Abe Lincoln's Gloves Could Be Auctioned to Pay Museum's Debt

Abraham Lincoln's bloodstained gloves he wore on the night of his assassination in 1865 could be auctioned off to raise money as a nonprofit museum in Illinois faces $9 million in debt to be paid by October 2019.

In 2007, a privately held collection of Lincoln artifacts went up for sale, and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum requested that the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation purchase the collection, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The $24 million collection would be made available for view to the public, however, both the museum and foundation were less than a decade old and did not have the financial means to make the purchase.

Financing was obtained through a loan and the collection was purchased but staff and volunteers have had to work tirelessly to raise funds to pay the debt off.

More than $9 million is still owed, and with the clock ticking, the foundation is scrambling to pay that amount off without having to auction off artifacts from its collection, which includes locks of Lincoln's hair, his presidential seal, the gloves he carried the night of his assassination as well as unpublished letters to his wife, The New York Times reported.

The foundation has turned to potential donors in hope of raising funds and has set up a GoFundMe page, but only a fraction of the full amount owed has been raised.

Now the foundation's board has reportedly agreed to start searching for auction houses in order to sell some artifacts from the collection should the money not be raised, The New York Times said.

"When will those who revere Lincoln, but who've yet to contribute in his behalf, step up?," Carla Knorowski, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation's CEO, said on the foundation's website. "All of us today, who, because of Lincoln, experience a more free and just society, must rise up, contribute and ensure justice for him."

She said that, if a single Lincoln artifact were to go to auction and be taken from the public realm, "then we, as a nation are collectively diminished and must look ourselves in the mirror and take responsibility. It is not any one individual's or group's responsibility to bear, it is all of ours to bear."

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