BOSTON (AP) - When John Hancock sent copies of the Declaration of Independence to the colonial states, he told them the document would be of interest to future generations and should be kept in the state archives.
Now, after decades hidden away, this historic founding document and others are being taken from inside the Massachusetts archives and will be available for public viewing.
The Commonwealth Museum, at the Massachusetts Archives Building near the John F. Kennedy Library, reopens Monday after installing a new permanent exhibit, called “Our Common Wealth: the Massachusetts Experiment in Democracy.”
The documents in the exhibit include the first printed copy of the Declaration of Independence that identifies the signers, one of only nine original Bill of Rights copies left in the country, and the 1780 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
“These documents had been scattered in vaults and basements, and they’re now in a secure location that allows people to see them,” Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said. “It’s challenging people to think about citizenship and the way we achieve, in a democracy, ideas and concepts.”
The five founding documents _ two Massachusetts Bay Colony charters from England, written in royal British calligraphy, plus original copies of the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and the Massachusetts Constitution _ are located in what the museum calls the Treasures Gallery.
The room is dark except for the lightbulb equivalent of candlelight revealing the documents, which are protected by state-of-the-art cases and flanked by large aluminum-embossed portraits of John Adams, Samuel Adams and other Massachusetts historical figures.
“It’s also kind of reverent,” said Stephen Kenney, director of the museum, as he walked around the gallery. “This is like the holy of holies.”
As he walked by each document, Kenney pointed out accompanying trivia. The first two amendments of the Bill of Rights were not approved, he said. What Americans know today is actually the third through 12th amendments, Kenney continued, and Massachusetts didn’t even ratify those until 1939. And in the state constitution, John Adams’s phrase “we the people” and a provision appointing the judiciary for life show the document as a model for the U.S. Constitution.
Having these papers at waist level, where people can peruse them and read the intricate handwriting, is one of the most important parts of the exhibit, said Pauline Maier, a professor of American history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“You don’t have to put these documents at a distance from people,” Maier said. “You can put them where people can lean over and look at them, which makes it so much more accessible to the public.”
And beyond the gallery, there are plenty of new interactive exhibits: tabletop touchscreen computers showing Puritan pamphlets, videos where visitors can vote if they believe historical figures are revolutionaries or British loyalists, and copies of Paul Revere’s copper plates to make your own engraving.
Private donations, state funds and federal endowments make it possible to display the documents, Galvin said. There is no fee to visit the museum.
With the addition of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate nearby, Galvin said he hopes the area will become a cultural attraction.
“The purpose of this is to highlight our history,” Galvin said. “Particularly for younger people, we believe it has a great deal of potential.”
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