Finally, the time has come.
I just knew that if I waited long enough . . .
This Friday, at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences in Lincoln Park, a spectacular and historically significant exhibition will open, and will remain through April 28. The exhibit is called “American Originals: Treasures from the National Archives.”
Included are some of the most famous documents in our nation’s existence. The original Louisiana Purchase Treaty will be on display; the voting journal of the 1787 Constitutional Convention; Thomas Edison’s 1879 patent application for the electric lamp; President John F. Kennedy’s handwritten notes for his 1961 inaugural address. . . .
It is the story of this country, on the actual pieces of paper. It should be wonderful.
Which is where my offer comes in.
I’ve been waiting all this time to be a patron of the arts, and to loan out a great American historical document that I purchased many years ago. I have guarded and protected it fiercely. But this would seem to be the proper forum, and I am willing to let the Notebaert museum have it until April 28.
It’s the thank-you note that Elvis Presley sent to his laundry.
It’s authentic, it’s valuable, and now is the time for it to shine.
I bought it after antiques connoisseur Rick Kogan saw it for sale in a gallery. Allow me to describe it.
It is a yellowing piece of stationery with, in the upper left-hand corner, the embossed notation:
From the home of . . . Elvis Presley
Yes — home of, not desk of. Elvis was not a desk guy.
And on the paper itself, in ballpoint pen, are these words:
I should like to commend your Laundry for doing a fantastic job on my clothes, you show esceptional care. Sincerely E.P.
More Top Picks Construction
Now . . . is that moving? Is that a stirring piece of Americana? Who writes thank-you notes to their laundry?
Elvis, of course — a very polite man.
Sure, he seemed to have a little trouble spelling “exceptional” — but anyone with a dictionary can spell “exceptional.” Could they sing “Heartbreak Hotel”? Could they never play before a single empty seat in Las Vegas?
The letter was written just as Presley was becoming a star — before he moved into Graceland, when he was living in a house on Audubon Drive in Memphis. It is beautifully framed, with a deep-red background; there also is a color photo of Elvis half-sneering, half-pouting, with an acoustic guitar under his arm; there is a brass plate that says “ELVIS PRESLEY 1935-1977.”
Admit it — this is history with a smile, with drawing power. An 1864 telegram from William Sherman to Abraham Lincoln will be a part of the exhibit — but tell the truth. What do you think people would line up in front of — the Sherman-Lincoln telegram, or the Presley-laundry thank-you note?
In case you are thinking that the Presley note would diminish the seriousness of the exhibition:
Wrong. Included in the official Notebaert exhibit is a memo that was sent to President Richard Nixon preparing him for a 1970 meeting with Presley in the White House. The exhibit is already trying to cash in on Elvis — but the curators don’t have the real thing. A memo about Elvis? Come on. They can have the genuine article — they can have the laundry note.
Sure, Edison invented the electric light — but Elvis burned up millions of them on all those big marquees in Vegas. Sure, the Louisiana Purchase was a notable event — but Elvis once appeared on the “Louisiana Hayride.” There’s not a single part of our country’s story that didn’t touch Elvis, and that Elvis didn’t touch back.
I ask nothing for this — I make the offer for the good of the museum, and for the good of America. All the museum has to do is call, and the thank-you note is theirs until the end of April.
And if they somehow decline to take advantage of this, and don’t want this precious-beyond-gold-and-diamonds item, you know the question they’re going to hear more than any other, every single day of the exhibit:
“Uh . . . where’s the laundry letter at?”
Thank you very much. You’ve been an esceptional audience.
———-
– Bob Greene comments on the news of the day Thursdays on the “WGN News at Nine.”