CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – UVA is moving its original copy of the Declaration of Independence for display in the Rotunda Dome Room for Presidents Day on Monday.
The historic document is usually displayed in the Small Special Collections Library in the Harrison/Small Building next to Shannon Library as part of a display titled “Declaring Independence.”
UVA Spokesperson Bethanie Glover told Cville Right Now this copy was purchased by the university for $4000 back in 1956, a year after it was discovered by someone rummaging through an attic in Albany, N.Y. wrapped around a bundle of documents.
“The copy is what’s known as a broadside, and it was produced on printing presses to quickly dispatch the news of the declaration to the colonies after it was finalized on July 4, 1776,” Glover said. “The Declaration that first comes to mind for many of us, the one with the large John Hancock signature, was actually created and signed a month after these rare broadside copies, and this copy is one of only 26 known to exist.”
Curators at UVA said in a UVA Today article that these copies were printed in Philadelphia by John Dunlap, and about 200 were distributed at the time. They call these “a historic gold standard”
“It was their version of breaking news,” University Library curator Holly Robertson said. “Today, it would be a tweet.”
“Now it would take seconds to get to our phones,” curator George Riser of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library said. “But it took all the way to July 26 for someone to get on a horse and bring (a copy) down to Williamsburg.”
Glover said this copy will be displayed from 1-5 p.m. on Presidents Day in the Rotunda Dome Room with several remarks, seminars and musical performances scheduled for the holiday.
