1. We give you: the Declaration of Independence, in Thomas Jefferson’s hand. Click through to see all four pages. (Apologies for the fuzzy quality of the images.) Amazing, right? This artifact is in the NYPL’s Thomas Addis Emmet Collection, which contains several thousand original prints, drawings, watercolors, and printed book illustrations relating to early American history, primarily from the period leading to the American Revolution through the early years of the nation. In an NYPL blog post, Thomas Lannon, assistant curator of the Manuscripts & Archives Division, gives a history of this copy of the Declaration and explains how the Library came to own it. Happy Independence Day!

    We give you: the Declaration of Independence, in Thomas Jefferson’s hand. Click through to see all four pages. (Apologies for the fuzzy quality of the images.)

    Amazing, right? This artifact is in the NYPL’s Thomas Addis Emmet Collection, which contains several thousand original prints, drawings, watercolors, and printed book illustrations relating to early American history, primarily from the period leading to the American Revolution through the early years of the nation.

    In an NYPL blog post, Thomas Lannon, assistant curator of the Manuscripts & Archives Division, gives a history of this copy of the Declaration and explains how the Library came to own it.

    Happy Independence Day!

  2. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! While we do hope that you see some pretty spectacular fireworks today, we at NYPL most certainly do not advise that you follow the example of this 1904 Calendar from Burr Macintosh monthly magazine in which a child inexplicably snuggles up to “an explosive.” We love our Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection, but, sometimes…  the things people liked in the past really blow our minds.

    DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

    While we do hope that you see some pretty spectacular fireworks today, we at NYPL most certainly do not advise that you follow the example of this 1904 Calendar from Burr Macintosh monthly magazine in which a child inexplicably snuggles up to “an explosive.”

    We love our Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection, but, sometimes…  the things people liked in the past really blow our minds.