Honest Abe Returns: Cornell University to Reinstall Lincoln Bust Removed After ‘Someone Complained’

Cornell University will reinstall a bust of President Abraham Lincoln that was quietly removed from a school library over the summer after “someone complained.”

“Over the summer, I directed the cleaning and return to public exhibition of a bust of Abraham Lincoln, a valuable item in the Cornell Library’s vast permanent collection,” Elaine Westbrooks, the Carl A. Kroch university librarian at Cornell, told the College Fix.

“The bust will soon return to its original room in Uris in the heart of our Ithaca campus,” Westbrooks added.

In June, a Cornell professor said the school’s library removed a Lincoln bust, as well as a bronzed Gettysburg Address plaque, after somebody complained.

“Someone complained, and it was gone,” professor Randy Wayne said.

The bust of the 16th U.S. president and Gettysburg Address plaque had been on display in the Ivy League university’s Kroch Library since 2013.

“The Lincoln bust — had been featured in a temporary exhibit commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address,” Westbrooks explained. “That exhibit ended in August 2021 and the bust was moved to storage.”

“Subsequent questions about this curatorial decision inspired thoughtful conversation among library staff,” she added. “I was moved by the outpouring of interest in this historic artifact and made plans to return the bust to public view.”

The Lincoln bust, which was created by American sculptor Vinnie Ream — the first woman to be granted a federal commission by the United States — is now reportedly set to be placed where it originally debuted in 1891, Cornell’s Uris Library.

“I am thankful that Abraham Lincoln will be returned to public display at the Cornell Library system,” Wayne told the College Fix. “Abraham Lincoln is one of the greatest presidents, one of the greatest freedom fighters, and one of the greatest writers of the English language of all time.”

 

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