NANCY REAGAN OPENING THE VAULT OF GIFTS.

Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Daily News Staff Writer

A tour of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum led by former first lady Nancy Reagan is scheduled to air on NBC's ``Today'' show this morning.

On a warm summer afternoon last month, Reagan led ``Today'' co-anchor Katie Couric on a tour of the library's current exhibit, ``The Vault,'' a display of gifts given to the president during his decade in the White House.

``(Mrs. Reagan) thought the exhibit was important,'' Lynda Schuler, public affairs director of the Reagan Foundation, said Tuesday of the choice for the segment. ``It has a lot of nice items that remind viewers of the important history that took place during the Reagan years.''

The exhibit, which opened July 25 and will be on display through Oct. 25, was designed to give visitors a peek into the vault, the area of the library in which gifts are stored.

It includes a portrait of President Reagan made of 10,000 Jelly Belly jelly beans, a saddle given to him by Mikhail Gorbachev and 40 of the 372 Western-style belt buckles the two-term president received.

Schuler said the library also wanted to highlight this particular exhibit for a national audience to give people an idea of the responsibilities undertaken by a presidential library.

``It helps people understand what the museum staff here does in terms of preserving the gifts that were given,'' she said. ``People, by and large, don't understand what goes on at presidential libraries. One of our ongoing missions is to educate them, so this is an educational opportunity for television viewers.''

The Aug. 26 tour was only the second time the first lady led a television crew through the library - one of 10 maintained by the United States government in the country.

The first was a walk through the permanent exhibit with Larry King in January 1995.

The ``Today'' show segment is scheduled to air at 7:30 and 8 a.m. today on Channel 4.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color in Simi and Conejo Edition only) REAGAN

(2) Jelly bean jars are part of the display of gifts that will be seen this morning on the ``Today'' show.

Evan Yee/Daily News