Emancipation Proclamation copy lent to National Museum of American History
Published 10:08 pm Wednesday, January 14, 2009
WASHINGTON — A rare signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation has been lent to the National Museum of American History by Washington financier David Rubenstein.
The print is one of 48 signed by President Abraham Lincoln. The museum is displaying the Rubenstein copy in a permanent exhibition called “The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden.”
Issued on Jan. 1, 1863, the executive order freed the slaves in the Confederate states.
To celebrate Lincoln’s life, the history museum is opening two special shows on Friday. One is a collection of 10 documents from the Lincoln Library in Springfield, Ill. The items include a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation that is one of 12 original souvenir copies that weren’t signed.
“Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life,” the second exhibition, contains another copy, a decorative version. This show has 60 items that the Lincolns owned or used, including the top hat he was wearing the night of his assassination in 1865.
Earlier last year Rubenstein, the co-founder of the Carlyle Group, gave a copy of the Magna Carta to the National Archives. He had purchased that document for $21 million. Rubenstein’s office wouldn’t reveal the price he paid for the proclamation but said it was seven figures.
The original copy of the proclamation has been part of the National Archives since 1936.
