Alan Lowe was Executive Director of the Lincoln Presidential Library, and as he struggled to help the debt-saddled institution survive, he hit on the idea of renting out Lincoln's original, handwritten text of the Gettysburg Address to noted colossal asshole Glenn Beck.
Lowe was fired for doing so. The Inspector General got word of the scheme when a whistleblower sent in a tip that Lowe was "pimping out" the library's treasures (including the Declaration) to Glenn Beck's "conservative museum," Mercury One.
Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker fired Lowe for violating the rules of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency as well as state law, which Lowe violated by allowing Beck to pay for his travel (and that of his COO) to Texas.
By Beck's own admission, he did not exhibit the Declaration at his museum.
In 2014, I helped rescue the only known surviving copy of the original Disneyland prospectus from Beck's hoarding; Beck bought it at auction but did not plan to allow others to see it, and I obtained a very high resolution scan of the document and deposited the 4GB file with the Internet Archive, and also provided a copy to archivists at the Walt Disney Company.
Beck recorded his handling of the items — fully aware of the rarity of having them in his possession.
“This collection was not in public view,” Beck was recorded saying.
And the museum has noted the address needs special attention such as room temperature and more, saying in a video:
“It is very susceptible to light. We want this document to stay around for generations.”
Lincoln Library Director Fired After Renting Out Gettysburg Address To Glenn Beck [Jermont Terry/CBS Local]
