Letter
Dear Ms. O'Dell:
In its meeting of 16 September, the Commission of Fine Arts reviewed the proposed inscriptions and the modification of the seating areas at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial. The Commission approved the submission with several recommendations.
The Commission members expressed concern that the proposed attribution text for the quotations would appear excessive in the context of the memorial walls and may detract from the clarity and strength of Dr. King's words. They recommended that the citations on the memorial walls include simply the city followed by the year for spoken quotations, or the year alone for quotations from Dr. King's writings, and suggested that complete bibliographic information be made available to the public through printed or electronic media. The Commission approved the proposal to modify the seating areas to improve the accommodation of wheelchair users, with the understanding that no signage would be added.
The Commission looks forward to further review of the remaining design details of the memorial, including the final layout of the memorial's text. As always, the staff is available to assist you with the next submission.
Sincerely,
/s/Thomas E. Luebke, AIA
Secretary
Margaret O'Dell, Regional Director
National Park Service, National Capital Region
1100 Ohio Drive, SW
Washington, DC 20242
cc: Peter May, National Park Service
Dr. Ed Jackson, Jr., Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Project Foundation
Ronald Kessler, McKissack & McKissack