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Taper Collection
items of famous Lincoln memorabilia at
presidential museum Feb. 10-15
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[January 27, 2010]
SPRINGFIELD
-- Several one-of-a-kind original artifacts
will be displayed for a limited time in the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in
Springfield during the days surrounding
Lincoln's 201st birthday, including a
special after-hours viewing vigil that will
offer the Emancipation Proclamation and the
inkwell Lincoln used to write his First
Inaugural Address. |
 A
temporary artifact display in the plaza area
of the museum Feb. 10-15 will feature a desk
and bookcase made by Thomas Lincoln,
Abraham's father; a five-volume set, "Life
of George Washington," owned by Mary
Lincoln; and a heavy bronzed-plaster
sculpture, "The Council of War," that was
owned by Robert Lincoln and depicts Lincoln,
Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and Gen.
Ulysses S. Grant. The original clock from
the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices will also be
displayed. Visitors can see where
Lincoln-era mice chewed a hole in the back
of the clock and can listen to the ticking.
This will be the first public display in
recent history when the clock will be wound
up and keep time. Museum admission is
required to view the display.
These items came from the world's most
significant collection of Lincoln artifacts
ever compiled by a private collector -- The
Taper Collection. The Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library Foundation received a
$2 million in-kind gift of select items from
the Barry and Louise Taper Family Foundation
and purchased an additional 1,500 Taper
Collection artifacts and documents. The
foundation's $27 million "Permanent Home"
campaign was launched in 2009 to retire the
debt related to this purchase. The success
of the campaign will ensure that the Taper
Collection will remain with the museum
permanently.
Several other artifacts will be added for
a special one-night viewing vigil from 5:30
to 10 on Feb. 11, the night before Lincoln's
201st birthday: a rare copy of the
Emancipation Proclamation bearing Lincoln's
original signature; the inkwell used by
Lincoln when he wrote his First Inaugural
Address and a printer's galley proof of the
address; an ornate walking stick owned by
Lincoln and earlier involved in an 1859
California duel over the issue of slavery; a
Dec. 11, 1860, letter written by
President-elect Lincoln to Illinois Rep.
William Kellogg in which he says "the tug
has to come" over slavery; and "The Union is
Dissolved!" a Dec. 20, 1860, broadside from
the Charleston Mercury. The items placed on
display in the museum plaza Feb. 10-15 cay
be viewed that evening as well.
The Feb. 11 evening vigil is free and
open to the public.
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A group of local actors will perform a
program of readings twice that evening, at
6:30 and 8:15, in the museum's Union
Theatre. The performances will include a
selection from the book "Team of Rivals," by
Doris Kearns Goodwin.
The next new exhibit at the presidential
museum will be "Team of Rivals," opening in
October. Taking its name from the title of
the Goodwin book, the "Team of Rivals"
exhibit will examine President Lincoln's
controversial choices for his Cabinet and
the tumultuous events leading to the firing
on Fort Sumter that ignited the Civil War.
The exhibit will open just prior to the
150th anniversary of Lincoln's election as
president in November 2010, his Farewell
Address to Springfield as president-elect in
February 2011 and the start of the Civil War
in April 2011.
For more information about special
programs and exhibits at the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library and Museum, visit
www.presidentlincoln.org.
[Text from
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and
Museum file received from
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency]
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