Danvers Library To Display 2 Rare 1776 Declaration Of Independence Broadsides

DANVERS, MA — The Danvers Archival Center and Peabody Institute Library of Danvers will host a limited public viewing of two 1776 printed broadsides of the Declaration of Independence next week.

The display is scheduled from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on July 6 at the Danvers Archival Center inside the library at 15 Sylvan Street.

One of the large 18th-century laid-paper broadsides was printed in Salem by order of the Massachusetts General Court. It was distributed for mandatory public reading in local communities.

The second broadside was published by the same printer, Ezekiel Russell, for individual family purchase.

That second broadside is one of only two known to exist.

The document includes two woodblock oval images of General George Washington and General Horatio Gates. According to the Danvers archivist, it is the first-ever printed depiction of Washington.

The viewing will also include several other rare items, including the Danvers Town Meeting Record Book, where the full text of the Declaration was hand-inscribed in 1776.

Visitors are asked not to bring packages, food, or drink to the viewing room, nor lean on or touch the display case.

"Security will be in place to protect these rare documents of our heritage," the Danvers archivist said.