Wendy Allen | Sam Fink | Clothing | Cemetery | Special Collections

Musselman Library is proud to host a new exhibit by noted artist, Wendy Allen. This exhibit, entitled "Considerate Judgment" – recent paintings of Abraham Lincoln by Wendy Allen, features 11 new works. Her paintings are displayed in the Apse on the Main Floor and are offered for sale through Gallery 30 in Gettysburg. For more information on Allen, see her website: www.lincolnintoart.com. Allen describes her work below in her own words.

I call my art style "obsessionism" for my singular and passionate pursuit of Abraham Lincoln as the subject of my art. Calm yet haunting, protective yet remote, Abraham Lincoln's face is the subject I choose to paint over and over again.

I protest the vast majority of post-modern art, which is devoid of any sense of history. As an artist, I question its superficial visual appeal, and as a person I disdain its lack of substance and contrived messages.

Free time is painting time. Painting time is all experimentation. New brushes, no brushes. New colors, old colors mixed a new way. But the subject remains the same. The struggle is to paint Lincoln in a new way each and every time. That endeavor has become my artistic obsession.

One of Musselman Library's special treasures is a collection of 15 illustrations of the Gettysburg Address, donated by the artist, Sam Fink. Most of these watercolors contain the 272 words of the Gettysburg Address and the image of its creator, Abraham Lincoln.

Fink, who spent most of his career in the advertising business, was inspired by Lincoln. "Somewhere along my route he became a friend. Remained so all my life. I've tried to draw him over and over again and once more. There is no end to his chiseled beauty. At times I thought I could go on and try to capture him forever and ever."

Fink has published three illustrated books: The Fifty-Six Who Signed (1972) - about the Declaration of Independence; The Inscribed and Illustrated Constitution of the United States of America (1985); and The Illustrated Gettysburg Address (1994).

You can see Fink's work on display in the Library's Main Floor Browsing Room, as well as on the wall just outside.

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From the time she was a child, Jennifer Chesney Harp, Class of 2003, was a re-enactor. Her entire family regularly participated in recreating the life of a Union soldier's family. Later, Jennifer began making the family costumes and spent time while an undergraduate working as a costumer for the Kline Theater.

Jennifer shares some of her treasures on the Library's Main Floor, including ladies' dresses and undergarments. Also on display will be accessories such as a lace collar, jewelry, gloves, petticoats, and other items carried at that time.

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They fought for freedom and the preservation of the United States, but were denied burial in a National Cemetery where Abraham Lincoln stood on November 19, 1863 and gave his Gettysburg Address.

So begins the book, Segregation in Death: Gettysburg's Lincoln Cemetery, by Betty Dorsey Myers. Myers, a lifelong resident of Gettysburg, founding member of the Lincoln Cemetery Project Association, and well-known local historian, provided the material for this exhibit.

On display are cemetery photographs, historical information about the site, a listing of the Civil War soldiers interred there, information about two of those soldiers (more are featured in her book), and the efforts underway to preserve this historic burial ground.

For more information or to purchase her book (proceeds go to the perpetual care endowment fund), contact the Lincoln Cemetery Project Assoc., P.O. Box 4207, Gettysburg, PA 17325.

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