The University Libraries Conclude Hosting Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation

How was it that a nation founded on ideals of freedom and equality was also, from its birth, home to slavery? The University Libraries of the University at Buffalo are proud to host the traveling exhibition "Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation," 2 March through 15 April 2005 . By tracing Lincoln 's journey from an anti-slavery moderate to the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation and beyond, this exhibit explores the events and ideas which gave birth to the Proclamation, which forever transformed our nation. The Emancipation Proclamation was the death blow to the "peculiar institution." Slavery was finally abolished as an American institution with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865.

Organized by the Huntington Library, San Marino , California , and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York City, in cooperation with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, this traveling exhibit is made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). It consists of 150 feet of exhibit panels that present reproductions of rare historical documents, period photographs, and illustrative material, such as engravings, lithographs, cartoons, and political ephemera. Attention is directed to Lincoln 's life and thought, sectional differences and stresses, slavery, racial attitudes, the Civil War and the role of African American troops in the Civil War, the Proclamation, and beyond. The exhibit shows that slavery was the underlying cause of the Civil War.

An extensive guide to pertinent Web and hardcopy resources remains accessible at the associated Web site. It will be recast over the course of the summer. It is currently avaiable at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/exhibits/ForeverFree/index.htm