June 25, 1997
Contact:
Yvonne French (202) 707-9191
Virginia Declaration of Rights To Be Displayed Beginning August 7 in "American Treasures of the Library of Congress" Exhibition
Document Is Basis for Declaration of Independence
One of the seminal documents in American history,
George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights, will go on
display August 7 in the "American Treasures of the Library
of Congress" exhibition.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights was written in May
1776 and is considered the basis for the Declaration of
Independence, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man
and the Bill of Rights. In the Virginia Declaration of
Rights, George Mason (1725-1792) called for American
independence to preserve Americans' fundamental rights.
He presented the Declaration to the Virginia Convention,
which unanimously adopted it on June 12, 1776, in
Williamsburg after amendments by Thomas Ludwell Lee
(c. 1730-1777).
The Virginia Declaration will replace Thomas
Jefferson's "original rough draught" of the Declaration of
Independence in the exhibition. Both documents are fragile
and light sensitive; therefore, the Library is able to
display them for only limited periods of time under tight
environmental controls.
A specially designed case -- unique in the world -- was
custom-built to house these and other precious documents. It
weighs 3 tons, and stands 10 feet high and 12 feet long.
Built according to the highest standards of preservation and
security, it is reserved exclusively for the Library's
rarest and most valuable items.
"With these rotating treasures on display, the American
public will be able to view many of the original manuscripts
that shaped United States history," said Librarian of
Congress James H. Billington.
The original rough draft of the Declaration of
Independence has been the centerpiece of the permanent,
rotating "American Treasures" exhibition since it opened
May 1. It will continue to be displayed through July 31.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights will be on view August 7
through October 31, when it will be replaced by another
important historical document.
Thomas Jefferson may have received a copy of the
Virginia Declaration of Rights directly from Mason and Lee,
his fellow Virginia planters and revolutionaries. Jefferson
drew extensively from the Declaration of Rights, as well as
from his own drafts of a new constitution for Virginia, when
composing the Declaration of Independence in June 1776.
For example, the Virginia Declaration of Rights
proposes "that all men are born equally free and independant
[sic], and have certain inherent natural Rights, ... among
which are the Enjoyment of Life and Liberty, with the Means
of acquiring and possessing property, and pursueing [sic]
and obtaining Happiness and Safety."
The Declaration of Independence states "... that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Mason's draft, which included several clauses added by
Lee, was used by James Madison in preparing the first 10
amendments to the U.S. Constitution, known as the Bill of
Rights, and by the Marquis de Lafayette in drafting the
French Declaration of the Rights of Man.
Also newly on display in the top treasures case will
be:
- Madison's copy of the Bill of Rights,
printed in New York in 1789,
- Lafayette's copy of France's Declaration
of the Rights of Man presented to Thomas
Jefferson in July 1789,
- The Fairfax County Resolves of 1774, a bold
statement of fundamental constitutional rights
and a call for action written by Mason and
George Washington on July 17, 1774, in protest
of Britain's harsh retaliation against the colony
of Massachusetts following the Boston Tea Party.
Other items on display beginning August 7 include:
- A 1789 letter from Thomas Jefferson ordering
portraits from painter John Trumbull of Francis
Bacon, John Locke and Isaac Newton, "the three
greatest men that have ever lived," and
- 1791 letter to French philosopher Marquis de
Condorcet praising the mathematical abilities
of Benjamin Banneker, a free Maryland black,
and stating, "... the want of talents observed
in [blacks] is merely the effect of their
degraded condition, and not proceeding from
any difference."
The "American Treasures" exhibition assembles for the
first time the rarest and most significant items from the
Library's collections relating to America's past drawn from
every corner of the world's largest library. It is the
Library's first permanent exhibition.
A unique selection of rare books, music, manuscripts,
maps, photographs, drawings, audio selections and video
clips gives visitors a firsthand look at a cross section of
the vast repository that has been called "America's Memory."
Highlights of the exhibition include the first extant book
printed in America, early baseball cards, the contents of
Lincoln's pockets on the night of his assassination, and a
photograph of the Wright brothers' first flight taken at the
instant of takeoff.
The exhibition displays 240 items arranged in the
manner of Jefferson's own library, the seed from which the
present Library of Congress collections grew. It was
ordered: Memory (History); Reason (Philosophy, including
Law, Science and Geography); and Imagination (Fine Arts,
including Architecture, Music, Literature and the Leisure
Arts).
Harry N. Abrams Inc. has published a companion volume
with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Garry
Wills and a foreword by Dr. Billington. American Treasures
in the Library of Congress: Memory/Reason/Imagination
($39.95) is available in the Library sales shops and
wherever books are sold. Select items from the exhibition
are also available on-line at http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/.
The exhibition, made possible by a grant of $1.1
million from the Xerox Foundation, is the set piece of a
yearlong celebration marking the official reopening of the
Library's Thomas Jefferson Building during its 100th
anniversary year. The Jefferson Building, under renovation
since 1984, may now be seen in its fully restored state for
the first time.
The Thomas Jefferson Building is at 10 First Street
S.E. It is closed on Sundays and federal holidays.
Exhibition hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Due to the high number of visitors, same-day,
timed-entry tickets are available free. The tickets may be
obtained from 10 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. at the Visitors'
Information Desk inside the ground-floor entrance of the
Thomas Jefferson Building, which is barrier-free and
accessible to the disabled, as is the exhibition.
Advance tickets for the exhibition may be obtained only
from Ticketmaster. At Ticketmaster outlets, including
Hecht's department stores in the Washington-Baltimore area,
tickets are available for a $2 service charge. Ticketmaster
phone charge tickets are $2.75 plus a $1.25 handling fee
per order. To charge tickets by phone, call (202) 432-SEAT
in Washington, D.C.; (410) 481-SEAT in Baltimore; and
(703) 573-SEAT in Virginia. Out-of-state callers may
dial (800) 551-SEAT toll-free.
An audio tour, available for $2.50 and featuring
selections from the audio-visual holdings of the Library,
will enrich the visitor's experience with an array of
memories. For example, listeners can hear both narration
about and the actual voices of presidents, poets and other
famous figures from the Library's audio collections,
including Theodore Roosevelt, Robert Frost and Woodrow
Wilson. It also features music, including the voices of
Beverly Sills and Jelly Roll Morton.
All groups of 10 or more are requested to call the
Visitor Services Office at (202) 707-9779 to arrange a tour.
For recorded information about the exhibition, call (202)
707-3834, (202) 707-6200 TTY.
Note to press: black-and-white photographs and color
transparencies of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and
many other items in the exhibition are available from the
Public Affairs Office. Call (202) 707-9191 for delivery of
duplicates.
# # #
PR 97-112
6/25/97
ISSN 0731-3527