12 February 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.  Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 in Shrewsbury, England, and Lincoln was born on the same day  in Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky.

In honor of Lincoln and his presidency, the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library has mounted a small exhibit in the cases outside the Biddle Rare Book Room at Perkins Library.  The exhibit shows how media threw the spotlight on Abraham Lincoln and helped form public opinion about his campaigns and the major events of his presidency.  Included are campaign and presidential portraits, caricatures by Southern sympathizers, images of Lincoln as the great emancipator, as martyr, and as American icon. On display during library hours through March.

To see additional Lincoln materials, visit the complete Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, which comprises approximately 20,000 documents, and Northern Illinois University's Lincoln/Net, which presents historical materials from Abraham Lincoln's Illinois years (1830-1861).

To learn more about Darwin, go to Darwin200  and The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online.

• ilene.nelson@duke.edu
• 660-5816