{"id":582658,"date":"2026-04-14T00:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/582658\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T00:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:59:09","slug":"usc-museum-welcomes-national-archives-freedom-plane-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/582658\/","title":{"rendered":"USC museum welcomes National Archives\u2019 Freedom Plane tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Against a background of billowing white clouds and blue sky Monday, USC celebrated the arrival of a very special Boeing 737 at Van Nuys Airport. USC is the third stop on the \u201cNational Archives\u2019 Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents that Forged a Nation,\u201d<\/a> an eight-city traveling exhibition that brings some of America\u2019s most significant founding-era documents to communities around the country in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States.<\/p>\n

The USC Fisher Museum of Art<\/a> on the University Park Campus will display these historic documents, including: the Articles of Association (1774); the Oaths of Allegiance (1778); a William J. Stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence (1823); the Treaty of Paris (1783); David Brearley\u2019s secret printing of the Constitution (1787); state delegation votes approving the Constitution (1787); and a Senate markup of the Bill of Rights (1789).<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be a part of history and make these treasures more accessible to all people is a tremendous privilege and responsibility,\u201d USC President Beong-Soo Kim<\/a> said as he stood in front of the Freedom Plane addressing an audience of Los Angeles media and VIPs assembled inside a hangar at Van Nuys Airport. \u201cIt goes straight to our mission as a university, and the very reason why we exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

A uniquely Trojan welcome<\/p>\n

The USC community welcomed the national tour in a way only the Trojan Family could, beginning with a rousing performance from the USC Trojan Marching Band as the 737 landed in the background, taxied through a traditional water cannon salute and came to a stop in front of the hangar. The program kicked off with a presentation of the U.S. and California flags from the USC Color Guard and a moving rendition of the national anthem by student Celia Porter of the USC Thornton School of Music.<\/p>\n

\"Freedom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition to Kim\u2019s remarks, the audience heard from National Archives Foundation<\/a> CEO Patrick Madden, as well as Bill McSherry, vice president of state advocacy and global engagement for the Boeing Co. An honor guard of USC U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force ROTC students and USC Department of Public Safety officers transferred crates containing the historic documents from the plane to a van for their transportation to the USC Fisher Museum.<\/p>\n

After thanking the crowd and USC for \u201cthis epic welcome,\u201d Madden officially announced the arrival of the founding documents to the West Coast \u2014 \u201cand the sunny beaches that the founders couldn\u2019t even imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

These documents, Madden said, \u201chave stood the test of time, and have become a living democracy that has evolved, endured and defines us today in our unyielding pursuit of a more perfect union.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are thrilled to be playing an important role to safely transport the documents around the country,\u201d McSherry said in his remarks. He also pointed out that Boeing\u2019s role in the project is fitting, given Boeing\u2019s long history not only to aviation in the United States, but in Southern California\u2019s aerospace industry \u2014 \u201cfrom Bill Boeing to Rosie the Riveter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bringing national treasures to the L.A. community<\/p>\n

Founded in 1939 as a free public art museum and still functioning as such in its original location, the USC Fisher Museum is the oldest art museum in the city of L.A.<\/p>\n

Hosting the nationwide tour is in line with Kim\u2019s presidential priority of community impact. Drawing on USC\u2019s reputation as a hub for civic engagement, the tour brings irreplaceable pieces of U.S. history to the communities surrounding the university\u2019s campuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese documents may have arrived to us on the wings of an aircraft, but it\u2019s important to remember that, throughout history, democracy and freedom have managed to spread across the globe on the power of these ideas alone,\u201d Kim said. \u201cWe know that we are only caretakers of these documents for a short while, [but] like all great universities, we are constant stewards of the principles that they enshrine.\u201d<\/p>\n

An irreplaceable experience<\/p>\n

This tour represents the first time these historic documents have left the national capital. Inspired by the original Freedom Trains<\/a>, the Freedom Plane National Tour is \u201cdesigned to reconnect Americans with the nation\u2019s founding ideals by bringing original historical artifacts across the country,\u201d according to the Freedom Plane\u2019s official website. The first Freedom Train \u2014 which ran from 1947 to 1949 \u2014 carried the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights more than 37,000 miles across the states and was viewed by over 3 million visitors. The second such train toured the country between 1975 and 1976 to celebrate the Bicentennial.<\/p>\n

Madden noted that USC is the only university that will be hosting the exhibition. \u201cSeeing these original documents firsthand will invite meaningful reflection, ignite a civic spark for the next generation to carry the founding ideals forward and write the following chapters of the American story,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bethany Montagano, director of USC Museums, said the USC Fisher Museum is prepared to receive some 20,000 visitors to the exhibit. \u201cIt is just so special to see these documents in person,\u201d she said. \u201cThey show a free and democratic process\u201d as the founders debated what a government should look like \u201cwhen people have the power,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving spent time teaching constitutional law, I am personally looking forward to seeing how this exhibit will spark conversation at USC and in our community,\u201d Kim said.<\/p>\n

The Freedom Plane National Tour is being brought to the public by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and the National Archives Foundation. The exhibition featuring these documents will be at the\u00a0USC Fisher Museum and open to the public from April 17-May 3 (closed Mondays). The exhibition is free, with an advance, timed ticket<\/a>, Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Against a background of billowing white clouds and blue sky Monday, USC celebrated the arrival of a very…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,68608,98642,255255,2420,473,3,21,19,22,20,25,24,200361,22570,46949],"class_list":["post-582658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-community-impact","tag-democracy-dialogue","tag-freedom-plane","tag-government","tag-history","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-usc-fisher-museum-of-art","tag-usc-news","tag-usc-news-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}