Museums have become warehouses for myths and legends, and the Indiana State Museum is no exception. A significant part of Lincolniana on display in the museum is the corner cupboard attributed to Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father. It was purportedly constructed in Spencer County between 1816 and 1830.

The Indiana State Museum Society, the precursor to the Indiana State Museum Foundation, purchased the cupboard in 1979 for $15,000. At the time, it was one of fewer than ten cupboards known to exist. Other examples are in the collections of the Henry Ford Museum, the Speed Museum of Art, the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum in Tennessee and the Evansville Museum.

Our corner cupboard was acquired from the direct descendants of Mr. John Richardson and Mrs. Nancy Castleman Richardson. The Richardson farm adjoined the Lincoln farm. It has been said that Lincoln's father made the cupboard for the Richardson family who presented it to their daughter, Nancy Richardson Beard, on the occasion of her marriage.

Various stories and folklore have followed this piece throughout its history. Some contest that Abe made the cupboard with only his father's guidance, while others say that the two constructed it together. Many continue to feel that Thomas Lincoln, a carpenter by trade, built it himself. To date, experts disagree as to whether or not either had any role in the history of this piece. However, most seem to agree with Mark E. Neely, Jr., former director of the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum in Fort Wayne, who wrote, "I would say that you have about as much as the hardscrabble frontier ever leaves behind in the way of proof in these matters."

Indeed, there are countless sworn affidavits and personal accounts on file that, if nothing else, definitively establish the connection between the piece and the Lincolns' neighbors, the Richardson family.