09/10/2026
📜 In July 1776, the Declaration of Independence was immediately translated into German — because roughly 275,000 people in the thirteen colonies spoke German as their primary language.
Two copies of that broadside survive anywhere in the world. One is at Gettysburg College. One is in Berlin.
On Sept. 29–30, the School of American & Global Studies brings that story to SDSU for our America250 signature event, Two Copies, Many Stories.
🎙️ Tuesday, Sept. 29 | 6:30 p.m. | Founders Recital Hall, Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center
Historian Dr. Emily Sneff — author of "When the Declaration of Independence Was News" (Oxford UP, 2026) and consulting curator for "The Declaration's Journey" at the Museum of the American Revolution — on how the Declaration traveled in 1776: in broadsides and newspapers, read aloud in public squares, in German translation, in exchanges with Native nations. Free and open to the public. Reception and book signing to follow.
🔍 Wednesday, Sept. 30
Dr. Sneff joins SDSU students for a working session. They'll tour "The Declaration's Journey" virtually — walking the exhibition with the curator who built it — and then turn to archival materials from Briggs Library Archives & Special Collections and the South Dakota Art Museum to design an exhibit of their own. Curatorial thinking, learned from someone who does it at the national level.
Today is One Day for STATE. Your gift to AGS brings scholars of national standing to Brookings and puts our students in the room with them. 💛💙 Support AGS students: https://www.givecampus.com/s/06g2m4 (select School of AGS from the designation dropdown menu).
Gifts of every size make it possible, and today every dollar helps unlock additional funds from challenge donors.
