Learning Lincoln

ROLLAND CENTER FOR LINCOLN RESEARCH FORT WAYNE, INDIANA

Visitors to the Rolland Center for Lincoln Research are so taken with the presentation room’s immersive atmosphere that when they see its 180-degree projection of Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural ball and hear the accompanying music from the 1860s, some have been known to start dancing.

Housed at the Allen County Public Library in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana, the center delivers 21st-century experiences that combine its world-class collection of more than 20,000 historic artifacts with modern technology.

Although the Rolland Center opened in 2022, it dates to 1905, when Robert Todd Lincoln sent a photo of his father along with a letter granting a fledgling Fort Wayne insurance company permission to use President Lincoln’s name and likeness for a museum. After that museum closed in 2008, the Smithsonian and Library of Congress wanted to acquire its comprehensive collection, but because of Lincoln National CEO Ian Rolland’s support and the foundation’s desire to make the collection accessible to the public, it remained in town.

The Rolland Center’s array of Lincoln-related possessions ranges from newspapers and diaries to political cartoons. Its largest interactive display, “Lincoln’s Time & Place,” uses timelines of the president’s life plus maps of his inauguration and funeral-train routes to provide center visitors informative, turn-back-the-clock adventures that begin by tapping a screen.

Physical artifacts such as Tad Lincoln’s toy soldiers are displayed behind glass, while digital kiosks let visitors examine larger-than-life versions of items such as the famous photo that purports to show Mary Todd Lincoln and the ghost of her assassinated husband.

Because the Rolland Center is the only place in the world with the contents of the Lincoln family photo album, its original photographs are a must-see for history buffs. The Rolland Center is free to visit, and its expert Lincoln librarians give guided tours. 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46802, 260/421-1200, friendsofthelincolncollection.org

Damaine Vonada

Seeking Freedom

In the 1800s, the Canadian city of St. Catharines and the Niagara Region were a recognized haven for those seeking freedom from slavery and one of the endpoints of the Underground Railroad, an informal resistance network of safe houses.

Today, Lezlie Harper, a direct descendant of one of the approximately 40,000 freedom seekers who used the Underground Railroad to escape slavery in the mid-19th century, shares personal family anecdotes and her extensive historical knowledge. She recounts that history intimately and passionately on a car caravan tour through the region that retraces the paths traveled by those who sought freedom.

Every stop on the tour has a riveting story. Groups learn about Richard Pierpoint, a Senegalese boy who was forced into slavery and later granted his freedom to fight on the side of the British during the American Revolution before ultimately settling in a Black community in Canada. Harper also explains some of the methods freedom seekers used to escape and the dangers involved. The operation was perilous, particularly after the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which gave slaveholders the right to capture those who had fled.

A highlight of the tour is Salem Chapel, a British Methodist Episcopal church, which was the first Black church in St. Catharines and quite likely the oldest in the province. Built in 1855, it was a focal point of the civil rights movement in Canada. It was also where Harriet Tubman, a celebrated hero who risked her life leading hundreds of people from bondage to safety, worshipped on and off over 11 years.

Today, it is still a church as well as a national historic site. Downstairs in the basement, the walls are filled with memorabilia — aged newspaper clippings, photographs, paintings and maps of the freedom seekers’ journeys. For more information, visit niagaraboundtours.com. — Jennifer Merrick