In response to public interest, Seward House is now open in January and will remain open throughout the year.

“This is the first year that we've opened in January,” Seward House Executive Director Peter Wisbey said.

Demand has dictated more standardized hours, Wisbey said, and the new schedule should appeal to visitors who don't want to battle crowds and want more time to get a feel for the house.

“All of our docents are knowledgeable and engaging,” he said.

Seward House is bucking the general trend in attendance for museums, with 2008 its second busiest year in history, attracting 12,978 visitors.

“Even in the last quarter of the year, with gloomy predictions of recession, we had good numbers,” Wisbey said. The busiest year ever was 2006 with about 13,072 visitors.

The museum schedule, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, will be maintained until July 1, when it will also be open on Sundays. In October, it reverts back to fall/winter hours without closing down in January.

Much of the interest in Seward House these days was generated by Doris Kearns-Goodwin's book “Team of Rivals,” published in 2005, because of the philosophy behind Abraham Lincoln's Cabinet formation and the parallels to the new Barack Obama Team.

Lincoln, an Illinois newcomer, decided to include his experienced fellow Republican rivals in his Cabinet, and William Seward, his No. 1 rival, became his Secretary of State.

Many extend this philosophy to Illinois' Obama's choice of Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State, which they say mirrors the Lincoln strategy. Wisbey said Kearns-Goodwin's book was Obama's favorite, and he used it in choosing his Cabinet.

“You do come away with enthusiasm and appreciation for William Seward after reading the book,” Wisbey said.

Seward is the only one of Lincoln's rivals to have his own museum, he said. The 50th anniversary of Alaskan statehood falls this year, coupled with the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birthday, making visits to Seward House all the more popular.

The museum has already had a number of visitors this year, Wisbey said.

“We're getting quite a few calls and getting a few people in every day.” He said that even during a snowstorm this week a Minnesota couple came to visit. In the winter, Alaskans come down because of the Seward-Alaska connection.

Seward, even back in 1869, two years after Alaska was purchased, traveled to Sitka, Alaska, to speak to a few hundred citizens clinging to the wilderness and spoke of how one day Alaska would contribute to the Union and be a proud state in the Union, Wisbey said.

While visitation to Seward House peaks in the summer, Wisbey, who anticipates a slow adjustment to the new schedule in January, expects a few hundred visitors during the months of February and March. Last year those two months produced between 350 and 400 visitors.