©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| Abraham Lincoln's Life Honored with World Record Attempt |
(IRN)--It's Abraham Lincoln's birthday weekend, but Friday the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum was celebrating another major event in Lincoln's life.
Lincoln left Springfield 150 years ago Friday for Washington for his presidential inauguration. Before leaving, he gave an impromptu speech.
About 500 people were in attendance and read the speech along with a Lincoln impersonator at the exact hour Lincoln did all those years ago - 11 a.m.
Timothy Simandl, a Springfield resident who works for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, was in full 1860's era attire. "(I was playing) a local of the community here in Springfield seeing Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln off to Washington D.C. It was a sad occasion, a momentous one for obvious reasons. We were watching history being made on this day 150 years ago."
The museum put on the event at the Great Western Depot. The goal was to break a 2006 world record attempt for most people reciting a document at once. The 2006 record boasts more than 200,000 participants at over 900 venues.
"We won't know if we've set a new world record until we get all the verification forms in from around the country," said Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum spokesman Dave Blanchette. "That's something Guinness World Records requires is individual verification forms from each location. So as those come in, we will count noses from each of those forms and hopefully, we've given them a deadline, hopefully in a couple of weeks we will know if we're close to the world record or not."
Marty Ortega, a correctional officer, was at the event with his two daughters, and on the phone with his father. "He's 84 years old and he loves Lincoln. He's taught us a lot," he said.
Blanchette says the event was also a way to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.
Galesburg and Knox College were among the sites where the reading took place.
(Source: Illinois Radio Network, WGIL News) |
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| 02 11 11 by Newsroom |
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