Emily Sneff
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emilysneff.bsky.social
Emily Sneff
@emilysneff.bsky.social
1.6K followers 290 following 160 posts
Historian of the Declaration of Independence
Curator of Digital Content @declarationstories.bsky.social
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emilysneff.bsky.social
If a certain new book about the Declaration of Independence is 80 pages and $20, then my book is a STEAL at almost 200 pages longer and $29, right? 🤔
Screenshot of a website with Simon & Schuster logo at the top. To the left, cover image of a book with a quill, reading The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, Walter Isaacson. To the right, further details including List Price $20.00. Screenshot of a website. To the left, a peach and blue toned cover image of book reading Emily Sneff, When the Declaration of Independence Was News. At the middle and right, further details including list price $29.99.
November 21, 2025 at 4:40 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
Authors! I am genuinely excited to create the index for my book but I am also a) very busy and b) getting over a nasty cold. Send me your indexing tips that don't involve getting someone else to do it or relying on AI!
Proof page with black text on a white background reading: OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF WHEN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WAS NEWS EMILY SNEFF OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
November 18, 2025 at 5:16 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
In the OUP Spring–Summer 2026 catalogue:

When the Declaration of Independence Was News! 😍
HISTORY When the Declaration of Independence Was News EMILY SNEFF, Independent scholar Provides fresh perspectives on the Declaration of Independence by focusing on the earliest public readings and print reactions to independence in English and European languages Brings to life the range of interpretations and emotions of people as they learned about the Declaration of Independence throughout the United States and the Atlantic world Publishing for the 250th anniversary of the United States, When the Declaration of Independence Was News focuses on the nation's founding document at the moment of its creation in 1776, before anyone knew what the legacy of the Declaration would be or if the United States would win the war against Great Britain. It explores how the Declaration was communicated to people in the new nation and around the Atlantic world and reveals the stories of the many people involved in the process of declaring independence, from printers to soldiers to diplomats to translators. About the Author EMILY SNEFF is a historian of the founding era of the United States and a leading expert on the Declaration of Independence. A PhD in history from William and Mary, she is a consulting curator for museum exhibitions for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration. US: April 2026 $29.99 | 1A | 6 1/7 x 9 1/4in UK: July 2026 £22.99 | AE | 235x156mm 978-0-19-781669-1 HB | 272pp 15 B&W halftones Available as an Ebook OXFORD Trade Books Spring–Summer 2026
October 13, 2025 at 1:54 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
Fit check for Revolutionary Germantown x Red October
Photo of a red t shirt with white writing: The British blew a thirteen colony lead. Layered on top, a light blue hat with a white and red outline of the Liberty Bell.
October 4, 2025 at 1:51 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
Coming April 15, 2026!

The nation’s founding document at the moment of its creation in 1776, before anyone knew what the legacy of the Declaration would be or if the United States would win the war against Great Britain.

Pre-order information (and discount code!) will be available in the new year.
Book cover with text reading: Emily Sneff, When the Declaration of Independence Was News. Background color fades from a peach-toned map at the top of the image to a blue-toned image of the parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence.
September 26, 2025 at 8:16 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
Looking for a pocket Declaration of Independence? More than likely, it includes the Constitution.

It's SUPER important to read the Constitution, but for the 250th, it's also important to have handheld copies of the Declaration on its own, in its own context.

@declarationstories.bsky.social
Red corrogated cardboard torn to reveal a while background with text in dark blue and red reading: Coming Soon Handheld Declaration of Independence declarationstories.org
August 8, 2025 at 3:40 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
A bit of good news on a Friday:

My book exists on the OUP website 🙌

When the Declaration of Independence Was News, coming April 15, 2026!

global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Screenshot of a website with Oxford University Press and circle-shaped logo in upper left corner and heading Academic. Next to a placeholder cover reading Image Not Available, overview of the book reads: When the Declaration of Independence Was News Emily Sneff Provides fresh perspectives on the Declaration of Independence by focusing on the earliest public readings and print reactions to independence in English and European languages Brings to life the range of interpretations and emotions of people as they learned about the Declaration of Independence throughout the United States and the Atlantic world Publishes to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
August 1, 2025 at 9:42 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
Always good to see @kawulf.bsky.social in action! Talking Lineage and how genealogy really did actually exist in colonial British America
Photo of Karin Wulf at a podium that reads Historical Society of Pennsylvania with slide projected in the background on a white wall and grey chairs in the foreground
July 24, 2025 at 12:54 AM
emilysneff.bsky.social
This makes me so happy 😊

Me and @kawulf.bsky.social, back-to-back on @bfworld.bsky.social!
Screenshot of the Ben Franklin's World website with two rectangular graphics of 18th century manuscripts. Episodes are listed as Episode 416: Karin, Wulf, Lineage: Genealogy in Early America (left) and Episode 415: Emily Sneff, The Many Declarations of Independence (right)
July 15, 2025 at 1:37 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
Book tour loading . . .

Get in touch if you want to schedule an event or see an event happen in your area! emilysneff.com
July 7, 2025 at 9:51 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
This wall at the Independence Visitor Center used to be filled with books and now it is... not

No offense to the 50th anniversary of Rocky, but as someone who has been working on a book carefully timed for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, this is not a great look for my city.
Brick wall with white shelves and blue paint above a black lighting track. On and around the shelves are t-shirts, glasses, and other merchandize with the Rocky logo and images of the character.
June 5, 2025 at 7:04 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
Case studies in social media, ratios, and why the history of the American Revolution is difficult to navigate at this anniversary moment:

MoAR gets slammed for offering lesser known histories during Pride

America250 gets slammed for promoting the Grand Military Parade on the US Army anniversary
Screenshot of Facebook post from the Museum of the American Revolution. Image link shows a Pride flag hanging on a window. Text reads: Join the Museum throughout Pride Month in June to explore the lesser-known stories of people who challenged gender, identity, and social norms during the Revolutionary era. All month long, join us for a new outdoor walking tour offered on June 7 & 21, as well as special artifact displays and programming. Reactions include 191 comments. Screenshot of an Instagram post from America250. Image shows President Trump wearing a red MAGA hat.
June 5, 2025 at 6:27 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
Book manuscript is done and headed to copy editing 🙌

I am looking forward to working with Oxford University Press on the next stages of preparation and production for When the Declaration of Independence Was News, coming spring 2026!

In the meantime, enjoy one of my favorite footnotes 😊
Note 16 in a text document reads: Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, August 17, 1776, p. 2 (emphasis in original). It is not clear why Say's newspapers treated the Declaration of Independence differently. Perhaps these two approaches to the text indicate a division of not only labor but editorial oversight between her publications. Still, it is worth noting that Mary Say and Mary Katharine Goddard are the only two women known to have printed the Declaration of Independence under their own names in 1776--though I imagine that Goddard would have been flummoxed by how the text was treated in Say's newspapers.
June 2, 2025 at 3:32 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
Spending my birthday with a cup of coffee (okay, several) and book edits (fewer than I was expecting!)

No present like the gift of sending things off to be copy edited, right?
Photo of a rose gold laptop keyboard sitting on an angle next to a clear glass of foamed coffee on a white table with several black and gray chairs in the background
May 20, 2025 at 3:04 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
The Speaker at the Speaker's House!

It was such a joy to meet Rep. Joanna McClinton, the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and see her explore the restoration-in-progress of the home of the guy who had her job 245 years ago. The Speaker's House will open to the public next year!
Photo of a historic house with brown stone and white windows in the background and a group of six people in the foreground next to a sign reading Speaker's House, Home of Frederick Muhlenberg, Historic Trappe
April 22, 2025 at 9:03 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
BRB, getting a Matt Strahm powder blue jersey
April 17, 2025 at 1:42 AM
emilysneff.bsky.social
A little bit of *fun* Declaration news, for once.

The Phillies pitcher who looks like Nicolas Cage has a new Declaration of Independence glove
Image of a hand in a baseball glove. The glove is made from medium brown and white leather, and the script font of the Declaration of Independence on the white leather.
April 17, 2025 at 1:40 AM
emilysneff.bsky.social
At face value, the new-look NEH Public Scholars grant seems designed for me, as a public scholar of the Declaration of Independence. But the description is... troubling.

And, not for nothing, a grant that kicks in on June 1, 2026 isn't actually supporting scholarship for July 4, 2026.
Screenshot of NEH website with logo featuring great seal in upper left corner. Text reads: What's New for 2025 In honor of the upcoming 250th anniversary of America's Founding, the 2025-26 Public Scholars competition especially encourages projects that promote a deeper understanding of our nation's extraordinary heritage, including our record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing. Competitive applications will focus on topics in American history, culture, and government in any period from the Colonial Era to the present that increase public knowledge of the 250th anniversary of American Independence and American exceptionalism. Projects might explore the origins of the world's oldest constitutional democracy, or how its founding ideals have been met over time, or examine significant individuals, events, books or documents, artworks, objects, music, places, traditions, or ideas that have shaped America, its role in the world, or the experiences of its people.
April 15, 2025 at 5:21 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
After hearing from National Parks Service employees who could not register for the @declarationstories.bsky.social virtual workshops on the Declaration of Independence because of budget freezes and uncertainties, I've made registration free for all NPS workers.

www.declarationstories.org/workshops
March 25, 2025 at 5:06 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
Had so. much. fun. recording an episode of Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant (@rrchnm.bsky.social) about one of my favorite letters from the summer of 1776. Coming soon!
March 20, 2025 at 8:23 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
Not only did the Scrabble computer play REDCOATS against me--on Evacuation Day, of all days--it also got the 50 point bonus 🥲
Screenshot of a Scrabble board with gray, red, pink, light blue, and blue spaces on a black background, with the tiles of the word REDCOATS highted and a small blue number 63 next to the R. Other words include TURNIP, CLAMPED, HOSTA, and DOZE.
March 17, 2025 at 8:48 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
"Our Nation’s historic governing documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, have all been written in English."

Except both were immediately translated into German because people needed those governing documents in the language they knew.
Side-by-side image of black and white scans of two newspapers, the Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote of July 9, 1776, with the text of the Declaration of Independence in German in two columns, and the Neue Unpartheyische Lancaster Zeitung of September 26, 1787, with the text of the United States Constitution in German in three columns.
March 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
It took almost five years, but the test strip lit up REAL fast this morning.

I feel justified in every decision I have taken since 2020 to mask and protect myself because, in the year 2025, COVID has knocked me flat on my back. Not even the Eagles Super Bowl parade speeches can revive me.
Photo of a white rectangular rapid COVID/Flu test with red stripes indicating a positive COVID result
February 14, 2025 at 11:07 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
As ever, Go Birds
February 9, 2025 at 1:39 PM
emilysneff.bsky.social
Fun (actually not fun) fact:

Thomas Jefferson was the acting archivist of the United States when he was Secretary of State, too.

The history of the parchment Declaration of Independence before the transfer to Library of Congress and then NARA proves the different expertises needed for these jobs.
Image of the faded engrossed and signed parchment Declaration of Independence
February 6, 2025 at 2:38 PM