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Magna Carta, Lincoln Cathedral Exemplar
Ink on parchment, 1215
Loaned by kind permission of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln Cathedral, England

Declaration of Independence
First printing, broadside printed by John Dunlap, Philadelphia, July 4, 1776
Lent by Chapin Library of Rare Books, Williams College

Committee of Style Report of the United States Constitution
Printed by Dunlap and Claypoole, Philadelphia, 1787, with ink annotations by George Mason
Lent by Chapin Library of Rare Books, Williams College

Emancipation Proclamation
Printed in Washington, DC, c. Jan. 3, 1863
Lent by Chapin Library of Rare Books, Williams College

Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States
Published by the National Woman Suffrage Association, Philadelphia, July 4, 1876
Lent by Chapin Library of Rare Books, Williams College

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
United Nations Department of Public Information, printed in the USA, 1949
Lent by Sawyer Library, Williams College

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Department of State Publication, Washington, DC, January 1949
Lent by Sawyer Library, Williams College

The Lincoln Cathedral Magna Carta is one of only four surviving handwritten copies of the original charter issued in 1215, and was probably brought back to Lincoln from Runnymede by Hugh of Wells, the Bishop of Lincoln. In 2015, the 800th anniversary of this historic document, Magna Carta will return to Lincoln within a new interpretation center.

The other documents in the exhibition come from the Williams College Libraries. The Chapin Library of Rare Books has an extraordinary collection of rare books, manuscripts, and other primary source materials. The Founding Documents of the United States, including the Declaration of Independence and draft Constitution featured in this exhibition, have a permanent display area in Stetson Hall. Sawyer and Chapin Libraries have recently reopened in renovated and expanded facilities.