Will Abe Find His Public?

It all began innocently enough, but then Chuck Bechtloff ended up a man obsessed with all things Abe Lincoln.

His home and three-room office look like an Antiques Road Show, bulging with Lincoln, Civil War and presidential memorabilia.

There are thousands of pieces--so many that Bechtloff, a Huntington Beach professional recruiter and admittedly out-of-control collector, has been trying for two years to establish his own nonprofit museum.

“I know there’s a lot of interest out there; it’s just a matter of grabbing it,” Bechtloff said.

But alas, as Orange County and the rest of the nation mark Lincoln’s 190th birthday today, Bechtloff’s plans have gone nowhere and there are skeptics.

“Chuck is a good guy and he has a helluva collection,” said Carl A. Clink, past president of the Huntington Beach Historical Society. “But he’s fighting an uphill battle.”

The question, of course, is why, considering that in 1993-94 a traveling Lincoln exhibit drew a surprising 325,000 visitors to the Huntington Library in San Marino.

“This society down here [Orange County], there’s just not much care for it,” said Clink, a Civil War reenactor. “This is California, not Illinois,” which was Lincoln’s home state.

Undaunted, Bechtloff keeps on collecting as UPS trucks make almost daily deliveries and Noemi, his wife of 34 years, learns the true meaning of patience.

“He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t gamble, he doesn’t chase women,” she said with a mix of circumspection and resignation. “This is harmless. It makes him happy. I’ve become tolerant.”

Bechtloff, 59, began collecting in the early ‘90s when he acquired an Al Jolson autograph. But even at the age when most men have outgrown their toys, the contagion spread.

“I think it’s feeding on itself,” an unrepentant Bechtloff said. “It’s a hobby that got out of control.”

To wit: There are uniforms, kepis, shakos, pikes, artillery shells, swords, a field surgeon’s kit, broadsides, studio portraits and other photographs, signatures of all the presidents, campaign paraphernalia, banners and far more.

His 30 Lincoln items include a photo by famed photographer Mathew Brady, lithographs, a handwritten invitation to his funeral, and political items.

His collection smothers the walls, the floors and the ceilings. It’s hard to mince without tripping or risking a costly crunch. It’s also distracting--Bechtloff divides his time between consulting with clients and messing with his beloved stuff.

He does have a secret to collecting: “disposable income.”

Buying is the easy part. Finding about 5,000 square feet of donated space for a museum is something else. Bechtloff said he has approached the cities of Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley but found little enthusiasm.

The Huntington Library “has one of the great Lincoln collections in the world,” said curator John Rhodehamel, but it’s restricted primarily to researchers.

The public sees more at the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands, where visitors, largely students, can view thousands of artifacts, including books, manuscripts, photos, maps, documents and stamps and coins.

Interest in Lincoln, who freed the slaves and saved the Union in four years of Civil War, only to become America’s first assassinated president, “is strong and growing,” said Don McCue, curator of the shrine. Ten thousand history buffs came in 1997, a figure that rose 20% last year, according to McCue.

McCue called Lincoln “an almost mythological figure” and said the shrine is the only museum dedicated to the 16th president west of the Mississippi River.

Said Clink, musing on the limited enthusiasm for Lincoln in Orange County, “The people in Orange County are, more or less--I hate to say it--into themselves more than taking a moment to consider what men went through to give them that privilege.”