MOON TOWNSHIP, Penn. – Clearview FCU was home to one of America’s treasures for a few hours last week when it stored an original copy of the Declaration of Independence in its vault.
The Declaration, which was on display at the Carnegie Science Center in nearby Pittsburgh, was moved to Clearview’s vault for safekeeping from Friday night through Saturday morning. It was escorted by two Pittsburgh police officers in each direction.
To protect it from fluctuations in temperature and humidity, it was packed in argon by a curator from Los Angeles’ Getty Museum, and transported in a framed and sealed case.
The document is one of the "Dunlap Broadside" copies of the Declaration of Independence produced in Philadelphia by printer John Dunlap on the night of July 4, 1776. Printed in haste, the Dunlap broadsides were sent across the colonies over the next two days. One copy was sent directly to George Washington, who directed that it be read to the troops; another copy was sent to George III of England.
Of the estimated 200 broadsides printed that night, only 25 survive, and are valued by document experts at $8.5 million each.
The display of The Declaration of Independence is the centerpiece of Declare Yourself, a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to empower and encourage every eligible 18-year-old in America to register and vote in the presidential primaries and 2008 presidential election.
Declare Yourself is taking the Declaration copy on a 16-city tour, which so far has been to Corpus Christi, Houston, Memphis, San Diego and Las Vegas, as well as Pittsburgh. Later in the year, it will appear in Salt Lake City, St. Louis, San Antonio, Nashville, Indianapolis, and at the Democratic and Republican Conventions in Denver and Minneapolis.
