Upcoming Program
Below is the next program in the Lowndes County America 250 Celebration series. For a complete list of programs throughout 2025-2026, visit our Events page.
Abraham Lincoln and America 250
by Dr. Susannah J. Ural
CLPLS downtown branch
January 6, 2026
5:30pm
Dr. Susannah J. Ural will open the traveling exhibit Freedom: A History of US with her talk Abraham Lincoln and America 250 on Tuesday, January 6 at 5:30pm at the downtown branch of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library System.
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On George Washington’s birthday in 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln spoke to an audience gathered at Independence Hall. Moved by the moment, Lincoln explained that he “never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.” In 2017, Mississippi State University (MSU) received the nation’s largest privately held collection of Lincolniana.
This talk by historian Susannah J. Ural, Ph.D., the Frank & Virginia Williams Chair for Abraham Lincoln and Civil War Studies at MSU, uses the Williams Collection of Lincolniana to discuss how America’s founding documents inspired Lincoln’s understanding of freedom, democracy, and citizenship during the American Civil War.​​
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The Freedom exhibition, on display at the CLPLS from January 5-30, 2026, traces the evolving concept of freedom from the founding era to the election of Barack Obama. Among the highlights are a rare 1776 printing of the Declaration of Independence, a printed draft and the official copy of the US Constitution, Lincoln’s handwritten notes for speeches, and letters by leading figures such as Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr., and more.
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The exhibit is open to the public and available for viewing during regular operating hours Monday through Thursday 9am to 6pm, Fridays 9am to 2pm, and Saturdays 9am to 2pm.
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This exhibition was developed by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and all documents and images in the exhibit are drawn primarily from the Gilder Lehrman Collection.​
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The exhibit and program are sponsored by the Columbus-Lowndes County Historical Society and the Friends of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library System.
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To learn more about the Frank & Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana, visit www.library.msstate.edu/williamscollection.
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To learn more about the exhibit, visit www.gilderlehrman.org/programs-and-events/traveling-exhibitions/freedom-history-us.
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For more information, call the CLPLS at 662-329-5300.
