Original Emancipation Proclamation on display at Reagan Library in Simi Valley through Tuesday

Next year marks the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, who was born on Feb. 12, 1809. This milestone has been met with all kinds of special events in his home state of Illinois, including the Journey of Remembrance, which features a flat-bottom boat trip that he once took from Indiana to New Orleans.

Now one of the most famous documents authored by the 16th president–the Emancipation Proclamation–is on display for a limited time at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. Click here to see photos of the document and the exhibit.

The five-page document issued during the Civil War on Jan. 1, 1863, declared ” ‘that all persons held as slaves’ within the rebellious states ‘are, and henceforward shall be free.’ ” The fragile document is only allowed to be on display less than 48 hours each year, according to the Reagan library.

Hours of viewing are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today (Sept. 20); 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday (Sept. 22); 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday. The document is on loan from the National Archives. There’s also a companion exhibit on Lincoln and the document through Oct. 24.

Go to the library’s website for information.
–Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times staff writer

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 20, 2008 at 11:35 am by Mary Forgione and is filed under California, Los Angeles, Weekend Getaways. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.