The Declaration of Independence reached Boston on July 13, 1776. Its arrival set off a flurry of activity. Members of the revolutionary government of Massachusetts quickly received a copy in Watertown, where they had been meeting since the British occupation of Boston in 1775.
On July 18, Colonel Thomas Crafts of the Massachusetts militia performed the first public reading of the Declaration in Boston, 14 days after its adoption in Philadelphia. Standing on a balcony at the Old State House, Crafts read out the text for a large crowd who had gathered nearby.
That same day, two Boston newspapers printed the Declaration. Edward Powars and Nathaniel Willis, printers of The New-England Chronicle newspaper, also issued the Declaration as a standalone broadside so that it could be posted in public for anyone to read. Both versions, the broadside and newspaper, are on view here.