2 2014 Lincoln Heritage Museum Magazine Lincoln Daily News.com April 26, 2014
A Brief History of the
Lincoln Heritage Museum
Abraham Lincoln is perhaps one of the most universally
renowned and admired individuals in all of world history.
His name is familiar in all corners of the globe. Visitors
from all over the world come to the United States to learn
more about who Abraham Lincoln was, as in many ways
Lincoln is who America is. The Lincoln Heritage Museum
has been such a destination, witnessing visitors from nearly
every state and many countries annually.
Lincoln College, chartered Lincoln University, began in
1865. Ground for the first building on campus, University
Hall, was broken on Abraham Lincoln’s last living
birthday. What would become the Abraham Lincoln
collection at Lincoln College was launched in 1942 when
an 1887 Lincoln University alumnus Judge Lawrence
Stringer willed his vast Lincoln and Logan County history
collection to the College with the stipulation that a museum
be established. Initially, the collection was placed in The
Lincoln Room in the Administration Building on campus,
dedicated on February 11, 1944 and was not yet known as
a museum. The college’s librarian then maintained this
Lincoln collection until 1950 when James Hickey, noted
Lincoln scholar and curator of the Henry Horner Lincoln
Collection at the Illinois State Historical Library took over
as the museum consultant for the college. Hickey helped
to care for the collection through the 1950s up until 1965
when Paul Beaver took the role as the first director of
Lincolniana collection.
In January 1969, disaster struck as a fire destroyed the
Administration Building on campus. Built in 1902, among
other offices and classrooms, the building had housed the
Lincoln collection in its basement. Fortuitously, because
many of the items were stored in a fireproof vault, eighty
percent of the valuable documents and relics were saved.
After the fire, the collection was moved to the newly
constructed McKinstry Memorial Library, which was
dedicated on February 7, 1971. It was in this building
where the “Lincoln Room” became the Lincoln College
Museum.
The president of Lincoln College at the time the museum
was moved was President Raymond Dooley (1948-1971).
His admiration and affection for Lincoln had its most
visible expression in the creation of the Lincoln College
Museum. Dooley cultivated collectors and sources for
Lincoln memorabilia and managed to expand the material
the museum already owned with some remarkable new
additions, which included gifts from Mr. and Mrs. Foreman
M. Lebold, Walter Trohan, Mr. and Mrs. Philip D. Sang,
and Dr. and Mrs. Stewart W. McClelland. The museum
was also generously supported by Mr. and Mrs. Harry
J. Sonneborn. During this time, Beaver cultivated the
museum into a facility of great reputation and helped
build the collection to its current state. He began The
Lincoln Newsletter in 1978, disseminated nationally and
internationally, and containing stories both about the
Museum collection and about stories relating to Abraham
Lincoln events and scholarship.
President Dooley stepped down as president of Lincoln
College in 1971 and new president took an interest in the
museum, President Jack Nutt. During President Nutt’s time
on campus the holdings of the Lincoln College Museum
increased. Beaver helped ensure that students interested
in American, and especially Illinois histories had a rich
resource for research right on the Lincoln Campus. A
considerable number of acquisitions were added to the
museum’s holdings- through the generosity of Stewart W.
McClelland, Dr. Karl A. Meyer, W. Clement Stone, and
others.
Among the more important holdings of the museum are
gifts from the Beckwith family. Robert Todd Lincoln
Beckwith, the last living descendant of Abraham Lincoln,
died on Christmas Eve 1985. Among the items in the
Beckwith Collection are a number of articles belonging
to Mary Lincoln: china, books, and mourning clothing.
Hundreds of documents relating to Lincoln and Illinois
Page 5
A Grand Day for a grand opening
Page 13
Museum officially opens
Page 27
Breathe in the life experiences of
Abraham Lincolns Lincoln Heritage Museum
Page 30
Historic items interpret history in the new
Lincoln Heritage Museum
Page 35
Museum’s second floor offers
new interactive design
Page 47
Learn from Lincoln, live like Lincoln
