February 2017

February Highlight: Superintending Independence, Part 2

Research HighlightsThe engrossed parchment of the Declaration of Independence was formally enshrined in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. on December 15, 1952, where it resides to this day. From its creation in the summer of 1776 to this final move, the Declaration of Independence travelled more than might be assumed. In part one, we traced the engrossed parchment's physical locations and custodians through the first 100 years of its existence, starting and ending with Independence Hall. This month, we examine the last 140 years of the Declaration's physical history, from the turn of the century through World War II and the establishment of the National Archives.

1876-1921
Department of State
Washington, D.C.

"The rapid fading of the text of the original Declaration of Independence and the deterioration of the parchment upon which it is engrossed, from exposure to light and lapse of time, render it impracticable for the Department longer to exhibit it or to handle it. For the secure preservation of its present condition, so far as may be possible, it has been carefully wrapped and placed flat in a steel case."
- Department of State, 1894

State, War, and Navy Building, 1898
State, War, and Navy Building, Washington, 1898 photochrom by the Detroit Photographic Co., courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (Digital ID ppmsca 18015)

In April 1876, Secretary of State Hamilton Fish moved the Declaration of Independence into the Department's new fireproof building, which it shared once again with the War and Navy Departments. This building is now the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (formerly the Old Executive Office Building, or OEOB). When the Declaration returned to Washington, D.C. after the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, it was displayed in a cabinet on the east side of the State Department's library in this building. This move proved providential — the Patent Office, where the Declaration had previously been displayed, was destroyed by fire.

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