Preservation

In September 1931, construction began on the National Archives Building. Architect John Russell Pope chose a symbolic location on Pennsylvania Avenue, halfway between the White House and the Capitol. When President Herbert Hoover set the cornerstone in 1933, he said: 

“This temple of our history will appropriately be one of the most beautiful buildings in America, an expression of the American soul. It will be one of the most durable, an expression of the American character.”

The Rotunda is the heart of the National Archives. The public can see the original founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Between 1935 and 1936, artist Barry Faulkner painted two large murals for the Rotunda. Each one is about the size of a city bus. The left mural depicts Thomas Jefferson presenting a draft of the Declaration to John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress. The right mural shows James Madison presenting a draft of the Constitution to George Washington, President of the Constitutional Convention.

Throughout the Revolutionary War, the Declaration of Independence moved around with the Continental Congress. It was in Philadelphia, PA; Baltimore, MD; Lancaster, PA; York, PA; Princeton, NJ; Annapolis, MD; Trenton, NJ; and New York, NY. In 1800, it was brought to Washington, DC. When the British burned the city in 1814, the Declaration was hidden in a gristmill on the Potomac River and later in a home in Leesburg, VA. The Declaration made a trip to Philadelphia for the 1876 Centennial celebration. And, during World War II, it was moved to Fort Knox, KY, for safekeeping.

In 1952, it came to its permanent home, the National Archives. More than a million visitors come to see the Declaration each year, alongside the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.