Gettysburg Address to be on display at Lincoln museum

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A handwritten copy of Abraham Lincoln’s most famous speech will be on display for two weeks in a Springfield museum.

Officials with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum said it is only one of five surviving handwritten copies. The 1863 speech starts, “Four score and seven years ago…” Lincoln delivered it at the dedication of a cemetery for soldiers killed in the Battle of Gettysburg.

Most of the time the document is kept in a climate-controlled vault to protect it from light and humidity.

The exhibit opens Wednesday and ends Nov. 30. An actor portraying Lincoln will visit the museum to answer questions about the speech and there’ll be an online discussion on Thursday.

After the speech, Lincoln handwrote a copy that was sold to raise money to benefit wounded soldiers. Museum officials said “four score years later, it was for sale again,” and school children across Illinois donated change so the state could buy it. That copy is the one housed at the presidential library.