In spite of the news now

Dr. John Fogg donated the Dunlap Broadside to the Maine Historical Society.

— Photo Courtesy of Maine Historical Society

Excerpted and edited from a report by the New England Historical Society.

“As the nation marks the 250th anniversary of American independence, much has been shared of what seems absent from the commemoration. The media have noted time and again that Americans have not embraced the anniversary in the same way they did the Bicentennial in 1976. Given today’s global challenges and political divisions, that is perhaps not surprising. Still, communities across the country have found meaningful local ways to recognize the semiquincentennial.

“In Maine, the 204-year-old Maine Historical Society (MHS) set out to bring one of its most significant artifacts, an original broadside of the Declaration of Independence, to all 16 Maine counties. The society’s Dunlap Broadside is one of only 26 surviving copies printed in Philadelphia on the night of July 4, 1776. These broadsides were distributed throughout the colonies so citizens could read, or hear, the news that they were now part of a new nation.’’