Schoolchildren asked to donate pennies to buy Lincoln papers

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The Illinois Bicentennial Commission is asking Sangamon County schoolchildren to donate pennies so it can buy an 1830s-era Abraham Lincoln document.

The (Springfield) State Journal-Register reports commission members want to obtain the Sangamon County Minute Book from July 1835 to July 1838 and donate it to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield. The book currently is in New York and includes information about some of Lincoln's first legal cases. It also has the certification that Lincoln had the good moral character required to practice law.

The two-week Illinois Proud Penny Drive hopes to raise $15,000. Commission officials say it will get children involved in the bicentennial and teach them about good morals.

The drive is inspired by a similar 1940s effort by schoolchildren to help raise money to buy a copy of the Gettysburg Address.

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Information from: The State Journal-Register, http://www.sj-r.com