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Artifacts from Lincoln’s death on exhibit at Presidential Library

A new exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield ties in with the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s death. 

The exhibit is called A Fiendish Assassination. It includes artifacts from President Lincoln's assassination, which took place on April 14, 1865. 

"We are looking at a two-page document which has been bound together by a piece of black mourning crepe."

James Cornelius is the curator for the exhibit. He is describing one of the pieces that gives the exhibit its name. It is a letter from an unknown town describing.

"Their horror, their shock at the blackness and the heinousness of a fiendish assassination."

Other items on display include a handle from Lincoln’s coffin, a blood stained towel, and the only photo of the slain President lying in state. 

Cornelius says there will be no other opportunity to see the pieces after the exhibit closes in mid-July.

 

Lisa Ryan is a graduate student in the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield. She previously worked at Indiana Public Radio and the college radio station founded by David Letterman. She is a 2014 broadcast journalism and political science graduate of Ball State University.