News & Events
Lilly Event Highlights Patriotic Prints
09/12/2008
"The Declaration of Independence: Fantasies and
Facsimiles"
John Bidwell, Pierpont Morgan Library
Monday, Sept 15, 5 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Lilly Library
Patriotic prints containing the text of the Declaration and
facsimile signatures of the Founding Fathers first appeared in
1818. Although advertised as absolutely accurate reproductions,
they did not replicate the text so much as celebrate its
achievements as a vindication of human rights, a charter of
freedom, and the birthright of the nation.
Leading artists and engravers embellished them with ornamental
lettering, portraits of presidents, and elaborate allegories of
peace and prosperity. One of the more fanciful and partisan
interpretations prompted the Department of State to commission
the first real facsimile, which, ironically, may have played a
role in damaging the original, now badly faded and barely
legible. In this slide lecture John Bidwell will recount the fate
of the original and will show how facsimiles have influenced the
way it has been read and revered.
John Bidwell is Astor Curator of Printed Books and Bindings at
the Pierpont Morgan Library, before which he was Curator of
Graphic Arts in the Princeton University Library. He has written
extensively on the history of papermaking in England and
America.
