  |
  |
 |
|
|
Clover Lawn QuarterlyDavid Davis Mansion Foundation NewsletterFall 2003
World
Premiere!!!!! This delightful presentation will be the focal point of the David Davis Foundation Community Meeting on Tuesday, September 16, 2003, at 7 p.m., at the State Farm Fire Building, Auditorium Floor, 112 East Washington Street, in historic downtown Bloomington. The featured presenters are Rich Sokup as David Davis and George Buss as Abraham Lincoln. Rich Sokup is a native of Freeport, Illinois. He is president of the Lincoln-Douglas Society of Freeport, a director of the Lincoln Fellowship of Wisconsin, and the Stephen A. Douglas Association of Chicago. George Buss is also a native of Freeport. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Stephen Douglas Association of Chicago, most recently being elected their president, the Lincoln Fellowship of Wisconsin, and the Lincoln-Douglas Society of Freeport. Both George and Rich are charter members of The Lincoln Forum. George and Rich have been appearing together as Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas since 1989 when Rich authored the script for "A Discussion with President Lincoln and Judge Douglas." This program has been presented to countless audiences from Superior, Wisconsin, to New Orleans, Chicago, Atlanta, Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., and The Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. These noted re-enactors also appeared together in Freeport and Jonesboro, Illinois, for the 1994 C-Span live broadcast of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates celebrating C-Span's 15 years of broadcasting. Most recently, they presented to the to the Lincoln Club of Topeka at Constitution Hall in Lecompton, Kansas, where the actual convention ratified the bogus Kansas Constitution which would light the tinder of the Civil War. This year, Rich and George have expanded their repertoire to recount the friendship of David Davis and Abraham Lincoln. We are fortunate in providing the stage for this world premiere. Audiences will delight in hearing these good friends, Davis and Lincoln, reminisce about their days together. We hope you will join us for a wonderful, entertaining evening! Please join us for the world premiere of An Evening with David Davis and Abraham Lincoln. 2003 Membership Drive in High Gear "Preserving the Legacy of Davis and Lincoln" is the theme of the Fall 2003 David Davis Mansion Foundation Membership Drive. Meeting our $10,000 goal will allow the Foundation to continue the successful programs now in place, and also help develop a new educational program for school children. As a cost-cutting measure, renewal notices were not mailed this year; so you may have missed renewing your membership. A letter will be mailed to all members in September as a reminder to renew your membership and to consider raising your tax-deductible contribution to the next higher level. Also remember that all members receive a 10% discount at the Museum Shop. The membership levels are as follows: PERSONAL* Individual $20, Family $35, Supporting $100, Patron $250, Lifetime $500 *Senior Citizen (age 65+) 10% Discount applies BUSINESS Proprietor $50, Associate $100, Partner $500, Corporate $1000 The DDMF dues have remained the same for over a decade, and everyone is aware of the budget crisis in the State of Illinois. Financial and volunteer support from the community is critical to providing enriching programs and special events for all ages. If you do not wish to join the Foundation, please consider making a donation to help the Foundation with its work. Simply note this on your check and you will receive a receipt for your tax-deductible gift. The Foundation is a Section 501(c)(3) organization and dues and donations are deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
Glorious Gardens Bloomed! More than 1,160 garden walkers attended the event this year; that’s at least as many visitors as last year and perhaps more. The garden walkers seemed pleased by the variety and uniqueness of the gardens and by the fact that the owners had designed and planted most of the gardens themselves. Approximately 400 garden walkers also visited Sarah’s Garden on the Mansion grounds, where they took a self-guided tour, and then repaired to the lawn for tea. Each visitor received a map of Sarah’s Garden and had a chance to sample a variety of petit fours, cookies and lemonade or iced tea. Visitors found the elegant “dining” table setting particularly charming; indeed, most were convinced that the roses displayed in 3 central floral arrangements were from Sarah’s Garden. (We didn’t have the heart to tell them that they were from Kroger’s “garden” instead.) Next year, when we begin recreating Sarah Davis’s antique rose garden, we will be able to use Sarah’s special roses to decorate the tea table. Although the final accounting has not been completed, Chestnut Health Systems and the David Davis Mansion Foundation netted somewhere in the vicinity of $18,000 from this year’s event. Apparently, most of the garden landscape companies did a land-office business over the twoday weekend as well. Indeed, Grieder's Sod and Landscaping seemed to have enjoyed their best single day during the summer season, and Casey’s Garden Shop has already signed on as a sponsor for next year. Forty-one visitors attended the two bridal shower tea programs on Saturday, given by the Tea Ladies, Nancy Perzo and Karen Patton. The two programs netted approximately $80 for the Foundation. All in all, it was a wonderful event this year, and there were lots of compliments about the gardens as well. Thank you to all of you who helped make the Garden Walk 2003 a success! -Marcia Young, Site Manager
Check out the Bennington Pottery now available at the Clover Lawn Museum Shop! Watch the shop for a new assortment of unique holiday items coming this fall!
VOLUNTEER CORNER… Update on the Lincoln-Davis Exhibit Two years ago, we promised you that the David Davis Mansion would soon be embarking on a new interpretive program that would place Judge David Davis and Sarah Davis within the context of the larger social-cultural, legal, and political worlds in which they operated during the nineteenth century. At first, we thought that we would soon be training you in this new program, which would change the way that we interpreted the story of the Mansion itself. As we struggled to research, develop and write the new story line, however, we began realizing that we did not want to tell that new story primarily within the Mansion, but elsewhere on the Mansion grounds—particularly in the barn, in the garden, on the lawn, and perhaps in several of the other outbuildings as well. Hence, the tours of the house will still focus primarily on the visible aspects of the Mansion’s Victorian decorative arts and architecture and on Sarah’s role as a Victorian wife, mother, and consumer, but we will also be creating a series of exhibits in the barn and elsewhere that will explore how David and Sarah’s social, cultural and political worldview helped to shape the uppermiddle-class, genteel society that emerged in the American West during the first half of the nineteenth century. This new interpretive program, which visitors will encounter in the barn, garden, and other outbuildings, will complement the existing tours of the house and will give us an opportunity to introduce Abraham Lincoln to Mansion visitors. We believe that it is important to include Lincoln in telling the complete story of the David Davis estate, because Lincoln participated fully in this world with David and Sarah and because he even played a prominent role in the preservation of this wonderful home. Moreover, because the Mansion is actively participating in a new central Illinois heritage tourism program entitled “Looking for Lincoln,” this new interpretive program will also form a cornerstone for other Lincoln-related tours, exhibits, and special events at the Davis Mansion. In order to establish a firm groundwork for the exhibit planning process, we have put together a design team that is currently developing an overarching concept and spatial design for the exhibit. Members of the team include (from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency in Springfield): Dr. Richard Taylor, Chief of Technical Services; Dr. Bryon Andreasen, Research Historian and Lincoln scholar; Mark Johnson, Research Historian; Steve Leonard, Head of Exhibits Design; Mike Jackson, Chief Architect, Preservation Services; Anthony Rubano, Staff Architect/Designer, Preservation Services; and from Bloomington: Mark Huffman, Artist and Graphics Designer, Osborn and DeLong. After the Exhibit Design Team has presented its concept and overall plan for the design, we will assemble a second team to implement the plan. Members of that team will include: Steve Leonard, Mark Johnson and Dick Taylor from the IHPA in Springfield, along with Marcia Young, Site Manager; Jeannie Riordan, Assistant Site Manager; Jeff Saulsbery, Curator; and four representatives of the David Davis Mansion Foundation and volunteer corps: Alysia McCulloch, Pat Schley, Howard Tepper, and Kathe Conley. Eventually, all volunteers will be invited to attend one or more training sessions, which will introduce you to this new interpretation. These are exciting times for the Mansion. Please stay tuned for future announcements as the new exhibit and programs begin taking shape. -Marcia Young, Site Manager Volunteers, Save this Date!
Sunday, September 7 Volunteers and their families are invited to an afternoon of games and refreshments on the David Davis Mansion Grounds!
Memorial Gifts and HonorariumsThe David Davis Mansion Foundation Honorarium Fund accepts gifts from friends and families in honor of their loved ones. The gift may be a memorial in place of funeral flowers, or the gift may mark a loved one's birthday, anniversary or special event. Checks should be made out to the David Davis Mansion Foundation, with the name of the honoree on the check. You will receive a thank you letter from the Foundation for your taxdeductible gift. Another letter will be sent to the honoree (or family) telling them of your gift. Currently, honorarium funds are being used for the continued restoration and care of Sarah's Garden. If you have any questions, please contact Laura Alferink, Executive Director, at 309/828-1084.
2003-2004 Calendar of Special Events
David Davis Foundation
Community Meeting World premier of "An Evening with Abraham Lincoln and David Davis" with Rick Sokup and George Buss at the State Farm Fire Building, Auditorium Floor, 112 East Washington Street, Bloomington, Illinois.
Blessings
of the Table The house is decorated for a traditional New England Thanksgiving celebration (Sarah Davis was from Massachusetts) featuring the bountiful foods and dining customs of the Victorian era.
Christmas at Clover
Lawn The house is lavishly decorated for a traditional, late-Victorian Christmas with Christmas foods and seasonal music of the era. On weekends, tour guides will be dressed in period costumes.
Mr.
Lincoln’s Birthday The Mansion will host a fun-filled event for children celebrating the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.
Scavenger
Hunt for Children For additional information on the above events, call the Mansion at 309/828-1084.
David Davis Mansion
|
|||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
||||
