Alan
Lowe, executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, has been
let go.
No
reason for Lowe’s departure was given in a memo to staff distributed today and informing
employees that Lowe is no longer a state employee. Lowe was terminated by the
governor’s office, according to an entry in Capitol Fax, a political blog,
posted today.
Lowe
was the fourth director of the institution that opened in 2005. In addition to
four permanent directors, the ALPLM has been operated for nearly three years by
interim directors.
The
institution has been racked by various controversies over the years, ranging
from questions about whether a stovepipe touted as one worn by Lincoln ever
graced the Great Emancipator’s head to problems with the Papers of Abraham
Lincoln Project, which stalled after funding was reduced and its longtime
director replaced. The project is supposed to put online every document ever
written or read by Lincoln.
Lowe
has ties to conservative politicians and causes. Before coming to the ALPLM in
2016, he was director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in
Texas. During the past year, he’s been paid for consulting work by Bob Corker
and Bill Frist, both former GOP senators from Tennessee. The nature of the
consulting work isn’t made clear in Lowe’s most recent statement of economic
benefit filed with the secretary of state.
Last
year, Lowe approved a loan of several artifacts, including the Gettysburg
Address, worth an estimated $20 million, to a “pop-up” museum display in Texas
sponsored by nonprofit headed by conservative talk show host Glenn Beck. The loan
was made with less planning and fewer safeguards than when the document had
previously left the building. Mercury One, the nonprofit, boasted this year
that the ALPLM was a partner in an exhibit on slavery, and the Springfield
museum is mentioned several times on the nonprofit’s website. Mercury One hired
Michael Little, former ALPLM chief operating officer, when Little resigned last
year while he was facing discipline for leaving unattended in the Old State
Capitol a copy of a 19th century book certifying that Lincoln had
good moral character. Schoolchildren had raised $18,000 to buy the book.
Mercury One promotes the ALPLM on its website, encouraging people to make donations to the private foundation that supports the Springfield museum.
Lowe
has had more authority than past directors, if only because the institution
lacks a board of directors. Before the ALPLM became a standalone institution in
2017, one year after Lowe came to Springfield, the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency, now defunct, oversaw the institution, with the IHPA board
charged with approving artifact loans. Current law says that the ALPLM is
supposed to have a board of directors, but no board has been appointed.
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Sep 19-25, 2019.
