This set of magnets shows Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock, ready to hold up your important messages on your refrigerator or a flat metal surface in your office space. Unlike in the original mural, and for artistic reasons, John Hancock appears mirrored compared to the original mural on the magnet. Both men are depicted as standing in front of the National Archives building in Washington, DC, home of the Declaration of Independence. A portion of the text of the Declaration of Independence can be seen above the building.

Barry Faulkner’s large-scale murals, on permanent display in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom at the National Archives Building, depict fictional scenes of the presentation of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. In The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia is depicted handing over his carefully worded and carefully edited draft of the Declaration of Independence to John Hancock of Massachusetts. Many of the other Founding Fathers look on, some fully supportive, some apprehensive.

Faulkner’s The Declaration of Independence has the Constitution as its companion at the National Archives. Each mural, commissioned in 1934 and completed in 1936, is about 13 feet high by 34 feet long. Faulkner painted them in oil on canvas in his studio at Grand Central Station in New York City. They were then transported to Washington, DC, where they were “fastened to the Rotunda’s plaster walls with a mixture of paint, varnish and turpentine.” Both National Archives murals underwent restoration and cleaning in the early 21st century that cost over $2 million. Faulkner received $36,000 for his work.

The National Archives, through its National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), has entered into a cooperative agreement with the University of Virginia Press to create the Founders Online site and make freely available online the historical documents of the Founders of the United States of America.

Through the Founders Online website, you will be able to read and search through thousands of records from George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison and see firsthand the growth of democracy and the birth of the Republic.