COURTESY OF THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
An 1833 facsimile copy of the Declaration of Independence will be on display at the Whaling Museum beginning July 4.
NANTUCKET – The Nantucket Historical Association will be unveiling a rare piece of Amercian history beginning on Independence Day.
An 1833 engraved facsimile copy of the Declaration of Independence was given to the association as a gift from David Rubenstein, a philanthropist and history enthusiast, and will be on display in the Overlook Gallery at the Whaling Museum.
“We are just really honored and thrilled to be the keepers of that,” said Nantucket Historical Association spokesperson Lindsay Scouras.
Facsimile copies of the declaration were made after John Quincy Adams noticed the original document was deteriorating in 1820.
Adams commissioned engraver William Stone to create a copperplate engraving of the declaration, which took three years to complete.
There were only 201 original copies printed on vellum which were distributed to surviving signers of the original document, current and former presidents and vice presidents, governors and educational institutions.
Just over a quarter of the vellum prints are known to have survived.
“The plate was then used again to print a second edition in 1833 for historian Peter Force’s book American Archives: A Documentary History of the United States of Amercia,” Scouras said. “He had originally ordered thousands of them thinking that he would sell a bunch of copies of the book.”
Scouras said the records in Congress show that there were not that many copies made and had decided to print a smaller run.
“It is pretty rare and from what I have heard, the original declaration wasn’t very well preserved,” she said. “Actually, more people have seen these facsimile copies of the declaration than have actually seen the actual declaration.”
The second edition was printed on paper instead of vellum and the historical association’s acquisition is one of these paper copies.
Rubenstein is the co-founder and co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms.
He serves on the board of several charitable organizations and has provided significant funding to preserve a number of historical sites, including the Washington Monument, the National Zoo and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.
