DECLARATION COPY TOUR TO START IN SIMI.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

Producer Norman Lear, who brought the American people such groundbreaking TV sitcoms as ``All in the Family'' and ``Maude,'' is now bringing them an original version of the Declaration of Independence.

During a news conference on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., Lear announced Tuesday that the rare document he'd purchased over the Internet last year for a record $8.4 million will be sent on a national tour, beginning this fall.

The 225-year-old document will stop first at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, which will create and curate a complementary exhibit, ``Freedom's Journey: The Declaration of Independence and Beyond.''

``It's a wonderful opportunity to tell a great story and to engage the community, particularly schoolchildren, in the story of America's fight for freedom,'' Duke Blackwood, director of the Reagan Library, said in a phone interview from Washington, where he joined Lear and actors Rob Reiner and Morgan Freeman at the news conference.

``We want them to understand our nation's heritage and continue to be involved as opposed to being compliant,'' Blackwood said.

While most people are familiar with the calligraphy version of the Declaration of Independence, that document was not created until August 1776.

The version purchased by Lear is among 25 surviving copies produced the night of July 4, 1776, after John Hancock and other members of the Continental Congress approved the text written by Thomas Jefferson.

The document was taken to a Philadelphia printer named John Dunlap, who produced some 200 typeset ``broadsides.'' One copy was officially entered into the Congressional Journal, and the others were carried by horseback to the 13 colonies, where they were read at public gatherings and published in colonial newspapers.

Lear's version was discovered in 1989, behind a framed printing purchased for $4 by a flea market shopper, according to Sothebys, which held the Internet auction for the document.

Three other copies also are in private hands and the remainder belong to universities, historical societies, public libraries and city halls.

Blackwood said the Reagan Library is building an exhibit around the print, which will feature swords and muskets from the Revolutionary War and other original documents, including a letter written by a young soldier.

The exhibit also will take the viewer from America's quest for freedom to its impact around the world - the storming of the Bastille in Paris, the standoff in Tiananmen Square in China and, finally, the Florida vote count controversy in last year's presidential election.

Although Lear is politically liberal - he helped found People for the American Way two decades ago - his admiration for former President Reagan and Nancy Reagan prompted him to ask the library to curate the exhibit, organizers say. Nancy Reagan is on the project's advisory board.

``We want to enhance what the schools are doing,'' said Blackwood, who said he's already has more than 8,500 schoolchildren booked to see the exhibit. ``And we can do this through an exhibit that brings history to life.

``When we see a document that is 225 years old, it's a very different perspective than looking at it from a book or off the Internet.

``It invokes emotions and thought. This is an extraordinary opportunity for the greater Los Angeles community to learn a wonderful story, a wonderful, powerful story and hopefully it'll engage them, people of all ages to become involved,'' he said.

The tour will launch Sept. 15 at the Reagan Library, where it will remain until Jan. 20.

From there, it will travel to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Georgia, the George Bush Presidential Library in Texas and the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Missouri.

The second phase of the tour, from July 2003 to November 2004, will take the document to cities and towns throughout the United States. A third phase of the schedule depends on funding.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan Declaration of Independence Road Trip project is designed to inspire young people to get involved in the political system. Honorary co-chairmen of the project are past Presidents Gerald Ford, a Republican, and Carter, a Democrat.

``We need to engage Americans, especially young people, in voting,'' said Martin Kaplan, director and associate dean of the Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communications and consultant on the project.

Not forgetting his roots in television, Lear collaborated with ABC News Executive Producer Tom Yellin on a hourlong, patriotic special scheduled to air at 10 p.m. today. Actors Mel Gibson, Winona Ryder, Michael Douglas, Whoopi Goldberg and others will read excerpts from the Declaration of Independence from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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