There are many events and things to do during family weekend involving the history of Eastern.

This year, however, there is an exhibit in Booth Library featuring Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.

The exhibit, formally titled Lincoln: The Constitution and The Civil War, is being showed in different areas in the library.

Going to the exhibit can be something different for the family to do during this weekend.

Steve Brantley, co-director of the exhibit, said the exhibit has been in the works for several years, but they have been planning the materials of the display and the presentation of it since January.

The exhibit has many programs from Sept. 4 to Oct. 16.

The exhibit is having free root beer floats and a small program on Friday from 3 to 4 p.m. for family weekend.

“We have been putting on exhibits twice a year for 10 years and we have the planning down,” Brantley said. “There is always room for improvement but since we have been doing it for so long it is just the little things now.”

Mackenzie Jung, sophomore communications major, said that the exhibit is very well put together. “I went to the Mary Lincoln in History and Memory program and it really showed me all of the thing that Mary Lincoln did, I had no idea who the women was and I really enjoyed the program,” she said.

There are many things that have changed from the Civil War era such as the way people spoke, dressed, lived and even wrote.

“We imagine that people were more formal in the way they spoke and dressed in the Civil War era,” Brantley said. “The press was also more formal but when it came to politics nothing has really changed he said.”

Jung said one of the biggest changes I noticed from the Civil War era to now is the way people dressed. The women looked very different; however, the men wore the same types of formal clothes as they do now they just wore them all of the time, she said.

Brantley said one of the similarities of the fashion from the Civil War to now is men’s clothing.

“Men still wear suits,” he said. “One of the differences of the fashion from the Civil war to now is that today we all wear clothing that is mass produced.”

The Lincoln exhibit is going on through out the weekend and if you are looking for something to do with your families going to the exhibit is always an option.

Lexi Stickel can be reached at and 581-2812 or aestickel@eiu.edu