LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — Going through every item in presidential historian Larry Cook's collection at his home in Luzerne County is a huge task.
"I know it's more than 5,000, it's probably more up around 8,000 items," Cook said. "I have a lot of it out, but we have a lot of things archived away."
Lucky for us, the lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair isn't one of those items.
"I have something from all the presidents from George Washington to President Biden."
Cook says he believes his interest in the presidency started after JFK was assassinated when he was just 3 years old.
"And then, when I was about 12 years old, my grandmother got me this piece right here—the Lincoln penny with Kennedy's image."
That's when his collection of items and knowledge about presidents began.
Cook's ultimate goal is to have a full collection of presidential signatures. He's only missing seven out of all 45 presidents.
"It's not that I couldn't have had those by now, but I wait till I get something that's really special for me to be in the collection," Cook said. "My expertise is on the personal side of the presidency and the little-known facts. So, I really love things that are of a personal nature."
"It gives me goosebumps, you know, to think that I'm holding this letter now that Benjamin Harrison was pouring his emotions out into," he added.
Or something a president signed before he held the office.
"Warren Harding was a newspaperman. Andrew Johnson, he was a tailor. Harry Truman was a haberdasher. Jimmy Carter was a farmer. You know, so it personalizes it, and I think things will be a whole lot better today in politics if we took that into consideration that our politicians are people, they're just like us. I think a lot of people forget that."
Cook holds presentations regularly at the Hoyt Library in Kingston.
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