Hat’s Off?
Trouble Lincoln Land?
The Lincoln Library wants the city of Springfield to front for them in issuing $25 million in bonds to pay for a substantial collection of Lincoln odds and ends, the star of which is one of three stovepipe hats known to exist. But museums don’t usually go into debt to build their collections. And while issuing tax exempt bods makes the funds cheaper for the museum, someone [ie the feds] gets the tax loss.
The Lincoln’s Executive Director assures the “Springfield Journal Register” that it’s all magic money. “This collection is, essentially, a gift to the people of the state of Illinois. The foundation is paying for it.†But the paper says the foundation has some $19 million in the bank, and fund-raising is nowhere near where they projected it.
