Assassination relics

[davg2000]

I have been a Volunteer at ALPLM since 2004, when the Museum was still a building site. The Lincoln Collection, which has been building since the 1890's, contains items from chiefly three sources: former Illinois Governor Henry Horner, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith (Lincoln's great grandson, who died in 1985), and Louise Taper. Louise Taper sold the bulk of her collection, amounting to some 1500 items, to Illinois for $23 million. Included were the Lincoln top hat, very many other non-assassination Lincoln items, and some assassination relics. Illinois has Lincoln's bloody gloves, Mary's blood-stained fan, a piece of Laura Keene's dress with Lincoln's blood on it, one of the few remaining audience chairs from Ford's, Booth items, and more. These things are permanently kept in the the Library, across the street from the Museum, and periodically rotated for display in the Museum. The major item on display now is Illinois' copy of the Gettysburg Address. It will stay out for a while past November 19.

The arm of ALPLM which is charged with retiring the debt is the ALPLM Foundation, which must be making some headway, because we don't hear any more the threat that Illinois might lose these items. I seriously doubt that any of the Taper collection will ever leave Illinois.

The Museum was dedicated April 15, 2005. Even before that the Director of ALPLM was Richard Norton Smith. After he left, Director changed twice until now, when we have a marvelous lady at the helm. She has been a terrific administrator, but she has no Lincoln creds. Probably the most famous Lincoln scholar in Illinois was Thomas Schwartz, who left a while back to become head of the Herbert Hoover Museum, in Iowa.