'Vanishingly rare' copy of US Declaration of Independence found in UK archives
A volunteer at a UK archive discovered a rare parchment copy of the US Declaration of Independence, believed to date from the 1780s. Experts describe the find as "vanishingly rare," with only a handful of similar copies known to exist worldwide. The document was found in a small record office in southern England.
Background
- The US Declaration of Independence (1776) is the foundational document of the United States, announcing the Thirteen Colonies' separation from British rule. Only about 200 copies of the original printing (the "Dunlap Broadside") are known to have been produced on the night of July 4, 1776, and today fewer than 30 are known to survive.
- A "vanishingly rare" previously unknown Dunlap Broadside has been discovered not in the US, but in a British archive — ironic given the document declares independence from Britain. This is the first such find in decades.
- The find occurred at the "Chipping", a small volunteer-run community archive in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland. Most surviving copies are held by major institutions like the US National Archives and the British Library; a discovery in a local volunteer archive is extraordinary.
- The document was likely sent to a local nobleman or official in 1776 as a form of intelligence or propaganda. Its survival in a box of miscellaneous papers for nearly 250 years highlights how important historical materials can turn up in unexpected places.