�鶹�ƽ�� celebration of Declaration of Independence draws a crowd to the Rotunda

University News

�鶹�ƽ�� celebration of Declaration of Independence draws a crowd to the Rotunda

Thomas Jefferson and Cavman held the floor Monday in the Dome Room of the University of Virginia’s Rotunda, throwing fist bumps and high-fives and standing for selfies as hundreds of guests filed in. But the real star of the show was a nearly 250-year-old original copy of the Declaration of Independence.

An estimated 2,000 people, from fourth graders to senior citizens, formed a line outside the Rotunda for a chance to view the “McGregor Dunlap broadside” copy of the declaration, one of two in the University Library’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. The copies are among just 26 originals known to still exist.

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School children from elementary to high school, and first-years to graduate students took their turns examining the glass-encased document.

“I feel like it was cool to see an original – what it looks like, the printing and to think about how old it is and what it means,” said Asha Sukhtankar, a fourth grader at Charlottesville’s Trailblazer Elementary. “We’ve been doing a lot of studying about the new nation, the Revolutionary War and stuff.”

Former Virginia fourth grade teacher Sally Kelly, 84, now lives in Tennessee, but came to the Rotunda to visit the declaration.

UVA President Scott C. Beardsley addresses the audience during the opening of the “Declaration Under the Dome” event at the Rotunda.

UVA President Scott C. Beardsley kicks off the “Declaration Under the Dome” event with an introduction celebrating both the University of Virginia and its founder, Thomas Jefferson. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

“I’m a history buff. I had a teacher in the eighth grade, and then another one in high school, who sparked my love of history. I think it’s cool that I got to see a broadside with no signatures that they sent out right after it was done,” she said. “The signing didn’t happen for another month.”

The four-hour “Declaration Under the Dome” program included musical performances, quick educational seminars, readings, and red, white and blue cupcakes as well as University mascots. It was all part of the ongoing UVA250 celebration, a yearlong event to explore the people, places and events that founded the nation 250 years ago, and the University’s creation to serve the fledgling democracy.

Group of children posing for a photo inside the Rotunda hall, while adults take pictures on phones and cameras.

Standing by the Declaration of Independence, fourth grade students from Trailblazer Elementary School in Charlottesville stand for photos after walking to the Rotunda to view the document. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

“We are here to reflect on the enduring power of this extraordinary document as well as the founding of this extraordinary country – the United States of America – and this extraordinary university, the University of Virginia,” UVA President Scott C. Beardsley said in opening the event.

“Nearly 40 years after drafting the declaration, as he worked to establish this university, (Thomas) Jefferson wrote to a friend, ‘Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of the body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.’ For Jefferson, education was inseparable from the health and vitality of a free society,” Beardsley said.

University Communications photographer Matt Riley brought his camera to the festivities, capturing images of the day’s fun, frivolity and solemnity.