Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum - Administration

Administration

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Richard Norton Smith served as the museum's Founding Executive Director. Dr. Thomas Schwartz served as the museum's Interim Executive Director when Smith departed in March 2006, and until Rick Beard was appointed in October 2006. However, Beard was fired in October 2008 after he was charged with shoplifting at Springfield stores; he later pled guilty. Jan Grimes, Director of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, served as interim Executive Director until Eileen R. Mackevich, MBE, was appointed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn on Friday, December 3, 2010. Mackevich, 71, formerly served as the Executive Director of the national Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Mackevich was also active as a broadcast journalist and talk show host on Chicago public radio, and was the co-founder of the Chicago Humanities Festival. Mackevich's objectives are to raise money, make the museum more attractive, and attract more international interest.

As First Lady of Illinois, Lura Lynn Ryan became a major fundraiser and the Library's first chairwoman. She launched the fundraising for the library by raising $250,000. Ryan also organized a program in which Illinois schoolchildren collected pennies for the construction of the presidential library, which raised $47,000 dollars. Ryan was appointed to the 14-member Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission by the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives to commemorate the 200th birthday of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in 2009. She served on the commission from 2001 to 2010.