[186] 'Celebrating Lincoln Online' is Focus of Free Nov. 12 Heritage Lecture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 6, 2009
CONTACT: Jennifer Butt, 615-217-8013 or jbutt@mtsu.edu

'CELEBRATING LINCOLN ONLINE' IS FOCUS OF FREE NOV. 12 HERITAGE LECTURE

(MURFREESBORO)—“Celebrating Lincoln Online” will be the focus of the Nov. 12 installment of the 2009 Fall Community Heritage Lecture Series that will get under way at 7 p.m. at The Heritage Center, 225 W. College St.
During the free talk, Ashleigh Oatts, a master’s candidate in MTSU’s public history program, will discuss the Library of Congress program known as Teaching with Primary Sources, with a focus on Abraham Lincoln.
Event sponsors said Oatts’ program will be of particular interest to anyone interested in using primary sources for research or educational purposes and cited the fact that the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, has digitized more than 15 million primary source items and made them available through its Web site.
“This year is the bicentennial anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth,” Oatts observed. “This topic serves as an excellent example to show the many sources available through the Library of Congress Web site.”
The Teaching with Primary Sources program, referred to as TPS, was established in 2005 by the Library of Congress for the purpose of embedding the use of digital primary sources in curricula and the classroom to deepen content understanding and student literacy.
TPS is administered through a consortium of educational institutions in 10 states across the nation, with MTSU joining the consortium in May 2008. Through MTSU’s Center for Historic Preservation, TPS across Tennessee seeks to link current state-focused educational initiatives to large national themes and to emphasize the student exploration of history, sciences, arts, and culture through the use of primary sources, lecture organizers reported.
Located just off the square, The Heritage Center is open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding major holidays, and features local history exhibits and guided walking tours of the town square on the hour. Group tours are available Monday through Saturday by advance reservations.
The Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County is a joint venture between the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, Main Street: Murfreesboro/Rutherford County, the City of Murfreesboro and the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU. Additional support comes from the Rutherford County government and State Farm Insurance.
For more information on the Community Heritage Lecture Series, please call The Heritage Center at 615-217-8013 or e-mail heritage_center@bellsouth.net.

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With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey