Freedom Plane carrying Founding-era documents arrives in Atlanta as America’s 250th anniversary tour continues

A flying exhibition of national records heads to Atlanta for a limited public showing

A Boeing 737 known as the “Freedom Plane” is bringing a set of original Founding-era records to Atlanta as part of a national traveling exhibition tied to the United States’ 250th anniversary commemorations in 2026.

The stop in Atlanta is scheduled for Friday, March 27, through Sunday, April 12, with the exhibition hosted at the Atlanta History Center. The Atlanta dates follow the tour’s first public display in Kansas City, Missouri, which ran March 6 through March 22.

What is traveling, and why it is unusual

The tour is built around a single exhibition titled “Documents That Forged a Nation,” assembling rare records that are not commonly exhibited together outside Washington. The initiative is structured as an eight-city itinerary running from March through August 2026, using the aircraft to transport the materials between venues.

The documents are moved as museum objects rather than cargo. They are transported in specially designed cases, with preservation staff overseeing handling and monitoring. Organizers have described the effort as intended to bring historically significant federal records to audiences who may not travel to the National Archives in Washington.

Documents expected to be included in the exhibition

The traveling display is designed around nine original records from the Founding era and related early federal history. Items identified as part of the exhibition include:

• An original engraved copy of the Declaration of Independence (1823), produced from a copperplate engraving commissioned during the John Quincy Adams era.
• The Articles of Association (1774), a Continental Congress measure urging a boycott of British goods.
• Oaths of Allegiance signed in 1778 by George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr while the Continental Army was encamped at Valley Forge.
• The Treaty of Paris (1783), signed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, formally recognizing U.S. independence.
• A draft-form printing of the U.S. Constitution (1787) reflecting handwritten notes from the Constitutional Convention.
• Voting records documenting approval of the Constitution’s final text at the Constitutional Convention (1787).
• A U.S. Senate markup of what became the Bill of Rights (1789).

Atlanta’s stop is part of an eight-city route that also includes Los Angeles, Houston, Denver, Miami, Dearborn, and Seattle.

Access and schedule context

The exhibition is planned to be free to the public at each tour venue, with access managed through the hosting institutions’ ticketing or reservation systems. The Atlanta stop is one of the earliest opportunities for the public to see the collection after the tour’s Washington-area departure and Kansas City debut.

After Atlanta, the itinerary continues to Los Angeles (April 17–May 3) and Houston (May 8–May 25), then Denver (May 28–June 14), Miami (June 20–July 5), Dearborn (July 9–July 26), and Seattle (July 30–August 16).