A rare and historic piece of American history has been uncovered in the United Kingdom. Just ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, researchers at Britain’s National Archives announced the discovery of a long-lost copy of the document.
A chance discovery in the archives
The document was found by Michael Scurr, a volunteer cataloging boxes of 18th-century Royal Navy correspondence. While sifting through papers from the American Revolutionary War, he opened a folder and realized what he was looking at. “I called over to my boss and said, ‘I think you need to come and have a look at this,’” Scurr recalled.
The archive’s chief executive, Saul Nasse, called the find an “extraordinary discovery,” noting that it is “a vanishingly rare surviving copy of the Declaration of Independence, found not in America, but here in the UK.”
The ‘Exeter’ printing
This specific version was printed in Exeter, New Hampshire, between July 16 and 19, 1776, shortly after the original was signed in Philadelphia. It is a part of a special series meant to quickly spread the news of independence to the colonies.
According to Dr. Graham Moore, a records specialist at the National Archives, “The copy we have is one of only 11 surviving from the first ones printed in New Hampshire” and it is the only one known to exist outside of the United States.
A journey through history
The document was found among papers seized by the British Royal Navy from an American privateer ship, the Dalton, on Christmas Eve in 1776. After being taken to London, it was filed away as “another document” and remained forgotten for over two centuries.
Historians believe the captain likely kept it to help explain the American ideals to his crew with Dr. Moore noting, “It’s the story that makes this copy so important. Not only is it one of 11 in the world, it also has provenance.”
