Presidential items to go on display in Alton

ALTON — They don’t have any “John Hancocks,” but for one month, an Alton museum will display prints and signatures by many others of historical importance — Presidents Lincoln, Taft, Cleveland, Coolidge, Jackson, Madison and others.

The 50 irreplaceable items arrived Thursday morning at the Alton Museum of History and Art, 2803 College Ave., from the Illinois State Historical Society in Springfield.

Under extra security measures, plans tentatively are to open the display to public viewing Wednesday and continue through June. Alton has a strong connection to Lincoln, who debated Stephen Douglas in the city during their U.S. Senate race in 1858.

“This is really significant,” said Tom Wyatt, executive director of the museum. “We just feel very fortunate that the Historical Society included us. This doesn’t go to just anyone. For us, it is an opportunity to showcase these documents and also put them on view with our exhibit and get the word out what the museum has to offer.

“We are thrilled to get the collection. We never dreamed we would get something of this stature,” Wyatt said.

He said his late father, Noble Wyatt, was a Lincoln “buff” who had some artifacts and passed the interest down to him.

“My father spent his lifetime tracking down Lincoln items,” Tom Wyatt said. “That’s how I got my interest in Lincoln.”

Terri Cameron, Webmaster at the state society who was at the museum Thursday, said she is pleased the collection will be on display in Alton. She is a 1973 graduate of Alton High School.

Charlene Johnson, president of the board of directors of the museum, said there would be no extra charge for visitors to see the historic display. Museum admission is $2.50 for adults and $1 for children. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. It is closed Monday and Tuesday.

William Furry, executive director of the Historical Society, said the society obtained the materials in 2002 from the Joseph and Lucille Block estate. The late Joseph Block, former president of Inland Steel, had the items hanging in the couple’s home in Chicago. Some were taped to the walls, and the items were not well-preserved or protected from ultraviolet sun rays, Furry said.

“Our task is to keep them from deteriorating in condition,” he said.

Christie’s London appraised the materials at $105,000, Furry said.

Surprisingly, the 200-year-old, iron-based ink survived better than President McKinley’s typewritten page he produced nearly a century later, Furry said. On Thursday afternoon, Furry and Wyatt gently flipped through the old, slightly yellowed prints and ornate, quill-written cursive documents slated to be posted for display with descriptive cards.

Among them: an 1820 letter and picture from President James Monroe; a letter dating to 1801 from James Madison; a print of Abraham Lincoln riding on a horse in front of his home in Springfield; and a small note Lincoln wrote to suspend the execution of a soldier in the Irish Brigade.

Large, biting Currier and Ives cartoons ridicule candidate hopefuls in the 1860 presidential election and eschew today’s political correctness standards.

The Lincoln items created the most excitement at the museum, which is on the grounds of the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine.

Furry said his favorite item is a succinct note that Lincoln wrote May 28, 1860, to autograph seeker Andrew J. Crossman: “You request an autograph and here it is, Yours truly, A. Lincoln.” The accompanying photo of Lincoln shows him still beardless.

Another collage has a cameo of Lincoln, as president, surrounded by oval pictures of his cabinet.

The stop in Alton is the fifth for the traveling exhibit; the only other location in Southern Illinois was at Harrisburg, at the southern tip of the state, Furry said.

“The Illinois Humanities Council provided partial funding, a grant to take this to small museums and historical sites around the state where they normally would not be seen,” Furry said. “Students don’t get to see these unless they go to a major city.”

After this year’s exhibitions, the materials will be cleaned, preserved and prepared for an unveiling in 2009 to commemorate the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.