The Chapin Library of Rare Books at Williams College will host its annual July 4th reading of historical texts by actors from the Williamstown Theatre Festival at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, July 4, 2025. Readers at this year’s event include President of the Stockbridge Munsee Community Shannon Holsey.
The event is free and open to the public.
Visitors are invited to gather indoors at Chapin Hall on the Williams College campus. The program includes:
- The Declaration of Independence and Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
- Excerpts from Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
- Excerpts from The Declaration of the Rights of the Women of the United States
- Excerpts from John Quinney’s Fourth of July, 1854, Address at Reidsville, New York, read by Shannon Holsey, President of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community
The Dunlap Broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence, a draft of the U.S. Constitution, and other documents from the Chapin Library’s collections will be on display in the Sawyer Library Chapin Gallery after the reading.
Please note a new time and location for this event, which will accommodate a crowd in comfort: 1:00pm in Chapin Hall.