Rare documents signed by Lincoln removed from D.C. memorial after heat exposure
The 160-year-old historic anti-slavery documents, on loan for a new exhibit beneath the Lincoln Memorial, were removed Thursday after being exposed to unsafe temperatures, a spokesman for philanthropist Kenneth C. Griffin, who owns the works, said.
Both documents are milestones in the nation’s bloody struggle to end slavery and are worth millions of dollars. They were loaned for public display in a new exhibition space beneath the Lincoln Memorial, known as the Underground, which opened June 25 to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday.
“The National Park Service has informed us that documents on display for the Lincoln Memorial celebration were exposed to temperatures slightly above optimal conditions for long-term preservation,” the spokesperson said in a statement to The Washington Post on Wednesday. he said.
“Out of an abundance of caution, these sacred documents are being temporarily relocated while the National Park Service resolves environmental issues caused by the heat wave that has gripped Washington, D.C.,” the statement said. The statement was included.
A person familiar with the situation said the background documents were removed Thursday afternoon. Temperatures soared into the upper 90s in Washington that day.
The lower level was closed most of the day on Thursday, according to a sign posted at the entrance. It reopened around 17:00. Inside, an announcement was made to visitors that historical documents had been removed and replaced with “identical copies.”
Uri Yokel and his wife, Kathy Rodriguez, had tickets for the 3:30 p.m. underground, but when they arrived Thursday afternoon with Rodriguez’s brother and his wife, who were visiting from Chicago, they were disappointed to find the museum closed.
Yokel said a security guard told them it was closed for maintenance, “and we think it might have something to do with the paperwork they had to rush out of here.”
Yokel, who lives in Greenbelt, Maryland, said he was glad authorities were trying to preserve the documents, but he would have appreciated them letting his team know before they arrived: “How about sending us an email?”
Rare copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution bear the original signatures of Abraham Lincoln and other Civil War-era dignitaries.
The person speaking on background said they would be moved to a climate-controlled facility and subjected to a thorough examination.
The documents were loaned for a new exhibit beneath the monument by hedge fund billionaire Griffin, who bought them at auction last year for $18 million. (The originals are in the National Archives.) They would be on display until next June.
The move comes after City Cast DC reported that documents were being stored in unsafe conditions, with National Park Service employees saying screens designed to protect documents from light were malfunctioning and temperatures inside the display case repeatedly reached levels above 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Temperatures of historical documents should be kept “between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, with fluctuations of no more than 5 degrees during any 24-hour period,” the National Archives website says.
A spokesman for the National Park Service, which oversees the Lincoln Memorial, said Wednesday night that it worked with Griffin’s philanthropic team, Griffin Catalyst, and the National Park Foundation to relocate the documents during the heat wave.
“The National Park Service is committed to the preservation of these historic resources and will not exhibit them if their preservation or safety is compromised,” the statement said. The statement was included. “The documents will be returned once this work is completed.”
The National Park Foundation, which facilitated the loan of the documents, said in a statement: “Our absolute priority is their long-term preservation.”
An 1865 copy of the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery in the United States, handwritten on lined parchment.
The copy of the Declaration of Independence is the so-called broadside printed on paper.
The new $69 million exhibit space occupies 15,000 square feet in the basement of the Lincoln Memorial, a whopping 50,000 square feet of space.
The lower level was previously home to lost construction equipment and old graffiti.
The new space allows visitors to view the massive concrete foundations that support the monument through floor-to-ceiling glass.
The lower floor, its new exhibits, and the Lincoln papers were unveiled with fanfare in the news media on June 18.
Griffin and the National Park Foundation “thanks to their grace and generosity [are] “It allows us to display original signed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment,” Kevin Griess, director of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, told reporters and photographers that day.
“No flash, please,” he told photographers.
“The Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment took a profound step forward by eliminating the scourge of slavery and bringing the country closer to its founding ideals,” Griffin said in a statement.
The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated on May 30, 1922, on what was then called Decoration Day, at an event attended by thousands of people, including Lincoln’s 78-year-old son Robert.
The monument, with its 12-meter-high columns that bend slightly inward for architectural effect, was modeled after the Parthenon, the Greek temple of the goddess Athena.
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