J. Erick Jonsson Central Library - Dallas, Texas
Dallas certainly has history. For most people, a visit to Dallas involves a certain amount of history, but it usually revolves around Tom Landry or J.R. Ewing, not George Washington. The J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, however, is home to one of the most valuable and historic documents west of the Mississippi River.
The story of this historic Dallas document goes back in time, past the founding of Texas, all the way back to the founding of the United States itself. By the time 1776 rolled around the relationship between Great Britain and her American colony had been deteriorating for quite some time. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, a congressional delegate from Virginia put forth a motion to the Continental Congress to declare the colonies independent from England. The congress responded by appointing a committee to draft the declaration on July 11, 1776. The committee, composed of Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and John Adams of Massachusetts, submitted a draft for approval to the congress on June 28, 1776.
The final wording of the document was agreed to on July 2, and on July 4th, the congress officially voted to adopt the declaration and orders were made for copies to be printed. The job of printing the document fell to John Dunlap, a young Irishman, who ran a printing press in Philadelphia. Throughout the night of July 4, and into the early morning hours of July 5, Dunlap worked in his shop, printing these famous documents on a wooden hand press. Historians estimate that between 80 and 200 copies of the declaration were printed. These copies were printed on large sheets of paper known as broadsides. The broadsides contained no signatures, only the names of John Hancock the president of the congress, and Charles Thomson, the secretary of the congress appeared on the document.
From Dunlap’s wooden press these broadsides were quickly dispatched to various state legislatures, committees, members of the continental congress, and General George Washington and the continental army. Two copies made their way to England, informing King George III of the official rebellion of his most precious and valuable colonies.
The official copy, which now resides in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in Washington, DC. Would not be signed by all of the congressional delegates until August 2nd. The drumbeat of war that the Dunlap Broadsides started finally culminated in 1781 with the British surrender at Yorktown. A new country, and a new way of doing government was established. For their part, the broadsides largely disappeared from public view, victims to the plunder of history and time.
Some of the broadsides were preserved and kept in educational institutions. Still there were only fifteen copies known to be in existence until the late sixties. In 1968, Philadelphia’s Leary’s Bookstore, the oldest used bookstore in the country at the time, was forced to close and all of its items were to be sold at an auction. Inside a crate some papers were found. The book contained several documents relevant to the birth of America, among them an original Dunlap Broadside. The “Lost Copy” as it came to be known could have been in storage at Leary’s for a century.
In May of the next year Ira G. Corn, Jr., and his bidding partner, Joseph P. Driscoll, businessmen from Dallas, purchased the Declaration for $404,000. The Declaration, agreed to by the original 13 colonies would, for the first time ever, be making its way west of the Mississippi. In 1978 the Texan history makers decided to sell their copy of the Declaration to a group of ten wealthy Dallas citizens who bought the document for citizens of Dallas. From there the “Lost Copy” was stored at Dallas’s city hall, and finally in the Central Dallas Public Library.
Today, few visitors to Dallas realize that there is a genuine piece of revolutionary history right in downtown. Chants of “The British are Coming” never rang through North Texas, but today, free of charge, anyone can see this rare American piece of literature.
The Hours of Operation for the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library are:
Sunday 1 pm - 5 pm
Monday 9 am - 9 pm
Tuesday 9 am - 9 pm
Wednesday 9 am - 9 pm
Thursday 9 am - 9 pm
Friday 9 am - 5 pm
Saturday 9 am - 5 pm
Dallas, Texas
The story of this historic Dallas document goes back in time, past the founding of Texas, all the way back to the founding of the United States itself. By the time 1776 rolled around the relationship between Great Britain and her American colony had been deteriorating for quite some time. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, a congressional delegate from Virginia put forth a motion to the Continental Congress to declare the colonies independent from England. The congress responded by appointing a committee to draft the declaration on July 11, 1776. The committee, composed of Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and John Adams of Massachusetts, submitted a draft for approval to the congress on June 28, 1776.
The final wording of the document was agreed to on July 2, and on July 4th, the congress officially voted to adopt the declaration and orders were made for copies to be printed. The job of printing the document fell to John Dunlap, a young Irishman, who ran a printing press in Philadelphia. Throughout the night of July 4, and into the early morning hours of July 5, Dunlap worked in his shop, printing these famous documents on a wooden hand press. Historians estimate that between 80 and 200 copies of the declaration were printed. These copies were printed on large sheets of paper known as broadsides. The broadsides contained no signatures, only the names of John Hancock the president of the congress, and Charles Thomson, the secretary of the congress appeared on the document.
From Dunlap’s wooden press these broadsides were quickly dispatched to various state legislatures, committees, members of the continental congress, and General George Washington and the continental army. Two copies made their way to England, informing King George III of the official rebellion of his most precious and valuable colonies.
The official copy, which now resides in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in Washington, DC. Would not be signed by all of the congressional delegates until August 2nd. The drumbeat of war that the Dunlap Broadsides started finally culminated in 1781 with the British surrender at Yorktown. A new country, and a new way of doing government was established. For their part, the broadsides largely disappeared from public view, victims to the plunder of history and time.
Some of the broadsides were preserved and kept in educational institutions. Still there were only fifteen copies known to be in existence until the late sixties. In 1968, Philadelphia’s Leary’s Bookstore, the oldest used bookstore in the country at the time, was forced to close and all of its items were to be sold at an auction. Inside a crate some papers were found. The book contained several documents relevant to the birth of America, among them an original Dunlap Broadside. The “Lost Copy” as it came to be known could have been in storage at Leary’s for a century.
In May of the next year Ira G. Corn, Jr., and his bidding partner, Joseph P. Driscoll, businessmen from Dallas, purchased the Declaration for $404,000. The Declaration, agreed to by the original 13 colonies would, for the first time ever, be making its way west of the Mississippi. In 1978 the Texan history makers decided to sell their copy of the Declaration to a group of ten wealthy Dallas citizens who bought the document for citizens of Dallas. From there the “Lost Copy” was stored at Dallas’s city hall, and finally in the Central Dallas Public Library.
Today, few visitors to Dallas realize that there is a genuine piece of revolutionary history right in downtown. Chants of “The British are Coming” never rang through North Texas, but today, free of charge, anyone can see this rare American piece of literature.
The Hours of Operation for the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library are:
Sunday 1 pm - 5 pm
Monday 9 am - 9 pm
Tuesday 9 am - 9 pm
Wednesday 9 am - 9 pm
Thursday 9 am - 9 pm
Friday 9 am - 5 pm
Saturday 9 am - 5 pm
Dallas, Texas
