So — will you be getting a bang out of July 4, 2026?
Fireworks, of course. Anything more?
As you may already know, July 4 this year marks 250 years since a fellow named John Dunlap, the official printer for the Continental Congress, printed the first copies of the Declaration of Independence.
Dunlap made those seven copies of the Declaration at his house in Philadelphia on the night of July 4, 1776. And one copy is on permanent display at Lilly Library, 1200 E. Seventh St. — the museum adjacent to IU Auditorium.
The year-long exhibition at Lilly is titled “The Declaration of Independence: The Motives, The Moment.” Admission to the library is free but check online for museum hours, at https://libraries.indiana.edu/lilly-library.
You’ll see the Declaration in a glass case as you walk into the museum gallery. It was a gift to the library from Josiah K. Lilly Jr.
Saturday, June 13, will be a good day to visit the Lilly. You can say hello to Erika Dowell, who put together the entire Lilly exhibition and will lead tours that day.
Dowell has noted the key questions that residents of the future United States were raising back then:
The Lilly exhibition provides some answers through books, letters, newspapers and other documents drawn from the collections of the library.
“These material objects run the gamut,” Dowell has noted. “Some are beautiful; some are very modest looking. You will see graceful handwriting and messy scrawls and read frank personal comments and political propaganda. Encountering these materials can help us find intriguing and specific connections to historical events that are part of the general knowledge of most Americans.”
And after you’ve visited Lilly, walk across to the Eskenazi Museum of Art for a look at an original portrait of probably the best-known signer of the Declaration of Independence: George Washington.
Norm Crampton is a writer who lives in Bloomington.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IU’s Lilly Library exhibit features Declaration of Independence
Reporting by Norm Crampton, Special to The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Norm Crampton, Special to The Herald-Times | USA TODAY Network
