Bringing Lincoln Alive

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, its Web site asserts, "will not only preserve history – it will make history, by enabling millions of visitors from around the world to experience the Lincoln story in its entirety, as nowhere else."

The museum portion of the 200,000 square foot complex in downtown Springfield, Ill. contains 46,000 square feet of permanent exhibits – double the size of those at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, until now the nation's largest, the Web site continues.

The library opened in mid-October. The museum welcomed visitors for the first time this weekend, and will be officially dedicated Tuesday.

CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers offers viewers of CBS News Sunday Morning a guided tour.

The facility's goal, simply put, is to bring history alive.

"Combining impeccable scholarship with brilliant showmanship," the Web site continues, "the new museum's permanent exhibit galleries carry visitors on twin journeys from a crude, overcrowded Indiana cabin to Ford's Theater and a reproduction of the House Chamber in the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln's flag-draped casket lies in state.

"Along the way, (visitors are) treated to a 250 seat multi-stage and screen presentation, "Lincoln's Eyes"; a stunning holographic theater, "Ghosts of the Library," bringing Lincoln documents and artifacts, literally, to life; a Treasures Gallery housing icons like the Gettysburg Address; and a separate children's area called "Mrs. Lincoln's Attic."

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