Lincoln’s stovepipe hat and letters could be sold to ease nonprofit’s debt

An Illinois nonprofit bearing Abraham Lincoln's name is so deep in debt that it is considering selling some of the 16th president's possessions, including one of his iconic stovepipe hats and bloodstained gloves from the night of his assassination.

In 2007, the private nonprofit, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, in Springfield, Ill., borrowed US$23 million to purchase an expansive collection of Lincoln artifacts from a private collector. More than a decade later, the foundation has more than $9 million remaining on the loan, Carla Knorowski, the foundation's CEO, said.

For 11 years, the state-run Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum has had access to the collection, and that organization's leaders say their priority is to keep the items available for public viewing.