A Virginia group that donated a bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln to the National Park Service in 2003 was recently stripped of its tax-exempt status, according to Internal Revenue Service records.
It is not clear why the Richmond-based United States Historical Society lost its tax-exempt status, for which certain nonprofits — such as charitable or educational organizations — can apply.
The group is a self-described “private non-profit educational organization dedicated to fostering increased awareness and appreciation of America’s culture and history,” according to its Web site.
Martin J. Moran, president of the United States Historical Society, did not return a phone call seeking comment yesterday.
Mr. Moran told the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which first reported the story yesterday, that the statue of Lincoln and his son, Tad, is “one of the biggest and best undertakings the society has ever done.”
In January 2003, Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., Virginia Republican, asked the Park Service to investigate possible fraud by the historical society, which, according to the society’s literature, was selling miniature bronze replicas of the statue for $875 each to fund the life-size one that stands at the Richmond National Battlefield Park.
The project cost an estimated $250,000. It is not known how many statues were sold or how much money the group made.
The statue was dedicated in April 2003 to mark Lincoln’s visit to the war-ravaged Confederate capital in 1865.
The Park Service investigated the matter in February 2003 and concluded the fraud charges were unfounded.
Brag Bowling, a spokesman for the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which opposed the placement of the statue in Richmond, said the revocation of the society’s tax-exempt status proves the group was engaging in fraud.
“Everything we said was happening in 2003 has finally come to fruition,” Mr. Bowling said yesterday.
He questioned whether the Park Service investigated the financial dealings of the historical society.
“I don’t think any investigation was ever conducted,” he said. “This is how strongly they wanted to push that statue on the site.”
Park Service headquarters refers park-specific press inquiries to park superintendents.
Cynthia MacLeod, superintendent of the Richmond National Battlefield Park, could not be reached for comment yesterday. But she told the Times-Dispatch that the historical society appeared to have its tax-exempt status when the statue was donated.
Mr. Goode was initially concerned the historical society was misrepresenting itself as a nonprofit organization when it mailed 6,000 solicitations for people to buy the statuettes.
The historical society had also been operating under two names — the U.S. Historical Society, a nonprofit group, and the United States Historical Society, listed by the Virginia State Corporate Commission as a fictitious name belonging to a for-profit company named FKAO Inc., which had been owned by historical society Chairman Robert H. Kline.
The historical society had not been registered with the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs, which is required under state law in order to solicit contributions.
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