Momentous Mementos : Reagan library: An exhibit featuring items from every U.S. President begins to take shape near Simi Valley.

Priceless mementos from all 41 U.S. Presidents, including Thomas Jefferson’s pocket watch and William Howard Taft’s mammoth bathtub, are being uncrated this week at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley.

The exhibit, which will open April 4, is being billed as the largest of its type ever assembled outside of Washington. Organizers said some of the pieces, such as an executive order signed by Abraham Lincoln, have never been put on public view in the West.

The display, called “Our Presidents: From Washington to Clinton,” will feature about 300 artifacts, from George Washington’s map of Mount Vernon to a saxophone played by Bill Clinton.

Many of the items shed light on the private lives of the Presidents: John Adams’ silver baby rattle, Warren G. Harding’s silent movie projector, Dwight Eisenhower’s green golf jacket and Gerald Ford’s college football helmet.

Library researchers said focusing on the Presidents’ personal activities was one of their goals in assembling the artifacts.

“You need to look at them as men, as human beings, not as unreachable officials,” said Ann Bethel, the Reagan museum curator who is setting up the exhibit. “They got up every morning and shaved. They slurped their soup. They played with their children. They went fishing.”

During the next two weeks, Reagan library staff members will clean the artifacts and arrange them in display cases in the museum’s auditorium.

Former President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, are expected to attend a private reception for the exhibit one day before it opens to the public. The exhibit runs through Nov. 30.

In underground storage rooms, library staff members this week donned white gloves to carefully unwrap and check the artifacts, which have been shipped from museums, colleges and other collections.

Because of its historic value, Lincoln’s original Executive Order 252, a precursor to the Emancipation Proclamation, was hand-carried from Washington.

“We’re all working with these objects, and it’s a humbling experience,” Bethel said. “We’re holding history in our hands.”

Because her husband had served in Southeast Asia, Bethel said she felt “cold chills” when she viewed the beige jacket that Lyndon Johnson wore when he addressed American troops in Vietnam.

Ralph C. Bledsoe, director of the Reagan library, was moved when he glimpsed Dolley Madison’s engagement ring, being readied for display.

“When you see something like that, which is so personal . . . ,” he said. “It probably meant a lot to me because I’ve just had three daughters married in the last three years.”

Some of the presidential artifacts have historic significance, such as the articles of impeachment that were prepared in a bid to oust Andrew Johnson and newspaper front pages published after the assassination of William McKinley.

But other mementos are more likely to trigger a smile. The Taft bathtub, for example, is a full-scale replica of the huge White House model that was built after the 361-pound President became stuck in a regular-size tub.

Visitors will also see an unusual chair constructed of elk horns, a gift that a Northern California mountain man presented to Rutherford B. Hayes in 1874.

Another amusing memento--a silver-plated dog dish given to Barbara Bush’s dog, Millie--also will be on view. A blue canine coat and a leather dog collar with a silver name plate, both worn by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s pet, Fala, will be displayed.

Reagan will be represented in the exhibit by a hologram picture and a microphone he used in a 1980 debate during the New Hampshire primary campaign. But Bledsoe emphasized that the exhibit will focus on the office of the presidency, not the man for whom the Simi Valley library is named.

“This will let people reflect on the office and the people who’ve been in that office--and who they were behind the mask of the presidency,” he said.

FYI

The exhibit of 300 artifacts from the 41 U.S. Presidents will be open to the public April 4 through Nov. 30 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The library is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Effective April 1, visiting the library museum will cost $4 general admission; $2 for senior citizens age 62 and older; free for children ages 15 and younger.