National Treasure: Progress and the Past
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Philad’a Stereo Publishing Company, House in Which Jefferson Wrote the Declaration of Independence, ca. 1876. This image showcases what is seemingly a place of primarily historical value (where one of the founding documents of the American nation was composed) rather than one of commercial worth when compared with its neighboring storefronts. The stereograph brings up the question of the financial practicality of the preservation of the past in the face of an increasingly commercialized present.
![James Cremer, [Gloria Dei Church], ca. 1873.](images/Section 2/p-2011-47-1903.jpg)
Philad’a Stereo Publishing Company, House in Which Jefferson Wrote the Declaration of Independence, ca. 1876.
The side of the house is covered in playbills for theater productions. A frame for an awning, as well as a promotion for “Davis Jr. Fine Imported Key West Segars” is visible on the front of the house.
A telegraph pole and taller buildings, including a dining saloon, dwarf the old Graff house (built circa 1775-1776), where Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence.