Free The Flushing Remonstrance!
BY LIZ GOFF

Queens historian David Oats is leading the charge to convince state officials to release the Flushing Remonstrance document from a vault in the state capital in Albany, where it has been stored for more than three centuries

"They aren't holding the Remonstrance in a glass showcase," Oats said. "They have it stored in a vault, in a virtual prison-like setting, where the public is unable to even view it."

Oats, president of the Flushing Meadows Park World Fair Association, said after a successful three-year battle, state officials agreed to a "temporary release" of the Remonstrance in 1999, when the document was delivered to the Main Street, Flushing branch of the Queens Library for a public viewing.

"Teams of state troopers brought the Remonstrance to Queens in an armored vehicle, not unlike those used to transport prisoners," Oats said. "When the viewings were over, they returned it in the same vehicle."

Thousands of people lined up at the library to view the document while it was on display between November 1999 and late January 2000, Oats said. "The display was originally scheduled to end in December 1999, but it was extended through January 2000 to accommodate the thousands of people who wanted to view the document," he added.

"Our ultimate aim is for the Remonstrance to be returned to Queens, to be permanently displayed in the newly expanded and renovated Queens Museum of Art- in the very building that served two World's Fairs, in the very place where the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

To that end, Oats has already obtained approval of the Museum's Board of Trustees and its executive director.

"I feel [the Queens Museum] would be the finest 'temple' for the presentation and continuance of the Remonstrance," Oats said.

State officials turned down prior requests to transfer the Remonstrance to Bowne House, the Flushing Armory and Flushing Town Hall for public viewings because they felt the locations could not properly store and secure the document, Oats said

The two-page document on display in Queens shows scorching from damage in a 1911 fire at the state capital. State archive officials said special steps must be taken to prevent the document from damage by light. Oats said the Queens Museum offers the necessary safe environment and around-the-clock security for the frail document, as well as a suitable environment for public viewing. He argued that state officials should also reconsider the newly renovated Flushing Town Hall as a viewing site, since the building now boasts state-of-the-art security and storage facilities and was recently declared a subsidiary of the Smithsonian Institute.

Oats said the group may hit a roadblock in their negotiations with state officials for permanent return of the document, since the Queens Museum is about to undergo major renovations that may take up to two years to complete.

"We are aware that the state may use the renovations to turn down our request for permanent transfer of the Remonstrance to Queens," Oats said. "That's why we are, at this time, insisting that the Remonstrance be temporarily returned to Queens for viewing during the 2007 anniversary celebration, while we continue our fight to bring it home forever when the renovations are completed."

Cogressmember Joseph Crowley is supporting efforts to bring the Remonstrance back to Queens for good. "Allowing the Flushing Remonstrance to be permanently displayed in its historic birthplace, Queens, would be the ultimate tribute to the significance the document plays in the history of New York City and the nation," Crowley said. "This precious document should not be locked up in a vault in Albany."

Oats said the group has established a Web site where the public can read the entire text of the Flushing Remonstrance and sign a petition to Governor Eliot Spitzer calling for the return of the Remonstrance to Queens.

For more information on the year-long series of events commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Flushing Remonstrance, to sign the petition or to read the document in its entirety, visit www.flushingremonstrance,gov.