A collection of rare founding-era U.S. documents arrived in Van Nuys Monday aboard a touring “Freedom Plane,” marking the Southland stop of a nationwide exhibition tied to the country’s 250th anniversary.
The documents were flown Monday to Van Nuys Airport, where a welcome ceremony was held.
“I’m thrilled you could join us for this momentous day when the Freedom Plane, and nine original documents from our founding era it carries, makes their historic debut on the West Coast,” Patrick Madden, the CEO of the National Archives Foundation, said during the ceremony.
The traveling exhibition, organized by the National Archives, will be displayed at the USC Fisher Museum of Art from Friday through May 3, with free admission available by advance ticket at fisher.usc.edu/
USC President Byong Sun Kim formally received the documents for exhibition, calling it a rare and distinguished honor.
“As the only university in the nation to host this important exhibit for its only tour stop in California, to be a part of history and make these treasures more accessible to all people, is a tremendous privilege and responsibility,” Kim said.
The documents included in the exhibition are:
— Articles of Association (1774), an agreement adopted by the First Continental Congress urging American colonists to boycott British goods;
— Oaths of Allegiance (1778), signed by Continental Army officers including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr during the Revolutionary War;
— William Stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence (1823), one of about 50 known official reproductions commissioned by John Quincy Adams to preserve the original text and signatures;
— Treaty of Paris (1783), signed by American and British representatives formally recognizing the United States as an independent nation;
— Draft version of the U.S. Constitution (1787), known as the “secret printing,” featuring handwritten notes from delegates at the Constitutional Convention;
— State delegation votes approving the Constitution (1787), documenting the debates and final decisions that led to adoption of the governing framework; and
— Senate markup of the Bill of Rights, reflecting early revisions and deliberations over the first 10 amendments to the Constitution.
“Americans across the country can bear witness to the people and principles that shaped our nation through the Freedom Plane National Tour,” Jim Byron, senior adviser to the Archivist of the United States, said in a statement. “There is no more noteworthy an occasion than America’s 250th `birthday’ to share this history, to inspire our fellow Americans to champion our nation’s founding ideals into the future.”
The exhibition is part of an eight-city national tour that began in Kansas City and will continue to cities including Houston, Denver, Miami and Seattle.