Wide Awakes: Campaigning for Lincoln Gallery Talk
Join a museum educator for a guided tour of our newest exhibition, Wide Awakes: Campaigning for Lincoln.
Encounters: Political Activism in 1860 — and 2025
What does it mean to be politically involved? What do political action and freedom of speech look like? In 1860, during a time of deep political division and fears of a civil war, five young men from Hartford, Connecticut formed a campaign organization that became a nationwide movement and helped elect Abraham Lincoln. The attention-grabbing pageantry of the “Wide Awakes”—many of whom were too young to vote—provoked questions that remain relevant today. A new exhibit at the Connecticut Museum tells the…