PORTSMOUTH — Portsmouth’s copy of The Declaration of Independence — one of only four known remaining copies in the state — will be on display for all to see Thursday, July 6.

The public can view the document at Portsmouth Town Hall from 5:30-7 p.m. Town Historian Jim Garman, who’s also president of the Portsmouth Historical Society, will speak briefly about the document at 6 p.m.

Soon after the Declaration of Independence was approved by the second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, Christopher Southwick, a printer in Newport, prepared copies for each of the Rhode Island towns. 

Portsmouth’s copy was rescued from an obscure location at Town Hall in the 1980s by then-Town Clerk Carol Zinno and the late historian John Pierce. It was sent to the National Archives for authentication and when that was completed it was very carefully framed and preserved. It is kept in the town clerk’s vault and brought out for display annually.