Glenn Beck gives $50K to Lincoln artifacts debt

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Media personality and political commentator Glenn Beck is pitching in to keep a trove of artifacts related to Abraham Lincoln in the 16th president's hometown.

Beck's charity, Mercury One, has donated $50,000 toward a $9.2 million debt owed for a collection of 1,400 artifacts purchased a decade ago for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.

Beck says: "Lincoln's mission didn't end in the 1860s. His words challenge us yet today."

The museum's fundraising foundation took out a $23 million loan in 2007 to obtain the collection. The collection includes valuable personal effects of Lincoln's and a stovepipe hat whose link to Lincoln has been questioned.

Museum director Alan Lowe thanked Beck for his gift and for urging listeners of his popular radio talk show to help.