Please note that the following is a digitized version of a selected article from White House History Quarterly, Issue 80, originally released in print form in 2026. Single print copies of the full issue can be purchased online at Shop.WhiteHouseHistory.org
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The Meaning and Making of Official White House
CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT
In celebration of the July 4, 2026, 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the 2026 Official White House Christmas Ornament (page 6) features a facsimile of the historic document (opposite) now housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The 2026 ornament went into production in the fall of 2025 at Beacon Design by ChemArt, an American manufacturer located in Lincoln, Rhode Island, just 10 miles from the home of Stephen Hopkins, one of the Signers of the document. The White House Collection holds portraits of several Signers including third president Thomas Jefferson (seen left) as depicted by John Trumbull in 1788. The portrait was donated to the White House Collection as a Bicentennial gift by the Italian government in 1976.
above and left
Among the works in the White House Collection that feature in the history of American independence are The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America on July 4, 1776, by artist Charles Edouard Armand-Dumaresq, which depicts the delegates as they debate adopting the Declaration, and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, by Joachim Ferdinand Richardt, which captures a midnineteenth-century summer day outside the landmark where the Declaration was signed.
top left Entitled The Rebels of ’76, Or, The First Announcement of the Great Declaration, this c. 1800 illustration envisions the moment the Signers emerge from Independence Hall with the news that the Declaration of Independence had just been signed. In the coming days and weeks word of the signing would be spread through public readings, newspapers, and the distribution of the first printed copies.
bottom left
Provinces, on July 4, 1776, depicts a public reading by a messenger on horseback.
A hand-colored print published c. 1783 and captioned The Manner in Which the American Colonies Declared Themselves Independant of the King of England, Throughout The Different by delivered first reading as hand-colored
bottom right Colonel John Nixon delivered the first reading of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776, as illustrated in this hand-colored woodcut.
The early public readings of the Declaration of Independence continue to be remembered and reenacted today.
clockwise from top left
The July 9, 1776, public reading of the Declaration by Colonel John Neilson in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is memorialized with a statue in the city’s Monument Square. And costumed historical interpreters read the Declaration during Fourth of July celebrations at Mount Vernon, 2023, and outside the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., 2014.
left
The 2026 Official White House Christmas Ornament continues more than 250 years of compliance with the historic order by the Second Continental Congress that the Declaration of Independence be printed and distributed. The Virginia Gazette, published in Williamsburg, is thought to be the first newspaper outside of Philadelphia to publish a full transcription.
opposite, top left
The first print run of the Declaration of Independence was a broadside of approximately two hundred copies produced by John Dunlap, July 4, 1776.
opposite, top right
A highly decorative version of the Declaration of Independence is the 1819 engraving by John Binns, which features a border of portraits of George Washington, John Hancock, and Thomas Jefferson, as well as seals of the first thirteen states.
opposite, bottom left Commissioned by then Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, the “Stone Engraving” made by printer William J. Stone in 1823 is the most frequently reproduced version of the document.
opposite, bottom right
Produced by the White House Historical Association in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the reproduction on the 2026 Official White House Christmas Ornament measures only 2½ x 2 inches.
centennial ornament, ribbons are tied, and
During the final stages of producing the Semiquinred, white, and blue tied, the Declaration of Independence is applied within the gold-finished frame.
The boxed ornament is ready for distribution.
