We are excited to announce that Cooper University Hospital will display a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence in the Roberts Pavilion this fall. The display is made possible by Cooper’s Chairman, George E. Norcross III, whose family purchased the document in honor of a close family friend and colleague.
As Chairman Norcross said when announcing the purchase, “As our country continues the essential conversation about how best to ensure that every American benefits from the privileges and protections enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, we hope that making this copy public will remind us all of the principles that guide and unite us. I am especially happy that we will be able to display this Declaration copy at Cooper University Hospital where Cooper staff, patients, and visitors, as well as members of the community, will be able to see this rare historical document up close.”
The document was created in 1823 by William Stone at the direction of then-Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. It is one of six copies given to the only living signers at the time—President John Adams, President Thomas Jefferson, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton. The copy the Norcross family purchased belonged to Carroll and was recently discovered in an attic in Scotland.
Additional details about the document and its purchase are available in the Philadelphia Inquirer article here.
Continue to check Weekly Rounds for an update on when the display will take place.