May 10, 2012
Washington letter to go back on display
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A 1790 letter by George Washington decrying bigotry to a synagogue in Rhode Island will go back on public display for the first time in a decade.
In the letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Washington said that America would give “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” It will be part of an exhibit at the National Museum of American Jewish History opening on June 29, according to the Forward, which has been pressing for the letter to be returned to public display.
The letter is on loan to the Philadelphia museum for the next three years.
The letter had been on display in the Klutznick Museum at B’nai B’rith International headquarters in Washington. In 2002 it was put in storage when the organization moved to smaller offices. The Forward revealed more than a year ago that the letter was being held in an art storage facility in Maryland and began campaigning for its return to public view.
