Beinecke Library welcomes all to a special display of materials from Yale Library collections related to Roger Sherman, America 250, Connecticut, New Haven, and Yale History on Sherman’s birthday. The display will be on Saturday, April 19, from 12 noon to 4pm in the Beinecke Library reading room, 121 Wall Street.
The library will showcase historic newspapers, broadsides, maps, correspondence, and other materials by and about Sherman and his time. Visitors will be able to see the historic first printing of the Declaration of Independence, the first printing of the United States Constitution, and other items about the American Revolution.
Born on April 19, 1721, Sherman was the only person to sign all four basic documents of national formation: the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. Sherman served on the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration, signed the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War, and played a key role in the 1787 constitutional convention.
A lawyer, he moved to New Haven in 1761 and lived here for the rest of his life. Sherman served in many civic roles, including justice of the peace, on the Governor’s Council of the Connecticut General Assembly, and as Justice of the Superior Court of Connecticut. In 1784, he was elected as the first mayor of New Haven, an office he held until his death in 1793. Sherman is buried in the Grove Street Cemetery.
Sherman is particularly known for the Great Compromise, or Connecticut Compromise, in the Constitutional Convention. It established a bicameral legislature, with two houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. A founding father of the nation, Sherman was a proponent of legislative leadership and of holding executive power in check.
The one-day display will also mark a beginning of the semiquincentennial of the Revolution, as the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord 250 years ago on April 19, 1775. Items on view will shine a light on the histories of New Haven, Yale, and the people of the time – both well-known figures like Nathan Hale, James Hillhouse, and Noah Webster, as well as others who were sustainers of the community and builder of the nation even if their names are not as well remembered. The Beinecke display will also include some items tied to General George Washington and the course of fighting in the Revolutionary War.
Everyone will be welcome to take a full-scale facsimile edition of the Dunlap Broadside, the first printing of the Declaration of Independence. Beinecke Library stewards an original first printing, one of only 25 first printings known to survive and the only one in Connecticut.
NOTE to all who attend: When you arrive at the Beinecke Library, please place bags, hats, coats, and other belongings in the provided lockers before heading downstairs. No ink pens are permitted in the reading room, but visitors may use the yellow pencils available in the library. Visitors are welcome to take non-flash photographs.
American history is alive and accessible throughout New Haven. Visitors are also encouraged to see other markers of U.S. history related to the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution located near the Beinecke Library.
Immediately north of the library, the Grove Street Cemetery, 227 Grove Street, is the burial site of Roger Sherman and other patriots. The first chartered burial ground in the U.S., the cemetery is free and open to the public daily 9 am – 4 pm.
A few blocks south of the Beinecke Library, the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street, holds numerous works of art related to the founding of the nation. The works on view to the public include John Trumbull’s “The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776,” a depiction of the Committee of Five presenting the document to John Hancock. Visit the art gallery’s website for more information on hours.