Original Martin Luther King Papers Predicted to earn $15M

More than 10,000 manuscripts and books from the estate of Martin Luther King Jr., many in his handwriting, will be sold June 30. The collection will be sold in a single lot and is expected to fetch $15 million to $30 million, according to Sotheby's Auction House.

The auction will be preceded by a nine-day exhibition June 21-29 of items ranging from drafts of some of King's most famous speeches and essays to his blue test booklets from college. More than 7,000 items offered are in King's own handwriting.

The collection includes an early draft of his historic "I Have a Dream" speech -- four typed pages with handwritten notes -- and his "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

Also included is a telegram inviting King to President Lyndon Johnson's signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of King's crowning achievements as a leader of the civil rights movement. The telegram advised him to "bring your telegram as it will be your admission card."

"In the wake of Mrs. King's passing, the estate believes that it must resolve the process of finding an appropriate home for The Collection of Martin Luther King, Jr.," Sotheby's reported. It said the King estate stipulated that the collection be kept together.