3 rare copies of Declaration of Independence to be displayed in Durham

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Three copies of the Declaration of Independence will be displayed in Durham later this year, offering the public an uncommon look at how the founding document was reproduced and circulated in the nation's early years.

The documents will be shown first at the Durham County Main Library and later at Duke University's Nasher Museum of Art. Both exhibitions will be free and open to the public.

The display will include an official full-sized 1823 facsimile engraved by William J. Stone, often referred to as a "Stone Declaration," along with two early 19th-century broadside reproductions. One is an 1818 copy produced by calligrapher Benjamin Owen Tyler, and the other is an illustrated 1819 edition published by John Binns. All three works are on loan from the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection.

The exhibition is a centerpiece of We the People, a partnership between Duke University and Durham organizations marking the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Organizers said the display is intended to help audiences understand how Americans encountered the Declaration before the advent of modern printing and mass media.

"These documents show how the Declaration evolved visually and symbolically as the young nation sought to preserve and share its founding ideals," organizers said in a description of the exhibition.

The documents will be on display at the Durham County Main Library from Sept. 8 through Sept. 20 before moving to the Nasher Museum of Art, where they will be displayed from Sept. 24 through Dec. 13.