Rare Declaration Found
A rare 1776 Declaration of Independence copy was uncovered in UK archives.
Summary
Volunteer Michael Scurr found a 1776 Exeter printing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in February while cataloguing American Revolutionary War papers at the U.K. National Archives in Kew. The broadside, printed in Exeter, New Hampshire, days after Congress adopted the Declaration on July 4, 1776, is one of 11 known surviving Exeter Declarations and the only known copy outside the United States. Archivists believe British sailors seized it from a captured American vessel off Spain in December 1776, and it will be displayed for the Declaration’s 250th anniversary.
Coverage Angles
Rare Archive Find
Center & RightCenters on the surprise discovery of a vanishingly rare Declaration copy after nearly 250 years in British archives. It treats the story as a major historical find produced by careful archival work and good fortune.


