Lincoln Heritage Museum

About Lincoln Heritage Museum

The Lincoln Heritage Museum in Lincoln, Illinois houses one of the country's notable private collections of Abraham Lincoln artifacts. The first floor displays more than one hundred original pieces, including furniture owned by Lincoln, the table he studied on at New Salem, his law books, and hand-painted campaign banners from 1860. The second floor features the Immersion Tour, an audio-video experience where visitors move through a dozen recreated nineteenth-century rooms, beginning at Ford's Theatre on the night of Lincoln's assassination and traveling backward through his life. Visitors are invited to touch objects throughout the tour. The museum also features rotating exhibits; the current display focuses on Mary Lincoln's life and includes her jewelry, mourning fan, handbag, and a lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair. School groups can participate in guided tours and educational scavenger hunts featuring nineteenth-century games like hoop-and-stick. A full visit takes approximately two hours.