Private Martin Luther King archive opened to public

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New York (dpa) - The private archive of the US' most famous civil- rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr, was opened to the public for the first time Wednesday ahead of its auction later this month.

The collection of more than 10,000 manuscripts, books and handwritten documents, chronicles the political activism of King from 1948 up to his assassination in 1968. It includes an early typewritten draft of his famous "I have a Dream" speech in 1963, as well as the manuscript of his 1964 acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.

Auction house Sotheby's in New York, which is hosting the nine-day public exhibition in anticipation of the June 30 auction, has called it the most important US archive of the 20th Century. It is expected to be sold for between 15 and 30 million dollars.

The decision to release the private collection was made by King's four children after the civil-rights campaigner's wife, Coretta Scott King, passed away in January. The family decided the documents would be better kept at a research institution or museum, but has insisted the archive be kept in one piece.