America 250: The day the Declaration of Independence came to LA

When the Freedom Train rolled into Los Angeles on Feb. 23, 1948, carrying the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and more than 120 other historic American documents, it became a sensation. Thousands waited for hours to tour the traveling exhibit at Exposition Park, but so many people were turned away that UCLA librarian Lawrence Clark Powell saw an opportunity.

Determined to bring those treasures back to Southern California, Powell persuaded renowned rare-book collectors Philip and A.S.W. Rosenbach to loan many of the same documents to UCLA. Exactly one year after the Freedom Train's visit, Powell Library opened the "Great American Historical Documents, Manuscripts and Books" exhibition, giving students and the public another chance to experience some of the nation's most important broadsides and artifacts.

The exhibition featured extraordinary pieces of history, including George Washington's hand-drawn map of Mount Vernon, Paul Revere's commission as a messenger, a firsthand account of Abraham Lincoln's assassination and California's first state constitution. More than 500 students visited within the first few hours, and one sponsor called it "the greatest exhibition of its kind ever loaned to a university library."

The exhibit reflected UCLA's broader commitment to civic education in the years following World War II. University leaders framed it as an opportunity to reaffirm the democratic ideals embodied in the nation's founding documents - a mission that began with the Freedom Train and found a lasting home on the UCLA campus.

UCLA Provost Clarence A. Dykstra said of the historical documents: "They represent in graphic form the ideals of democracy for which this university and this nation stand."

Read more in UCLA Magazine.