NYPL to display rare Declaration of Independence draft for America’s 250th anniversary

To celebrate America’s 250th anniversary next year, the New York Public Library will publicly display its rare copy of the Declaration of Independence . On view at the Stephen A. Scharzman Building from July 1 to July 3, 2026, the draft is one of the few surviving “fair copies” handwritten by Thomas Jefferson. As part of a systemwide commemoration of the nation’s semiquincentennial , the display of the document joins the library’s exhibition “ Revolution: 1776 and Beyond ,” which will explore New York’s role in the American Revolution and its impact on global revolutions that followed.

Held by the library’s Manuscripts and Archives Division, Jefferson’s draft manuscript is most notable for containing a lengthy condemnation of the slave trade, which was ultimately removed to appease