Treasures from the collections of the Nebraska State Historical Society related to Abraham Lincoln will be displayed during the month of February at the Society's Museum of Nebraska History, 15th & P Streets, and the Society's headquarters building, 1500 R Street, both in Lincoln.

The Museum will feature the certificate that reappointed Alvin Saunders as Territorial Governor of Nebraska and was signed by Abraham Lincoln on April 13, 1865. The certificate was found on the President's desk the next morning, after his assassination, and may represent one of his last official acts.

A bronze sculpture cast from the life mask of Abraham Lincoln taken by artist Leonard Volk in 1860 is also on display. In 1886, a committee was formed to purchase the original casts and present them, along with bronze copies, to the National Museum in Washington. Additional bronze copies were presented to the committee members. This copy was a gift to General John J. Pershing in 1920 from Douglas Volk, the son of the artist. Pershing's family later donated it to the Nebraska State Historical Society.

An early photograph of Lincoln will be on display in the rotunda of the Society headquarters building, 1500 R Street. The ambrotype of Abraham Lincoln was taken in Springfield, Illinois in May of 1860.  It is believed that the photographer was William Marsh. The ambrotype was donated to the society by Miss. Charlotte Ward in 1956.  The ambrotype originally belonged to Frank Baldwin, the donor's uncle, a businessman, publisher, and friend of Lincoln's. The ambrotype passed to the donor's father, Dr. Henry Baldwin Ward, who was the Dean of the University of Nebraska Medical School in the early 1900s.

In addition to the Lincoln memorabilia, the Society Museum will also exhibit eighteenth-century Spanish pottery from Sarpy County. Historical Society archeologists discovered these ceramic sherds during 1998 excavations at the Eagle Ridge Site near Papillion. Eagle Ridge was occupied by a small band of Oto or Ioway Indians during the 1730s. Distinctive circular marks in the interior indicate the sherds were made on a potter's wheel, thus they are not native-made. Experts in colonial ceramics suggest they are fragments of Spanish olive jars, made either in Spain or Mexico. They are the only known examples of eighteenth-century Spanish pottery found in Nebraska or the surrounding central Great Plains. It is not known how the Otos or Ioways acquired them.

In 1720 Oto and Pawnee Indians attacked a party of Spanish soldiers, under the command of Pedro de Villasur, near present Columbus, Nebraska. Many of the Spanish were killed, and much of their equipment was lost. Ethnohistoric accounts speak of the Otos displaying various objects from the battle (including ceramics) to French officials in Illinois. Unless more convincing evidence is discovered, the Villasur battle is the most likely source for these early Spanish ceramics in eastern Nebraska.

All the artifacts are displayed as part of a year-long changing exhibit of "Nebraska Treasures," highlighting the 125 year collecting history of the Nebraska State Historical Society. Museum hours are 9-4:30, Monday-Friday and 1-4:30 Saturday and Sunday. The headquarters is open 8-5, Monday-Saturday. For more information call 471-3270 or visit .