Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Happy Fourth!
Yesterday I had to stop by another store in our chain. Even though it's the same company, there is a tendency to see things you don’t in your own store because of a different product mix, out-of-stocks, or just because the store is laid out differently.
In the American History section, I saw an extremely cool book, and today seems an appropriate day to talk about it. It’s called The Declaration of Independence and gives a history of the events leading up to July 4, 1776. But what little originality went into the name is very much made up for in the concept. Described as a “museum in a box,” it is stuffed (literally) with reproductions of various documents, highlighted by an exact, full-size copy of the Declaration itself. There are additional documents, all of which are inserted in pockets or attached as foldouts rather than just printed on the page, so you can actually hold them. Some of the reproductions are:
- The Proclamation of 1763 forbidding settlement west of the Appalachians
- Paul Revere’s engraving depicting the Boston Massacre and a broadside circulated at the time
- Continental currency (an eight-dollar note)
- An entry from John Adams’ diary giving his private impressions of the Continental Congress in 1774
- Jefferson’s draft copy of the Declaration
- John Dickinson’s argument against independence
There are plenty more, and because 21st century eyes aren’t entirely used to the style of handwriting of the 18th century, there are also transcripts in modern type. The book also includes capsule biographies of every man who signed the Declaration, just in case you wanted to know exactly who Josiah Bartlett, Button Gwinnett, and Robert Morris were.
The hands-on approach really helps to bring the history to life, and in a way it’s actually better than a museum, because real museums don’t let you touch 230-year-old documents. I had to take it over to the café and sit down and explore the book for a while. The author, Rod Gragg, has created a similar "museum in a box" about the Lewis & Clark Expedition and two others with facsimiles of letters home written by soldiers in the Civil War and World War II. I hope he does more. (Note: I wouldn’t recommend these for younger kids because they will surely lose the inserts, and if you decide to buy one in a bookstore, check to make sure nothing is missing.).
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