Tennessee has beat out several competing bids to display the original Emancipation Proclamation in early 2013. The fragile document signed by President Lincoln rarely leaves the National Archives, and will only be on display in Nashville for a few days.
The Emancipation Proclamation marked a turning point in the Civil War when Lincoln called to free millions of slaves.
To display the original, the state museum trumped historical societies in Virginia and Atlanta, says director Lois Riggins-Ezzell.
“You have a lot of places that would like to have had this show, and it was really a matter of who got there first, proved that they were capable of hosting it, proved that they were committed to doing the marketing.”
Riggins-Ezzell says that meant showing Tennessee’s museum has ample security as well as climate controls, because the old rag paper is so delicate. She hopes to draw visitors and field trips in from neighboring states, so the display will run twice as long as usual.
That means exposing the original to light for a total of 72 hours, at a cost around $450 thousand. The state museum hopes to get a head-start raising that money before the end of the year.
EXTRA:
Riggins-Ezzell says the original Emancipation Proclamation is “the hook” for a broader six-month exhibit featuring other historic texts:
“There are letters from boys on the front and there are letters from doctors, and slaves petitioning Lincoln and saying ‘Am I free, Mr. President?’ And when you stand in front of these documents you want to weep.”
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