Pretty Amazing and Super Cool!!

Cameron Rager, age 10, upon visiting the special exhibition of Abraham Lincoln’s draft of “The Emancipation Proclamation” on October 6th, 2012 told his mother and me, his grandmother, that “his anxiousness to get to the Burchfield Penney Art Center for this exhibition that morning was rewarded”.

Cameron has a very high IQ and has been a huge fan of history since the age of 5. Just prior to his 6th birthday his parents took him to Washington DC where his 2 desires were to see Ford Theater and Abraham Lincoln’s hat, which he did. Now he has expanded that experience by seeing “Something Abraham Lincoln wrote and touched”. He was very impressed to see what are believed to be Lincoln’s fingerprints. Very intent on reading every word of the document and discussing it with the staff from the NY State Library, Cam created a bit of a jam-up with the line. But people were elated to see the excitement it generated with a child.

In addition, seeing the speech written by Martin Luther King with his edits was “extra cool”. Again a slight line jam was created while he read every single word “Since it will probably be the only time he will be able to see it.”

To top off “ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I HAVE EVER SEEN!”, Cameron was thrilled to be given copies of the exhibition booklet to take to his Social Studies teacher “who makes history fun” and his 5th grade classmates. A proud moment!

I am so thrilled that we were able to provide this experience for an amazing young history buff; and grateful that I could see it through my grandchild’s eyes.

H. Welthea Christman, Coordinator of Volunteer Services