Abraham Lincoln became the 16th President of the the United States in March of 1861. A month later the South opened fire on Fort Sumter and the Civil War began. In 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which abolished slavery in America. On April 9, 1965, General Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Five days later, Lincoln was assassinated. All this we know. But many might not know that Lincoln was born into poverty, in 1809, in a ramshackle log cabin in Kentucky, near the border with Indiana. He didn’t go to school, but educated himself to become a lawyer. In this exhibition, original copies of books and other ephemera create a sweeping portrait of the most important president, many would argue, in American history. —Elena Clavarino