submitted by State Representative Jeff Roy:
"It was an incredible honor to deliver a remarkable piece of living history to the Town of Franklin! In celebration of our nation’s 250th anniversary, Franklin town officials received a meticulously crafted, handmade reproduction of the United States Declaration of Independence.
We presented this copy to Franklin so it may be recorded into our town history, displayed for our residents, and used to inspire the generations to come. May it serve as a daily reminder of our shared commitment to liberty and equality.
The broadside was printed by renowned historical printer Gary Gregory at the Museum of Printing in Haverhill, using a reproduction "Franklin-style" printing press and over 10,000 individual pieces of type painstakingly set by hand. The ink was specially formulated to match the Revolutionary era, and the linen/cotton paper was made one-by-one by hand to feel exactly like the original copies did in 1776.
In July of 1776, Massachusetts was the only state to distribute copies of the Declaration to every single town, asking ministers to read it from their pulpits and town clerks to handwrite the text into the Town’s Record Books. It was the exact moment our revolution transformed from a political debate into a shared public commitment. Keeping that exact tradition alive 250 years later, Massachusetts is once again the only state in the U.S. to distribute an authentically printed Declaration to all 351 of its cities and towns through the "Declaration Delivery Day" initiative.
Our hope is that this beautiful document will be kept safe and utilized every year for generations to come as we commemorate our nation’s founding moment."
Here is a link to the video on the project: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/
Additional pictures from the delivery - https://photos.app.goo.gl/FXrYrsNEdMDgvMzK7
