About the
Project: The Journal of American
History's round table on translations of the Declaration of
Independence seemed like a natural candidate for on-line
publication. Although the print journal was able to devote a
substantial number of pages in the March 1999 issue to the
round table, it could not also include the many versions of
the Declaration of Independence, as it has been translated
into different languages and at different times. On the Web,
we are able to include this richer documentation. Where
possible, moreover, we have also included "naive"
retranslations back into English so that those who don't
know the different languages can get a sense of how some key
concepts and words have been rendered. Two other features of this
project also recommended it for on-line publication. First,
we are able to make this an open-ended and evolving project.
(Readers will note, for example, that we have not yet been
able to post the translations for all the languages
discussed in the round table.) We would welcome
contributions of other translations of the Declaration of
Independence (along perhaps with commentary about those
translations). If you are interested in participating,
please email Roy
Rosenzweig. Second,
given the international character of the project, it seemed
particularly appropriate to put this on an international
medium--the World Wide Web--where it is available for free
to scholars, students, and others around the
world. This online presentation was
developed by Jessica Finnefrock, Michael O'Malley, and Roy
Rosenzweig at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George
Mason University. We would like to thank Leslie Sanborn and
John Sanborn of Asterisk Typographics and Scott Stephan of
the JAH for their assistance. We welcome your comments on
this experiment, please email Roy
Rosenzweig.