Lincoln 1860

Lincoln 1860

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Teaming To Bring Lincoln Artifacts To Washington

I've posted several items in recent months about the impending closure of the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The museum has unfortunately suffered from years of declining attendance and Lincoln Financial, the owner and operator of the museum, has said enough. The closure date is in a few days.


Several groups and institutions across the country hope to be the ultimate winner of the "contest" to see who will house this remarkable trove of Lincoln items. Announced today in The Washington Post is a teaming arrangement between The Library of Congress, Ford's Theater, The National Museum of American History (Smithsonian), and The Lincoln Cottage, the former Soldiers' Home in Washington. This arrangement will no doubt provide formidable competition to the other major institutions, such as The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.


Representatives of this teaming arrangement make the claim that Washington, D.C. is the most logical city to house this priceless collection. After all, Lincoln lived in Washington while president and was of course assassinated and died there as well. Indeed the leader of the group states that no other institution in America can match the visitorship and financial backing of the team in Washington.


The final decision by Lincoln Financial is by January 2009. I'll keep my readers posted.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to say I saw something on the history channel about Abe Linoln, his monument, and other monuments. Thank God for this great man.

Anonymous said...

I am looking for information regarding the sale of Abraham Lincoln's things by his son Todd for the benefit of his mother. A Maryland collector, Fred Maloof was the successful bidder on many items. I believe the auction or sale was in Springfield but can't be sure.

I can find nothing on what happenned to maloof's collection. I have located two pieces that he sold during the depresssion. Can you help me? rapspider@aol.com

 
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