ALPLM Cuts Ties With Library Foundation By SEAN CRAWFORD • APR 1, 2021

[David Lockmiller]

(11-04-2022 10:43 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  https://chicago.suntimes.com/metro-state...useum-feud

Quotation from this article reads:

Relations between the museum and foundation began to sour years ago, amid questions over financial transparency and stalled negotiations over how the two entities would legally coexist with one another. The feuding coincided with reporting by the Sun-Times and later WBEZ that raised serious questions about the provenance of the stovepipe hat, which was once regarded as the cornerstone of the Taper acquisition.

In 2019, a 16-month state study by former Illinois State Historian Samuel Wheeler found no evidence to authenticate the hat, noting that it did not appear to be Lincoln’s size. Wheeler’s study also found the hat was sold in the 1950s to a downstate antique shop for just $1, and its alleged connection to Lincoln wasn’t even known to descendants of its original owners.