James M. Cornelius, the curator of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, believed that Bloom may have sought the Lincolns out to not only make money from the sale of the portrait but to legitimatize its authenticity.
James M. Cornelius, the curator of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, believes that Bloom was able to pull off the hoax because all the participants in his story were dead. Cornelius also believes that Bloom sought the Lincolns out to not only make money from the sale of the portrait but to legitimatize its authenticity.