Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States remains one of the most celebrated figures in American history for his leadership during the Civil War and his role in ending slavery.
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At the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) in Illinois, visitors have long been able to explore Lincoln's legacy through engaging exhibits and an innovative customer experience. Now the ALPLM is strengthening its reputation for immersive education experiences even further by harnessing augmented reality (AR) to help visitors connect with the past through unforgettable learning experiences.
Challenge: Spearheading an augmented reality (AR) customer experience
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Opening in 2005, the ALPLM has been at the forefront of reimagining the museum environment with its multi-sensory spaces. In 2024, the museum sought to push the boundaries of innovation further, leveraging augmented reality (AR) to create an even more immersive and memorable customer experience.
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While the capabilities of AR technology were appealing, the ALPLM had many concerns and needed a precise vision and strategy. If this new technology was used poorly, there was a risk of alienating customers and compromising the educational value of the museum.
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A viable solution would increase museum attendance and appeal to a broader audience, including younger generations and those with diverse backgrounds and varying needs.The solution needed to be both flexible — allowing for regular updates to exhibits and content — and accessible, ensuring it could meet the diverse needs and technical abilities of all visitors.
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As an existing customer of Google Public Sector, ALPLM looked to Google for support, who recognized the need to augment their partnership with specific technical capabilities and expertise.
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Solution: Lincoln Unlocked - An AR-enhanced mobile app
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Google engaged Thoughtworks, a Google Cloud Premier Partner with proven experience rolling out Google solutions, for our expertise in extended reality (XR) technologies. After initial research and visitor interviews that leveraged a Discovery play from our Product Thinking Playbook, we tested and refined concepts to create a unique family experience.
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Our shared vision was an inclusive customer experience, accounting for those with differing vision, hearing and language needs, that appeals to a diverse cultural audience through relatable, relevant content. We proposed delivering this through an accessible and engaging app, Lincoln Unlocked.
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The Lincoln Unlocked mobile app, available for both Apple and Android devices, creates an AR-enhanced experience shaped by extensive research into visitor goals, pain points and interests. While the customer research was critical, the museum's educational priorities strongly dictated the AR experiences.
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Immersive XR enriches the museum experience by amplifying exhibits, guiding visitors through history with thematic multimedia tours, and enabling families to play, learn and reflect together through interactive features.
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Imagine entering the museum with your family and being transported back to the 1860’s where you can see and play First Lady, Mary Lincoln’s music box; uncover memories of resistance by interacting with virtual objects to unlock first-hand accounts of slavery; explore the nuanced opinions as the President and his key circle discuss the tense topic of slavery in the Cabinet Room of the White House; and experience firsthand the captivating power of the Gettysburg address, one of the most important speeches of American rhetoric defining the United States’ mission to uphold liberty and equality.
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This new, immersive way of experiencing history connects visitors with the past and with each other, making learning engaging and unforgettable. The app also includes accessibility accommodations such as closed captioning, text-to-speech, and content translated into six different languages.
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We're letting people interact with actual artifacts that they can’t touch in real life. Like using AR to play Mary Lincoln’s music box and hear the same music that Mary would have heard back in the 1860s. Mary, wife of Abraham Lincoln, was one of many women who played an important role in shaping America.
A versatile, low-maintenance application
The ALPLM required a low-maintenance app with easy, efficient updating capability to reduce pressure on their in-house team. We crafted a solution that enables content updates without requiring code changes, empowering the museum to keep the experience up-to-date without further support.
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We built a custom content management system (CMS) on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), optimized for Unity integration and cross-platform support, allowing the ALPLM to deliver remote wireless updates and multilingual content. The CMS also stores 3D objects, enabling ALPLM to update virtual artifacts and adjust their placement in the real world without needing to rebuild the application. With the ability to easily rotate which artifacts are on display, ALPLM can grant visitors unprecedented access to their vast artifact collection regardless of physical space allowances or preservation considerations.
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This project sets a new benchmark for how cultural and education institutions can use AR to create more immersive educational experiences that are genuinely engaging, accessible and memorable for visitors of all ages and learning styles.
A new paradigm for cultural institutions
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The ALPLM is once again set to be a leader in the museum customer experience. With the power of AR, they are enhancing their physical space and creating an immersive experience that will entice younger audiences and help families connect with each other through diverse, engaging stories and interactive education games.
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The accessibility accommodations that ensure everyone can engage with the museum’s rich content set the standard for how similar technologies can be inclusively applied globally in educational and tourism settings.?
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By bringing under-represented stories to the fore, like those of women at the time, ALPLM is leading the way in utilising technology to help cultural institutions reignite our passion for history, learning and finding the deeper stories of human experience.
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