February 29, 2024
W.J.STONE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE on RICEPAPER
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The Declaration of Independence was originally penned ,with highly acidic ink,on vellum or sheep skin. It was displayed on a wall unprotected ,hanging in direct sunlight in the Library of Congress. By 1820 it was damaged severely, though not yet fifty years old it was feared it would soon be illegible. John Quincy Adams was urged by the surviving signers of the Declaration to do something about this. Adams was the Secretary of State when a Congressional Act was passed to create a facsimile.He hired engraver William J. Stone in Washington D.C. to do this work. Stone set about this important task by using the wet ink transfer process. This involved sandwiching the original D.I. between a base plate and a highly polished copper plate on top,after the D.I. was thoroughly moistened. Pressure was applied and held until the Declaration was literally peeled off the top plate,leaving most of its remaining ink on the copper engraving plate. Though thoroughly damaging the document, the process worked so well, that Stone was able to engrave a plate that was a perfect replica of the Declaration of Independence! He was finished by 1823 and printed 201 copies on vellum,few of these survive today, most in museums. The vellum copies differ from the original vellum Declaration in that they have "Engraved by W.J.Stone for the Department of State, by
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