Publishing for the 250th anniversary of the United States, When the Declaration of Independence Was News focuses on the nation’s founding document at the moment of its creation in 1776, before anyone knew what the legacy of the Declaration would be or if the United States would win the war against Great Britain. It explores how the Declaration was communicated to people in the new nation and around the Atlantic world and reveals the stories of the many people involved in the process of declaring independence, from printers to soldiers to diplomats to translators.

Emily Sneff, Ph.D., is an early American historian and leading expert on the Declaration of Independence. She is a consulting curator for exhibitions marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, including The Declaration's Journey at the Museum of the American Revolution and Window to Revolution: Pennsylvania Germans and the War for Independence at Historic Trappe.