Public Accountability Report

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) connected with over 24,159 people at fairs, concerts, parades and civic events – all part of our effort to share Abraham Lincoln and Illinois History with as many people as possible.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum engaged children and assisted educators with seventeen professional development events, connecting with 758 teachers and provided 2,130 awarded continuing education credits to educators, benefitting 7,040 students.

The number of volunteer hours reached a 20-year total of 700,000 hours of donated time saving the state of Illinois $23 million dollars.

The ALPLM has been strategically upgrading aging system with up-to-date energy efficient alternatives.  The efforts include updating lighting and maintenance equipment throughout the facilities.  In addition, the ALPLM has completed plans to move toward installing solar panels and EV charging systems that will cover the utility costs at Union Station and the parking garage, savings thousands of dollars in utility costs.

In collaboration with the Capital Development Board, the ALPLM has completed a $4.1 million Union Theater Rigging Project providing upgraded technical lighting and enhanced behind the scenes systems, improving safety and functionality, and eliminating delays due to mechanical failures.

The Union Square Park was transformed into an Illinois Heritage Garden known as the Mary Lincoln Garden.  The ALPLM utilized public and private funds for the creation of a native plants garden featuring plants that would have existed at the time of the Lincolns in Illinois.  Landscaping work was completed by a veteran and minority owned landscaping company based in Illinois. 

The ALPLM was selected to be in a long-term, mutually beneficial affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution to build impactful collaborations that educate and inspire visitors across the country.  Only approximately 200 organizations across the U.S. have been selected to collaborate with the Smithsonian as an affiliate.

The ALPLM opened a new exhibit, Lincoln, Life and Legacy that Defined a Nation, that displays numerous rarely seen Lincoln artifacts in the ALPLM collection.  An accompanying book, Lincoln: Life and Legacy that Defined a Nation in 100 Objects, was published.  The book won the best new Lincoln book prize from the prestigious Lincoln Group of NY and the Baroness Lincoln Award from the Civil War Roundtable of New York.  The exhibition included multiple generative-AI components which engaged visitors and modeled responsible and ethical uses of AI for museum and cultural heritage sites.

The ALPLM acquired a poster urging African Americans to fight in the Civil War and a tag worn by an enslaved person in Charleston, SC, adding to the vast ALPLM historical collection maintained for the people of the State of Illinois.