Historical Displays in Alumni Hall

The historical displays in Alumni Hall at Knox College tell the historical narrative of the founding of Galesburg, Knox College, and the ideologies that the town was built upon. The town of Galesburg was founded by a man named George Washington Gale in the 1830s. He developed the town of Galesburg based on anti-slavery and activist ideologies. After the town was developed and gained a reputation there were many underground railroad activists and abolitionists, as well as a college that supported the underground railroad and welcomed African-American students in order to leave a legacy of activist and anti-racism ideologies in Galesburg. Ideologies that are historically present even two decades after the town of Galesburg was founded during the seven Lincoln-Douglas debates in the summer of 1858. Abraham Lincoln received large amounts of support from the town of Galesburg after presenting his anti-slavery beliefs and challenging slavery under the Declaration of Independence, as well as the Constitution. While proposing the immorality of slavery to his listeners. 

Through the use of these historical narratives and myths, we are introduced to the numerous ideologies that the town of Galesburg was built upon while describing the Lincoln-Douglas debates that reinforce these ideologies that Galesburg views as important. Yet, this is the only narrative and myth that is seen in these historical exhibits of Alumni Hall. There are no additional perspectives that we can see to try and develop our own understanding of Galesburg and the town's points of view. We are only presented with the historical narrative of George Washington Gale, and the views that he and other abolitionists had when founding the town of Galesburg. What if there are other accounts that could provide us with a different perspective of Galesburg, or that present us with different facts that could propose different ideologies that Galesburg was built upon?