ELIZABETH, NJ – President Abraham Lincoln will be the subject of a special lecture by Dr. Jonathan Lurie of Rutgers University on Thursday, February 7, beginning at 2:00 p.m. at the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth. Sponsored by the Union County Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee, the free afternoon event entitled “Looking at Lincoln: Greatness Transformed” is open to the public and includes exhibits about the Civil War and a special display case focusing on Lincoln’s presidency.
After the talk by Dr. Lurie, there will be raffles for an original framed portrait of Lincoln by Elizabeth artist Rafael Rodriguez and an illustrated edition of “Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years” by Pulitzer Prize-winner Carl Sandburg.
“As we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, we are honored to have Dr. Jonathan Lurie speak here about President Lincoln and his leadership during the conflict,” said Union County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi, chairman of the committee. “We welcome visitors to the Courthouse to learn more about our 16th President and about the experiences of Union County residents during the war.”
Dr. Lurie is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at Rutgers University (Newark), where he was a Professor of History and Law from 1985 to 2009. During his career at Rutgers, Dr. Lurie also was a Visiting Fellow in Law and History at Harvard Law School; an Historian and Archivist to the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; and a Visiting Professor of Law at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
The lecture by Dr. Lurie will be presented in the Courtroom of the Hon. Karen M. Cassidy, Assignment Judge of the Superior Court, at 2 p.m. To reserve a seat, please call 908-527-4999.
The Civil War Exhibition is on display until 2015 in the rotunda of the Union County Courthouse, 2 Broad Street in historic midtown Elizabeth. The exhibit may be viewed weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The displays will change from time to time. Anyone wishing to loan historical artifacts from the Civil War era for the exhibit can contact committee member Katherine Craig at 908-282-7617. All objects will be secured, locked and acknowledged.
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