Rare Documents on Display for 4th of July

In celebration of Independence Day, from Thursday, July 3, through Sunday, July 6, 2025, the National Archives in Washington, DC, will display several historic documents related to the Declaration of Independence as part of its Opening the Vault exhibition. This will include Richard Henry Lee’s June 7, 1776, resolution calling for independence and a July 5, 1776, original Dunlap Broadside first-edition printing of the Declaration of Independence.

The museum will be open for extended hours July 3 to 5 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET. Admission is free and timed entry tickets are encouraged, but not required.

Fourth of July Celebration at the National Archives in Washington, DC 

NAID: 445648247

80th Anniversary of the Signing of the UN Charter

The United Nations was established after World War II with a stated purpose of maintaining international peace and security. On June 26, 1945, in San Francisco, CA, the UN was formally established with the signing of the UN Charter.

To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Charter, the National Archives worked with the United Nations to loan the original charter to be exhibited at the UN headquarters in New York City.

The UN Charter on loan from the National Archives to the United Nations in New York City. X post from @USUN.

From the Stacks: Pirates!

The oldest records in the holdings of the National Archives at Atlanta are minutes from the English Province at South Carolina. They document the proceedings at the court in Charles Town (now Charleston) from 1716 to 1763. This page shows the minutes of November 12, 1718, in which Stede Bonnet, one of the most notable figures during the Golden Age of Piracy, was sentenced to death for his conviction on two charges of piracy for the capture of the sloops Francis and Fortune.

This court had jurisdiction for crimes committed on the high seas and heard numerous cases involving other pirates and their crimes in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Those pirates who received a guilty verdict were ordered to be “hanged by the neck until dead.”

Minutes of the British Vice Admiralty Court, dated November 12, 1718. View in National Archives Catalog. Part of NAID: 334339257, Court Minutes, 1716–1763.