Born in 1842, Osborn Oldroyd was fascinated by Lincoln since his youth. He started acquiring objects related to Lincoln in 1860. From 1883 to 1893, he rented Lincoln’s Springfield home before moving into the Petersen House. In 1901, when he was 59, he even retraced—on foot—John Wilkes Booth’s escape route. He remained in the Petersen House until his death in 1930, at which point his collection was relocated to the new Lincoln Museum on the first floor of Ford’s Theatre.