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UTICA, N.Y. -- The only surviving draft of the Emancipation Proclamation is in Utica this week as it continues its state-wide tour.

Adults and school kids from around the Mohawk Valley are filing in to Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute to see the piece of history. The document is hand-written by Abraham Lincoln himself, except for some portions he pasted in from other speeches. It wasn't originally scheduled to stop in Utica, but area representatives objected, citing Oneida County's history.

"It is important to have this document here in Utica, because Oneida County and Utica were very involved in the Civil War," MWPAI Museum of Art Director Anna D'Ambrosio said.

"For those that served in the armed forces, as well as those that moved for the abolition of slavery and involved in the Underground Railroad as well," she said.

The proclamation will be on display at Munson-Williams-Proctor through 9 p.m. Wednesday.