An Illinois House committee has advanced legislation to eliminate the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and shift care of historic sites to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Meanwhile, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum would be spun off into its own state agency. State Representative Tim Butler of Springfield believes a recent Op/Ed piece from Springfield's State Journal Register says it all, that the inability of organizations to work together has plagued events during this 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination and the museum...

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Butler believes IHPA knows history but may not be skilled at marketing it, especially at the museum...

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The House Executive Committee action also moves the DCEO a step closer to being converted to a public private partnership.