Salem’s connections to the Declaration of Independence center around Ezekiel Russell, a local printer who played a key role in publishing and disseminating the Declaration in 1776.

This exhibition coincides with the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution as well as the 400th anniversary of the European settlement of Salem. Works on view in the intimate James Duncan Phillips Trust Gallery include two of the earliest broadside editions of the Declaration of Independence alongside Revolutionary-era manuscripts, newspapers, pamphlets and broadsides that showcase the nation’s founding values of democracy: freedom, liberty and equality.

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Pressing Importance: Salem and The Declaration of Independence is organized by the Peabody Essex Museum. We thank Jennifer and Andrew Borggaard, James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes, The Creighton Family, Chip and Susan Robie, and Timothy T. Hilton as supporters of the Exhibition Innovation Fund. We also recognize the generosity of the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum.