As soon as the Illinois commission had been appointed the members of the Illinois State Historical Society felt that the society should make an exhibit.  As the appropriation of $2,000 was small and the time brief for the preparation of the exhibit, the trustee decided that no better and more appropriate exhibit could be made than a manuscript and pictorial life of Abraham Lincoln, these manuscripts and pictures to be arranged so plainly that they could be understood and appreciated by all.

The plan of the exhibit was to utilize all the space possible, and as this was the only exhibit in the Illinois Building it was made as handsome in appearance as possible.  Accordingly 16 large wall frames handsomely labeled in gold letters were prepared.  The labels read as follows: 

(1) Ancestry of Lincoln. (2) Youth of Lincoln. (3) Lincoln at New Salem. (4) Lincoln as a Surveyor. (5) Lincoln in the Black Hawk War. (6) Lincoln as a Lawyer (two cases). (7) Lincoln in Congress. (8) Domestic Life of Lincoln. (9) Lincoln and Douglas. (10) Lincoln and Douglas Debates. (11) Lincoln and the Foundation of the Republican Party. (12) The Campaign of 1860. (13) Lincoln in Washington, The Cabinet. (14) The War of Rebellion. (15) Assassination and Death.

The titles indicate the character of the contents.

The agricultural committee was organized, and the scope and character of the exhibit to be made by Illinois was carefully considered.

It was determined to devote entire attention to the exploitation of those products which can be grown most successfully and profitably within the limits of this State.  While the interests of Illinois were, of course, always given the first consideration, such an exhibit was of just as much interest and value to adjoining States, or, in fact, to any countries of the Temperate Zone where similar conditions of climate and soil exist as in the State of Illinois.

Accordingly it was determined to exploit the principal crop of the State, which surpasses all other in value—­that of corn.

It was also planned to exhibit choice specimens of wheat, oats, rye, millet, sorghum, Kaffir corn, clover, broom corn, and other grains and grasses, and did exhibit those varieties that can best be raised in the different sections of the State.  The grains were shown both in the sheaf and thrashed.  There were collected over one hundred varieties of native woods from different sections of the State.

The installation and exhibit was completed early in May, soon after the fair opened, except the soil exhibit, which was not finished in all its details until about a month later.  A company of Chicago donated to the committee an assortment of some thirty new by-products of corn, which have been manufactured by them in the last few years, including different varieties of glucose, starch, proteins, and different varieties of sugar, rubber, dextrine, corn oils, sirups, etc., which were exhibited in large jars arranged in the form of a pyramid.  The entire agricultural exhibit covered 10,000 square feet of space.