ABSTRACT
How many Americans, in particular those interested in U.S. history, have read the Declaration of Independence (or the Bill of Rights or the Constitution) in a textbook, online, or in any other publication? If you are moved by the words in this infl uential document, how much more so would the words aff ect you if you gazed upon the actual, hand-written object (housed in the Rotunda of the National Archives in Washington, DC)? What is it about being in the presence of the physical document that imbues its words and their message with more power? Perhaps it allows us to connect, through time and space, with the document’s creator. Perhaps we recognize in the object itself the ability to bridge time and space, its physical presence a testament to the enduring nature of the things we create. e central component of a historic document or a work or art that loses impact, in whole or in part, in a reproduction is its form. e subject (or theme) and the content (in this case the words) are present in reproductions, but the form they take … in the color of ink used, in the quality and tone of parchment, as well as the style of handwriting … are all absent. is is a central element, the part of the work that can communicate a sense of the thing itself when tied to its subject and content.
