Client: Rosenbach Museum and Library
Project: 21st Century Abe

Inspiration

"21st Century Abe" was created to engage visitors 18-24, "Gen Net", in Lincoln’s ideas, inspiring them to contribute their own examples of "Found Abe" to the site’s collection. A compelling, playful and truly social site, "21st Century Abe" is as much about the contribution of its visitors as it is about Lincoln the man.

Narration

Grounded in the museum’s collection of Lincoln documents, "21st Century Abe" showcases original artworks, compelling scholarly content and publically-contributed creative responses. Together they build a complex and engaging contemporary portrait of Abraham Lincoln.

Design

In "Found Abe", visitors explore and submit instances of Lincoln in contemporary life. Project artists contribute personal responses, from illustrated stories to remixes of Lincoln-era songs. Through the interactive document viewer, scholarly commentary is integrated into high resolution artifact exploration.

Interaction

"21st Century Abe" allows visitors to participate at every level, from submitting YouTube videos, photos and websites, to ranking and commenting on contributions, and creating posters and mock news stories for a host of online contests.