Today’s Chicago Tribune has an article and video about the recent restoration of a copy of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Piece of history rescued from time by Lolly Bowean. The Amendment, signed in 1865, abolished slavery. Illinois – the Land of Lincoln—was the first state to ratify this amendment. According to an Associated Press story (Rare copy of 13th Amendment signed by Lincoln restored for viewing at Illinois museum by Tammy Webber), there are now about 14 commemorative copies of the document signed by President Lincoln; other copies lack Lincoln’s signature. The State of Illinois obtained its copy for $3,000 in 1941, but it had been stuck in a vault, deteriorating, at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, and has rarely been displayed in recent decades.
 

Watch the video: The president of the company responsible for restoration of the document displays its prior condition using a tablet computer.