Lincoln Life Mask Donated to U of I Springfield campus

A Springfield family has donated a rare bronze cast of Abraham Lincoln to the University of Illinois-Springfield.

The family of Rick and Dona McGraw donated one of only 15 bronze casts of an original Abraham Lincoln life mask to the University of Illinois Springfield. The original plaster mold was taken of Lincoln's face by sculptor Clark Mills in 1865... just two months before Lincoln's assassination. The mask shows Lincoln's tired eyes and face full of wrinkles from the toll of the Civil War.

The McGraw family got the mask when they bought the McDonald's restaurant in downtown Springfield. It was the only item the family saved from the restaurant when they remodeled the building.

The university plans to display the mask at Brookens Library.