The Treasures Gallery

As you leave Journey Two, you will probably choose to pass through The Treasures Gallery. Here you can view actual items that were a part of Lincoln's everyday life. Family photos, Mary's music box, Tad's toy cannon, china and crystal from the White House, and other artifacts from the collection form part of this in-depth display that helps to put you in touch with the personal lives of the Lincolns.

In the center of this gallery stands a large cylindrical wall – in effect an upturned stovepipe that rises about 15 feet, a hushed vault with a high ceiling. It houses a gallery inside the gallery, the inner sanctum for some of the greatest Lincoln artifacts. Within, you find items recently donated [by the Louise and Barry Taper Family Foundation] that bring the 16th president most vividly to life. A letter he wrote while postmaster of New Salem; a printed copy of the 'Lincoln-Douglas Debates' inscribed to a friend; and the first page of his boyhood sum book, dated 1826, where he scratched in a rhyme and taught himself math — these treasures stand tall in all viewers' memories.

Because you have just finished walking through Lincoln's life in "The Journey," a close-up view of these historic items should have more power. Pause as you exit to gaze upon a monumental plaster head of Lincoln by Gutzon Borglum, who later designed Mount Rushmore. This face, and the other treasures, should leave you with a deeper appreciation and understanding of Lincoln's amazing and moving ideas, plus a feeling of personal connection to the history.