The Freedom Plane
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As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the National Archives is transporting some of the nation’s founding documents to museums across the country aboard a custom Boeing 737 dubbed the Freedom Plane.
Amid pomp and pageantry, the eight-city tour revives an older tradition of bringing historical artifacts directly to the public. This spring, the exhibition stopped in Los Angeles, where the documents went on display at the University of Southern California.
At a fragile moment in U.S. history, can the Freedom Plane really cultivate national unity?
Story pitch, photography, and reporting by Brandon Tauszik.
Published in Distillations Magazine.
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The 250th anniversary is fast approaching, and doing a Freedom Plane tour is just the coolest thing. We treated the flight like every other flight, however everything on the ground has been different.
– Jyl Steele
Freedom Plane pilot
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Obviously we don’t want to have a Nicolas Cage moment where someone decides to try and steal them. But the bigger issue for us is climate and environment.
– Erroll Southers
USC head of security
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We actually conceived it about a year ago. It’s an extremely short turnaround time for an exhibition like this. For a while I didn’t even think we were going to be able to pull it off.
– Jessie Kratz
National Archives curator
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We really love and respect America. It’s been a wild several years in the country … right? But that’s showing that we can all have our voices heard and express what we believe.
– Cristina Splawn
Homeschooling mother of four