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Artifacts
added to Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
and Museum
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[DEC.
14,
2006] SPRINGFIELD
-- The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
and Museum recently acquired several more
Lincoln artifacts. One of the artifacts was
donated by collector Kent Tucker. The others
were purchased from various collectors and
dealers, adding to the ever-growing Lincoln
collection at the library and museum.
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acquisitions were announced at a fall press
conference with Thomas F. Schwartz, interim
executive director of the presidential library
and museum.
"The acquisition of materials from
Kent Tucker is an important addition to the
research materials found in the Henry Horner
Lincoln Collection," Schwartz said.
"The Ruben Vose 1860 Lincoln campaign
biography is the rarest item any research
library could hope to acquire. We now have it.
The G.P.A. Healy portrait is another major
addition to our already superb collection of
Lincoln portraits from life. The fact that Mr.
Tucker selected the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library as the home for his
collection speaks volumes for this institution
as the leading national center for Lincoln
research."
Among the new acquisitions:
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Donation
of a rare 1860 Lincoln campaign biography
by Reuben Vose. This copy is only the
fourth known to exist. This extremely rare
biography comes from the Kent Tucker
collection.
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Purchase
of a George Peter Alexander Healy portrait
of Abraham Lincoln, presumably from life.
In Healy's autobiography, he discusses his
stay in Washington, D.C., during the Civil
War and his visits to the White House to
sketch and paint Lincoln. This portrait is
signed by Healy but not dated.
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Items
from the purchase include 45 autograph
letters from Mary Harlan Lincoln, wife of
Robert Todd Lincoln, and Mary Lincoln
Isham, daughter of Mary Harlan and Robert
Todd Lincoln.
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Four
typescript drafts of books by William E.
Barton, one of the most prolific Lincoln
biographers in the early 20th century,
along with Barton's marginal notes and
corrections.
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A
letter of Robert Todd Lincoln to Henry
White, dated Jan. 13, 1890, describing the
latest doctor reports on Robert's son,
Abraham Lincoln II, whose nickname was
Jack. White was the secretary of the
American embassy in London, where Robert
Lincoln served as minister to the Court of
St. James. (Americans did not use the
ambassador title until 1893. The title of
"minister" was just below
ambassador.) Jack suffered from blood
poisoning from an infected cut. This
letter was the first indication that there
was no medical cure for Jack's condition
and that he would eventually die. Jack
died on March 5, 1890, in London.
Since August of 2004, with the donation of
Lincoln's leather portfolio, the Abraham
Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum has
received private gifts of manuscripts,
photographs, broadsides, prints, books and
other items totaling over $1 million in
appraised value. Many of these items add to
the knowledge of Lincoln and his family and
may be on display in future museum exhibits.
[Abraham
Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
news release]
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