Documents include music, science, religion, literature, political history, exploration and artwork. Items are rotated between museums quarterly and each of the museums present a daily general exhibit and one or more special scheduled exhibits throughout the year. It was founded in 1983 by California real estate magnates David and Marsha Karpeles, with the goal of stimulating interest in learning, especially in children, To make documents more accessible, there are 12 Karpeles museums located across the United States-Charleston, Alvin, Texas, two in Buffalo, N.Y., Duluth, Minn., Fort Wayne, Ind., Jacksonville, Fla., Newburgh, N.Y., Rock Island, Ill., Santa Barbara, Calif., Shreveport, La., and Tacoma, Wash. It is the world's largest private collection of original manuscripts and documents. Just the mere size and scope of the Karpeles Manuscript Library at 68 Spring Street in Charleston, South Carolina, takes your breath away. We were happy to learn that when we return mid-May, 2018, there will be a completely new exhibit on display. A concurrent permanent exhibit was a series of large format photos showing the construction of the Arthur Ravenel Bridge over the Cooper River, a significant engineering feat. Very interesting and all written in longhand. Included were correspondence between Samuel Morse and various government entities dealing with patents, plans and contracts. We saw documents following the invention of the telegraph machine through the construction of a line between Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland. I should point out that exhibits change every four months and they follow a theme. The inside of the building is in considerably better repair than the outside and it’s a worthy home for the very interesting documents currently on exhibit. This week’s chilly wet weather called for indoor activities and the library made its way to the top of our list. We have stayed at an Air B&B pretty much across the street from the Karpeles several times and have never visited in spite of its being the most imposing building on the street.
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