WASHINGTON (TNND) — The National Archives and Records Administration announced plans Tuesday for a new traveling exhibition that will bring some of the nation’s most important founding-era documents to communities across the country in 2026.

The “Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents That Forged a Nation,” announced during a livestreamed press briefing on Jan. 20, will visit eight American cities from March through August as part of the nation’s semiquincentennial celebration marking 250 years since the founding of the United States.

Inspired by the Bicentennial Freedom Train, the tour is designed to make historic and consequential documents from America’s early history more accessible to the public, according to National Archives officials. This time, however, the documents will travel via the Freedom Plane, a Boeing 737 that will transport the archives to every stop along the tour.

At least 10 documents will make up the tour's collection. Among those documents are:

• State Delegation Votes Approving the Constitution, 1787
• William Stone Engraving of the Declaration of Independence, 1823
• Articles of Association, 1774
• George Washington's, Alexander Hamilton's and Aaron Burr's Oaths of Allegiance, 1778
• Treaty of Paris, 1783
• David Brearley's Secret Print of the Constitution, 1778
  
  

“Americans across the country can bear witness to the people and principles that shaped our nation through the Freedom Plane National Tour,” said Jim Byron, senior advisor to the Archivist of the United States. “There is no more noteworthy an occasion than America’s 250th birthday to share this history, to inspire our fellow Americans to champion our nation’s founding ideals into the future.”

The National Archives Foundation is partnering on the tour, which is supported in part by corporate sponsors including The Boeing Company, Comcast Corporation, Microsoft and Procter & Gamble.

Boeing Executive Vice President Jeff Shockey said the company is proud to support the effort, emphasizing the role of the tour in connecting Americans with their history.

“Just as flight connects people and places, this tour will connect Americans to the ideas and sacrifices that forged our nation,” Shockey said.

Patrick M. Madden, Chief Executive Officer of the National Archives Foundation, said the tour aims to bring more than just historical documents to communities nationwide.

“The Freedom Plane National Tour is helping to bring not only founding-era documents themselves, but the patriotism, celebration, and wonder that they inspire, to Americans everywhere—from sea to shining sea,” Madden said.

The tour plans to stop at locations that are able to accommodate the historic records:

• Kansas City, MO: National WWI Museum and Memorial: Friday, March 6 – Sunday, March 22
• Atlanta, GA: Atlanta History Center: Friday, March 27 – Sunday, April 12
• Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California Fisher Museum of Art: Friday, April 17 – Sunday, May 3
• Houston, TX: Houston Museum of Natural Science: Friday, May 8 – Monday, May 25
• Denver, CO: History Colorado Center: Thursday, May 28 – Sunday, June 14
• Miami, FL: HistoryMiami Museum: Saturday, June 20 – Sunday, July 5
• Dearborn, MI: Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation: Thursday, July 9 – Sunday, July 26
• Seattle, WA: Museum of History & Industry: Thursday, July 30 – Sunday, August 16