SHOSHONE, Idaho — The Lincoln County Historical Society is preparing to create a new exhibit space to house a collection of over a thousand objects celebrating President Abraham Lincoln.
The Lincoln County Historical Society was just gifted a substantial collection of objects celebrating President Abraham Lincoln, and the museum is gearing up to create a new space for thousands of historical objects.
The donation came from Oregon resident Frank Musgrave, a retired pastor.
"He's been collecting this collection since he was about 10 years old," Connie Taylor said.
Taylor, who serves as chair of the Lincoln County Historical Society, said Musgrave interviewed Lincoln counties around the nation before selecting Lincoln County, Idaho, as his beneficiary.
"He toured the town, we talked a lot about our history, and a couple days later he notified us that he would like to donate his large collection of Abraham Lincoln items to us," Taylor said.
One of Musgrave's favorite pieces is a bronze sculpture of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, which he decided to give to the museum rather than keep.
"One of Frank's favorite pieces in the collection that he decided to give to us rather than keep is this Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg," Taylor said.
"It's bronze. It's very heavy, and it's sitting on marble and then wood," Taylor said.
Incorporating more than 1,000 new objects into a new Abraham Lincoln exhibit will be a significant undertaking for the museum.
"I think this will be a slow process. We won't get it all done initially, but we really need volunteers to come in and help us catalog all the items existing in our museum as well as these thousand-plus items that we're receiving from Frank Musgrave," Taylor said.
Some of the collection will go in the Lincoln County Courthouse, while other objects will be loaned to each school in the county on a rotating basis. The museum will showcase the highlights of the collection.
"Our thought is to come back to about right here, take all of this out and have a U-shaped exhibit right here," Taylor said.
Ideally, the exhibit would be ready to soft open Memorial Day weekend, with a dedication planned for the annual Lincoln History Day, the third Saturday in June.
To meet that goal, the society is asking for volunteers to help catalog items, curators to help design an exhibit, and bids from contractors who can help create an exhibit space in the museum.
"It's going to be a big job for us, this little Lincoln County Historical Society, so yeah, we need help," Taylor said.
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