A rare copy of the Declaration of Independence and photographs from the Cincinnati Museum Center's renowned J. P. Ball collection will go on display this summer. The exhibits are part of the nation's America 250 commemoration.
The copy of the Declaration of Independence is known as the Holt broadside printing. It was made by New York printer John Holt on July 9, 1776. Of the 500 copies made by Holt, only five are known to still exist and have been authenticated.
A museum spokesman tells WVXU the document is almost never removed from storage and this will be just the second time it's ever been displayed. It was first removed from the vault, briefly, for an exhibit in 2015.
"Cincinnati Museum Center has an incredible collection of treasures that represent defining, foundational moments in our national history," says Elizabeth Pierce, president and CEO of Cincinnati Museum Center, in a release. "Precious artifacts like the Holt broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence define our role as caretakers and storytellers and remind us the role Cincinnati and the Ohio Valley have played in our nation’s 250-year history."
The document arrived in Cincinnati in 1810 along with Richard Fosdick of New London, Connecticut, whose signature is found on the reverse side. Fosdick moved to Cincinnati and was considered the city's first pork packer. He also was a member of Cincinnati’s first town council and a county treasurer, according to the museum. The document passed to his children upon his death and was eventually donated to the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio — which would become the Cincinnati History Library and Archives — in the 1870s.
Also on display will be architectural plans for Fort Washington, alongside salvaged timbers and chains from the 18th century fort. The museum also is showing a Revolutionary War flag from the 1st Pennsylvania Battalion that is one of only 30 surviving flags from that war.
According to the museum, "At its center are the words 'United We Stand' above a bundle of 13 arrows bound together by a ribbon. In the flag's canton, 13 red and white stripes, repurposed from the flag's original British Union Jack, offer physical evidence of a people transforming from British subjects into citizens of a new republic."
The exhibit titled "Declarative Acts and Revolutionary Actors" opens July 3.
Photographs from J.P. Ball
A second exhibit running concurrently features more than 100 original photographs by J.P. Ball, a free man of color who built one of the most successful studios in the country, per the museum. The images come from the museum's holdings, which constitute the largest collection of Ball's work in the United States at more than 400 daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cartes de visite, photographs and more.
Among the Ball photographs will be images of prominent 19th century figures such as Frederick Douglass. The collection also is important for including portraits of everyday African American families, which are described as "powerful visual documentation that preserved identity, dignity and agency for people often underrepresented in 19th century historical records."
Some images were colorized or include studio backgrounds painted by acclaimed artist Robert S. Duncanson, along with Ball's brother-in-law, Alexander S. Thomas.
"Equal to Any in the City:" Ball & Thomas Photographs 1840s – 1870s also opens July 3.
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