The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum has acquired a business ledger that sheds new light on Lincoln’s early days as a lawyer, showing him buying materials for a better suit and settling his debts before leaving the little village of New Salem to start over in Springfield.
The ledger, previously unknown from a dry goods store, was donated by the family of the late Raymond and Alia Montgomery of Petersburg, Ill.
The Library and Museum already owned the store ledgers immediately before and after this one.
The new ledger will be displayed at the ALPLM’s library building from Nov. 19 through the end of the year.
