Rees wraps up work on the Iowa Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

On April 20, 2007, Governor Chester J. Culver signed House File 826 establishing the Iowa Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (IALBC). The IALBC was directed to plan, coordinate, and administer activities and programs relating to the commemoration of the bicentennial of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln.  State Library staffer Pam Rees was named to the Commission in 2008 and served in several capacities.

The first major event the commission sponsored was in the State Capitol on February 12, 2009. A proclamation was made in the Iowa House and Senate in commemoration of Lincoln’s birthday.  The event served as the kickoff of the Iowa Bicentennial Commission. There was a public event in the rotunda with a Lincoln impersonator and a Civil War band.  Around this time there was an evening event for the public in the State Historical Building that included copies of some letters Lincoln wrote and another Lincoln impersonator.  Civil War re-enactors also performed.

Rees represented the Iowa Lincoln Commission during a celebration in Mt. Pleasant at the Harlan House. The librarian at Iowa Wesleyan College gave a presentation on a Hanks family Bible that was discovered in a vault when a storage room was being cleaned out. It belonged to Lincoln’s mother’s family who lived in eastern Iowa.  Lincoln spent part of his childhood in the area with relatives after his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln,  died and his father went back east to find a new wife. The Harlan House belonged to Senator Harlan who was a good friend of Lincoln and whose daughter later married Lincoln's son, Robert.

"I have always been interested in history and I learned a great deal about Lincoln from the people on the Commission and from speakers," said Rees.  "There were a couple of Lincoln experts on the Commission who spent a lot of time collecting Lincoln memorabilia and speaking to different groups."

Rees said the last event event was held at the Iowa Historical Building on February 12th, 2010. The guest speaker, Dr. Blaine Houmes from Cedar Rapids, gave  an intriguing program titled "The Myths and Mysteries of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln." Lincoln artifacts from Houmes private collection were also on display.  Lincoln presenter Stan DeHaan and the civil war re-enactors also performed. There were record numbers of students who came with school groups to tour a mobile museum that week.  This “History on the Move: Lincoln and Iowa” traveling exhibit was put together last fall with the help of a grant from the Union Pacific Railroad Foundation.