Old stuff for a new year

I had a unique New Year's Eve. Yesterday evening Nicole, Elizabeth, and I went to the National Archives to see the Emancipation Proclamation on display. It's written on very flimsy paper and then was kept in a [not climate controlled] file box at the State Department until 1936 so it's really fragile and the original is not out very often.

But today is its 150th anniversary so we could go see it! For those of you elsewhere here's the digital version:

You can see the rest on the Archives website. 

We were proud...geekiest New Year's ever. Although we certainly were not alone in our fascination. We had to stand in line in the viewing room for almost an hour. Brent tried to go see it today and the line was so long he gave up; at 2:00 it wrapped around both sides of the block and if the building really closed at 5:30 then the end of the line wasn't likely to even get inside. 

Also, did you know that the Archives has a original 1297 copy of the Magna Carta? That's right, it is 716 years old. And it's sitting in a glass case 6 blocks away from me. It's in better shape than the Declaration of Independence, remarkably enough. I guess real parchment is pretty tough stuff. 

So have a wonderful 2013 everyone. I hope you enjoy this little trip down memory lane.