The family of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and members of Congress are negotiating a deal to sell documents from the slain civil rights leader’s final six years to the Library of Congress.
Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said that King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, and two sons have indicated they’re willing to sell the collection of 80,000 pages for $10 million less than their appraised value of $30 million, the Associated Press reported October 27.
If the deal is completed, it would be the most Congress has ever paid for a manuscript collection for LC. Jill Brett, a spokeswoman for the library, said LC first expressed an interest in acquiring King’s papers two years before his 1968 assassination.
Clyburn, who last month introduced legislation that would authorize Congress to make the purchase, said he was hopeful that legislation and the actual appropriation to buy the collection could be approved by Congress before it adjourns for the year.
Posted November 1, 1999.