The Meaning Behind a Rare Printing of the Declaration of Independence

**Brigid Bergen** (0:10)
It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergen filling in for Brian today.
Before the ink dried on the Declaration of Independence, our nation's founders were racing to spread the word of our sovereignty. The document was rushed to the print shop of John Dunlop, who printed roughly 200 copies overnight. The news was then circulated across the 13 former colonies and beyond, spreading through newspapers, letters and broadsides. Large and single sheet printings made to be posted on trees and buildings and to be read in town halls, places of worship and other community hubs.
This coming Saturday is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration's adoption, and the New York Historical is marking the occasion by unveiling a rare unsigned broadside of the text. The copy has been in the Historical's collection since at least 1949, but new research and examination by their library staff has shed new light on its origins. It's on display in the New York Historical's Tang Wing for American Democracy through July 5th. Joining us now to discuss the exhibit are Louise Mirrer, President and CEO of the New York Historical, and Nina Nazionale, the New York Historical's Director of Library, Curatorial Affairs and Research. Louise and Nina, welcome to WNYC.

**Louise Mirrer** (1:33)
Thank you.

**Brigid Bergen** (1:34)
Thank you.
This unattributed broadside of the Declaration of Independence is a central part of the New York Historical's celebration of our country's 250th anniversary. Louise, can you explain why this particular copy of the Declaration is so important to our understanding of the nation's founding?

**Louise Mirrer** (1:54)
Well, the Declaration, as you said, has been in our collection for a very long time, but thanks to a big cataloging project that we did in 2006, we came to know it in a different way and began to think that it would be a very interesting platform for some research into the fact that it had not been signed very unusual for a printer to not place their name on Declaration of Independence. And the importance of the document is really as an example.
If you come to The New York Historical and see it, you can tell that it was meant to be held in someone's hand, read aloud. It really underscores the fact that the reading of the Declaration was a collective act. It was an act of collective enterprise, collective spirit and collective will against permanently separating from the British.

**Brigid Bergen** (2:58)
Nina, you led the historical's search for the printer of this broadside. Can you walk us through that research?

**Nina Nazionale** (3:06)
It went in many different directions. But finally, what I landed on was typographical variation, which if you look at the one that is on display without the indication of who printed it, you'll notice that the word secretary, after Charles Thompson's name, is abbreviated even though there's plenty of space to include the entire word secretary.
I ended up looking at printer's work from the time, both broadsides and newspapers, and landed on Samuel Lowden, who was a New York printer. He was in Manhattan until the end of August when he moved to Fishkill, and he uses that abbreviation, which is S-E-C-R-Y for secretary, in almost all the broadsides he printed, and when he printed the Declaration in his own newspaper, the New York packet, he also used that abbreviation.

**Brigid Bergen** (4:15)
How interesting. Is it, in addition to those typographical clues, is that part of what makes him a historical figure that sort of helps make the case for him as the originator? Are there other indications that you picked up on?

**Nina Nazionale** (4:32)
Well, there also are a few other typographical variations, and that was quite common.
As you said, the Dunlap printings are the first ones, Philadelphia, July 4th through the 5th. But as more and more printers started producing these broadsides and republishing the content in newspapers, they were working very quickly, and it was all done by hand. And so you'll see differences in capitalization, punctuation, and it's really a reminder of how many people were involved in getting the word out about the Declaration of Independence. And so after Philadelphia, New York printers went to work, then people in Connecticut, Massachusetts. And each printing in July of 1776 is slightly different than the others.

**Brigid Bergen** (5:39)
How interesting. Listeners, do you have questions for our guests about The New York Historical's work, the effort to spread the news of US independence in 1776 after the Declaration's signing, or what goes into verifying a historical document? If you can call us quickly, we can get you on the number is 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692.
Nina, would printers themselves be putting themselves in danger by printing this document? Was it considered treasonous at the time that it was printed?