vovamil.blogg.se

1. Karpeles manuscript library museum wedding archive#
2. Karpeles manuscript library museum wedding series#

Validation for Karpeles’ small-city approach would not be long in coming. He promptly closed it and instead opened his libraries in places like Santa Barbara, Jacksonville, Shreveport, and Fort Wayne. He was convinced to select less culturally satiated cities for his libraries when only 69 people showed up to see an original draft of the Bill of Rights at the launch of a New York City location. Have it.Įarly on, Karpeles chose not to open in big cities like LA, Chicago, or Boston. The Constitution of the Confederate States of America? The official rescue report from the Titanic? Lindbergh’s actual landing certificate following his fabled transatlantic flight? Have it. A manuscript of Einstein explaining his theory of relativity? Have it. The original manuscript of Wagner’s “Wedding March”? Have it. Included in their displays are practically anything you can think of. Today there are 14 Karpeles Manuscript Libraries dotting the country.

Karpeles manuscript library museum wedding series#

It was on that day that David and Marsha Karpeles decided to focus their philanthropic energy on building a series of manuscript libraries.Īlmost immediately, they began collecting their own historical documents, with Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction houses among their prime hunting grounds. But these were actual documents that these great men had touched,” Karpeles says, acknowledging that his kids’ reactions set off a lightbulb of inspiration. “I think the difference was that in school, they just saw pictures in books.

He made mistakes just like I do.’ In this rare handwritten letter, Albert Einstein answers a question from a science teacher about a key scientific principle, using a series of complex mathematical equations. “Then my son, not to be outdone, said ‘Dad, come over here! George Washington crossed out things, too. It does look just like a fifth grader’s.’ “So, I went over to the display case and said, ‘You’re right. And his handwriting looks just like mine.’ “All of a sudden I heard my daughter say, ‘Look Daddy, it’s Thomas Jefferson. David Karpeles still smiles when thinking of that day in the late 1970s, when his bored kids suddenly became mesmerized by the historical documents on display. The story began nearly 40 years ago when the real estate mogul and his wife dragged their reluctant kids to California’s Huntington Library.

The libraries are the brainchild of David and Marsha Karpeles (“KAR-pluhz”).

Karpeles manuscript library museum wedding archive#

With more than a million originals to its name, the collection is the largest private archive of its kind in the world - an archive as eclectic as it is massive. (Courtesy David Karpeles)īut then collecting and preserving historical documents is what the Karpeles Manuscript Libraries are all about. Carolers by Norman Rockwell - pencil study for a 1950 Hallmark Christmas card. There was even a letter from Leon Czolgosz - who? - the man who assassinated President William McKinley. Pope Pius VII was represented, along with abolitionist John Brown. So did Galileo, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Napoleon. Mary Queen of Scots had a letter in this exhibit.

The missive was part of an exhibit called “Letters from the Pen,” a collection of letters from some of the world’s most notable, and hopefully more hygienic, people serving time. “That was one doc­ument I really didn’t want to touch.” “There was a yellow stain on one corner marked pee, with an arrow pointing to it,” he laughs. Sometimes even with the original ink stains on the paper.” “People come in thinking they’re just going to see reproductions, and then they realize that they’re looking at originals. Minor has served as director of the Karpeles Manuscript Library in Jacksonville, Florida, for 11 years. Manson, Dylan, Einstein, Lincoln: Visit the Largest Private Document Archive in the WorldĪt one point, we even had a Charles Manson letter here,” recalls Richard Minor, a mischievous smile creeping into his voice.