Julie Cellini

Julie Cellini is a free-lance journalist in Illinois with a writing career spanning over 50 years. She is a former newspaper reporter who has been active in historical and cultural preservation in Central Illinois for over 30 years. In the 1960s, while covering the political news beat, she met and later married Willam F. Cellini, a Springfield, Illinois city council member.

Ms. Cellini serves as a trustee for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Foundation and serves on the board of the Hope Institute for Children and Families(a private, not-for-profit home, school and treatment center serving children with multiple disabilities and their families).[1] She also serves on the board of the Memorial Medical Center Foundation and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission Task Force.[2] She was one of three people who received honorary doctorates at the Illinois College 172nd commencement in 2006.[3]

Often cited as the driving force behind the establishment of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, a $150 million project that has drawn over two million visitors since its opening,[4] she was nominated on several occasions for the Springfield, Illinois First Citizen Award for her efforts to create the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library in Springfield.[5]

Through her interests in Illinois' history and in the life and presidency of Abraham Lincoln, Illinois Governor James R. Thompson appointed her a trustee to the Illinois State Historical Library in 1981. The library serves as the governance arm of the extensive Lincoln artifact and documents collection. In 1985, Ms. Cellini became chairman of that board as well as for the Library's successor organization, the Illinois State Historical Preservation Agency. Her committee developed a plan to improve public access to the Lincoln collection and its efforts resulted in the opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) in April 2005.[6]

Awards

Julie Cellini was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State’s highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in 2009 as a Bicentennial Laureate.[7]

References

  1. ↑ The Hope School, [www.thehopeschool.org]
  2. ↑ Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, "About the Commission"
  3. ↑ Green, Buford, [www.sj-r.com "Julie Cellini awarded honorary doctorate by Illinois College"], State-Journal Register, May 22, 2006
  4. ↑ Toppmeyer, Blake, "Lincoln Museum gets 2 millionth visitor", The State Journal-Register, July 4, 2009
  5. ↑ Blanchette, David, "‘This could only happen in Springfield’ – ALPLM designer speaks on 10th anniversary", Springfield Business Journal, April 24, 2015
  6. ↑ How To Design a Lincoln Museum, By Andrew Ferguson, Slate.com, July 4, 2007 Archived 23 December 2010 at WebCite
  7. ↑ "Laureates by Year - The Lincoln Academy of Illinois". The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
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