Through a donation from the Taper family, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum has acquired a collection of more than 1,500 artworks, manuscripts and artifacts from the life of the 16th president. The collection will give viewers insight into Lincoln’s dramatic life, his relationships with his family, friends and colleagues, as well as his enemies. “The Taper Collection is so fascinating because it illustrates the depth of Lincoln’s character, his humanity – not just as a president, but as a man,” says Kat Rosenfield with Resnicow Schroeder Associates.

Along with items such as the bloodstained gloves and handkerchief the former president carried with him the night he was assassinated, the collection will include assets related to the family of John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln experts say the collection, which opened July 3, 2007, is likely to pull in more than $20 million.

Donated were 100 Mary Todd Lincoln Letters, giving the library a total of 500 out of only 600 in the world. Also included in the gift was a childhood rhyme Lincoln wrote when he was 15: “Abraham Lincoln is my name and with my pen I wrote the same. I wrote both haste and speed and left it here for fools to read."

“It’s a truly intimate portrait of a man whose ideals and influence are absolutely intrinsic to our own identity as Americans,” Rosenfield says. “Abraham Lincoln shaped our nation. The Taper collection allows us to better understand the relationships, experiences, and struggles that shaped him.”