contains an excellent collection of materials relating to President Lincoln and the Civil War. The materials in this collection were donated by Robert S. French (LU ’48) and Keville Larson (LU ’20).