Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation Owes Big $$$

[RJNorton]

Joe, I do not think the hat which the ALPLM has was in the Forbes collection. William Waller, an Illinois farmer, said Lincoln gave him the hat. It remained in the Waller family until 1958 when a collector of Lincolniana named Jim Hickey bought it. Hickey then sold it to Louise Taper in 1990. In 2007 the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation acquired the hat from Louise Taper.

I think the hat in the Forbes collection is a different Lincoln hat. It's the one he wore to Ford's Theatre the night he was assassinated.