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The Lincoln Memorial Shrine

A Lincoln Museum in Redlands, CA

Two hundred years after his birth, the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln continues to fascinate and inspire. Born into poverty on the edge of an untamed frontier, his rise from obscurity to greatness has become a symbol of the universal hope that we can all improve our circumstances in life.

Leonard W. Volk

Abraham Lincoln
Cast of Face and Hands, 1860
Leonard Wells Volk (1828-1895)
Bronze

 Leonard Wells Volk was a cousin of Stephen A. Douglas and a sculptor.  He made casts of Lincoln’s face on March 31, 1860 in Chicago between court sessions where Lincoln was counsel in the famous Sandbar case, a dispute over lands north of the Chicago River.  Volk put quills in Lincoln’s nose to permit breathing and then applied wet plaster to his face, an operation which took half an hour.  After the plaster had set Lincoln, gradually worked the mask off, pulling a few hairs from his temple.  The pain made his eyes water.  Later, he commented that “the process was anything but agreeable.”  After the settings, as the likeness emerged from the clay, Lincoln remarked “there’s the animal himself.”

These casts of Lincoln’s hand were made from the original by Leonard Wells Volk which is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.  About a week after Lincoln was nominated for President at the Republican Convention held in Chicago May 19, 1860, Volk went to Springfield to cast Lincoln’s hands.  Volk requested Lincoln hold a stick in order to define the veins and lines of the hand.  Lincoln went to his woodshed and returned to the dining room whittling a broom handle.  Volk remarked that the edges did not need such careful whittling.  “Oh, well,” said Lincoln, “I thought I would like to have it nice.”

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Mission Statement

As a museum and memorial, the Lincoln Memorial Shrine seeks to deepen the understanding of President Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War and its impacts on generations of Americans through education, interaction, exhibition, and research.

Donate to the LMS

If you would like to give a donation to the Lincoln Memorial Shrine, please contact Nathan Gonzales, Curator at (909)798-7632 or heritage@akspl.org.

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Contact Us

Research Center - (909) 798-7632

Museum - (909) 798-7636

125 West Vine Street Redlands, CA

 

Group Tours

Tours are temporarily unavailable.

Hours of Operation

Monday Closed
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday Closed
Thursday Closed
Friday Closed
Saturday Closed
Sunday Closed

Copyright © 2021 · Lincoln Memorial Shrine, All Rights Reserved

The Lincoln Memorial Shrine is a unit of the Special Collections Division of A.K. Smiley Public Library. The Watchorn Lincoln Memorial Association, a 501 (c)3 tax deductible organization oversees the WLMA endowment.