DANVERS — Two extremely rare 18th century copies of the Declaration of Independence will be on display at the Danvers Archival Center Monday evening.
The documents are two original broadside printings of the Declaration, one of which was read in South Danvers in the late summer of 1776 to officially inform local residents of the vote for independence.
The other was sold as a keepsake that year to patriotic North Shore residents, and features the first-ever printed depiction of George Washington. It is one of only two surviving broadsides with this image that are known to exist, with the other belonging to the Massachusetts Historical Society.
These documents will be on display at the Danvers Archival Center from 4:30-8:30 p.m. Monday. The archives are located in the basement level of the Peabody Institute Library at 15 Sylvan St.
The original Danvers Town Meeting Record Book that contains a handwritten recording of the Declaration of Independence will also be on hand, as will an original 1780 English print depicting the Declaration being read to citizens.
The viewing is a part of the town’s celebrations of America’s 250th birthday.
The broadsides were printed by Salem printer Ezekiel Russell, according to Danvers Archivist Richard Trask.
The first copy of the Declaration of Independence to arrive in the Boston area was delivered on July 13, 1776. The Massachusetts House of Representatives hired Russell to print between 175-200 copies of the document that would be distributed to every parish in the colony.
Massachusetts parishes were ordered to read the document to their parishioners, and every town was instructed to transcribe the Declaration in their Town Meeting records.
Only about half of the Declarations read in Massachusetts survive today, Trask said. The one in the Danvers Archival Center’s collection was sent to the Rev. Nathan Holt at the South Parish in South Danvers, which became Peabody in the 1860s.
The other Declaration that will be on display Tuesday was a run of the printing Russell sold to anyone who wanted their own personal copy. Russell included two wood block images of then-Gen. George Washington and Gen. Horatio Gates on this version.
Danvers has held events over the last two years to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and how local colonists-turned-citizens fought for their new nation.
Ceremonies have honored the Danvers men who died at the Battles of Lexington, Concord and Menotomy, lectures have been given on the local role in the fight for independence. Danvers will also take part in remembrances of the 1777 Battle of Saratoga, in which Danvers men fought and died, and hold its 15th annual Fourth of July reading of the Declaration at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the pavilion on the Peabody Institute Library lawn.
These events haven’t matched the scale of the Bicentennial celebrations put on in the town in 1976, Trask said. That year saw a massive bonfire topped with a statue of King George III, the largest parade the town had seen in nearly a century, the creation of the Danvers Alarm List Co., a recreated Colonial-era Town Meeting at the Maple Street Church, 70 programs in one weekend and more.
“The fiftieth anniversary of something is never quite as big as the hundredth,” said Trask, who was instrumental in those events 50 years ago. “But we’re remembering this (anniversary) pretty well.”
Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com.