Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

The state-of-the-art Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum was carefully designed with exacting historical detail to encourage an “experience” for all visitors.

Amazingly well-preserved artifacts tell the entire life story of our nation’s 16th President. Through the years, Springfield has changed in many ways, but the spirit of our greatest citizen remains intact.

Dedicated to the life and legacy of our 16th President, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum brings together the world’s largest collection of documentary material related to the life of Abraham Lincoln. The museum, unlike any other in the U.S., features hi-tech exhibits, interactive displays, and multimedia programs, as well as a reproduction of the White House as it looked in 1861.

The holographic and special effects theatres will entertain, educate and mesmerize you with ghostly images, live actors and high action. Witness the 1860 Presidential Election as though it were happening today, complete with television news coverage and campaign commercials. Items from the institution’s world-class Lincoln Collection, numbering in the tens of thousands, are exhibited on a rotating basis in the Museum’s Treasures Gallery. These items include an original hand-written copy of the Gettysburg Address, the evening gloves in President Lincoln’s pocket the night he was assassinated and the quill pen used to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. In Mrs. Lincoln's Attic, kids can play with a model of the Lincoln Home, try on period clothing, perform chores from the 1800s, and play with reproduction historic toys. They can also have their photos take with life-size models of Abraham Lincoln as a boy and an adult, as well as with Mary Todd and the Lincoln children.

The Presidential Library is home to the world’s largest collection of Lincoln-related documents, artifacts and books, including more than 12 million items from the Illinois State Historical Library. Whether learning more about the life and times of President Lincoln or following your own family’s genealogical ties to Illinois, the Presidential Library is an amazing resource of information for families, historians and scholars.