Emancipation Proclamation draws crowds to Reagan Library in Simi

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers A GENUINE ARTIFACT- Sycamore Canyon School fifth-graders Sam Vaughan, left, Christina Przybyla, and Ashley Gonzalez-Nunez look at President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. "And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are and henceforward shall be free."

With that executive order in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln set forward legislation to end slavery in America and ultimately defined his presidency.

Two years later, and after Lincoln's assassination, the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution finally ended the dark chapter in America's history.

At the time of its creation, the Emancipation Proclamation was more about helping the Union army win the Civil War than it was about man's inalienable rights. Yet the document will always be remembered by the masses as the order that freed the slaves.

Encased in temperatureandlightcontrolled glass and protected by two Buffalo Soldiers and several security guards, five pieces of parchment from the original proclamation were on view for five days—for a total of 45 hours—at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley last week.

It was a rare treat for area residents, especially considering that the National Archives and Records Administration, which loaned the document to the library, allows it to appear publicly only 48 hours per year. The rest of time it is housed in Washington, D.C., underground, away from the elements that speed up its deterioration.

Melissa Giller, library spokesperson, said staff had worked for more than a year to arrange the display of the document in Simi Valley. Last year it appeared at the William J. Clinton Library in Little Rock, Ark.

"How often do people in Ventura County get to see something like this?" Giller asked. "There are very few documents in history, the world's history, which gave people their freedom. It's so important to who we are as a nation."

If the turnout for the proclamation's first Ventura County visit is any indication, many others feel as Giller does.

An average of 1,500 people a day for five days passed through the small circular room the library had set up to contain the document, many having to be turned away for lack of viewing hours. The library allowed 90 people to see the exhibit every 30 minutes and tickets sold out by 2 p.m. almost every day, Giller said.

Even on Tuesday, the proclamation's last day at the library, visitors were forced to park on Presidential Drive and take the shuttle up.

"It was a huge draw," Giller said.

Many of the visitors were students from area schools.

Fifth-grade teacher Matt Arnold brought 35 students from Sycamore Canyon Elementary in Thousand Oaks on Tuesday.

Arnold said he was "elated" when he discovered a pre-planned field trip to the library coincided with the proclamation's visit.

"They are really getting to experience history here," Arnold said. "And they are going to learn much more when we study about this later in the school year."

The Emancipation Proclamation was the highlight of the museum's Forever Free exhibit, which is dedicated to Lincoln and the abolishment of slavery. Forever Free runs through Oct. 24.

The exhibit features 16 other Lincolnrelated writings and artifacts, most from the collection of Los Angeles resident Louise Taper, including a handwritten note Lincoln gave to a wounded Union solider fighting in 1864's bloody Wilderness campaign. A timeline marking significant events in the long history of slavery runs along the gallery's walls.

Though she considers the proclamation's stay in Simi a success, Giller said the library hopes to do a better job handling the large crowds that are expected to turn out in February when the Magna Carta of 1215 will be on display.

"We've learned a lot of lessons," she said.