There are no plans to display the Declaration anytime soon. Dare I say it should never be on display so much as a copy.
By Stephen Salisbury
American Philosophical Society's head of conservation Anne Downey (left) and Patrick Spero, director of the library, open their copy of the original Declaration of Independence ordered up by President John Quincy Adams in 1820, but not completed until 1823.
The archive of the American Philosophical Society, (click here) consisting of an ever-expanding universe of 13 million manuscripts and 350,000 bound volumes and periodicals, with images and audiotapes proliferating on a daily basis, has reached the point where it is its own universe.
So it should be no surprise that APS, founded in 1743, has discovered that it possesses an exceedingly rare engraved copy of the Declaration of Independence ordered up by John Quincy Adams two centuries ago, and given to the society in 1842 by Daniel Webster. The society has just announced the discovery.
The unearthed document now ascends to APS’s pantheon of Declarations consisting of rare drafts and early printed copies from newspapers, broadsides, and pamphlets held....
