From left: Nick Browse (standing in for Charlie Sennott), Carlene Phillips, Bill Johnson, Fiona Shea, Tim Clark, Ken Nygren, and Steve Hayward rehearse reading the Declaration of Independence. The reading will be presented to the town Monday, July 4, at 10:30 a.m. in front of the old library. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

This Fourth of July, an enthusiastic group of townspeople are reestablishing an old Harvard tradition. At 10:30 a.m., just before the celebratory parade, they will meet in front of the old library for a public reading of the Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America.

The organizer behind the public reading is Ron Ostberg. Ostberg remembers reading the Declaration to his own children every year before they would head to town for the festivities. “The language in it is so beautiful and important,” he said. “When I saw that Mass. Humanities had a program that encouraged towns to participate in communal readings of Frederick Douglass’ speech in reaction to the Declaration, I thought it would be good for Harvard to participate somehow.”

Because Douglass’ speech is around 10,000 words, it would be too long to read due to time constraints. The Declaration of Independence is about 1,300 words long and would fit nicely into the schedule of the day’s events. Ostberg approached the Fourth of July Committee for its approval and reached out to about 25 townspeople who very quickly jumped on board. A small committee was formed and members Bob Eiland, Maggie Green, and Deborah Sauvé organized a multigenerational group of readers, including Tim Clark, Bob Eiland, Stephen Hayward, Bill Johnson, Ken Nygren, Carlene Phillips, and Fiona Shea.

They also recruited veteran foreign correspondent and author Charlie Sennott to emcee the event. Ironically, Sennott, who is currently working in Egypt documenting that nation’s struggle for independence, will return the day before the reading. Declaration Reading Committee member Eiland believes that Sennott’s experience in the Middle East only confirms the relevance that our Declaration still holds today.

“Charlie is witnessing a revolution firsthand,” he said. “He is going to illustrate the connection between our Declaration and independence movements going on around the world. In a sense, he is going to establish how the Declaration has gone global.”

Sennott will describe Harvard’s actions leading up to the Declaration, as documented by Oak Hill Road resident Carlene Phillips in her research from the writings in Directions of a Town, by Robert Anderson ,and History of the Town of Harvard, by Henry Stedman Nourse.

Phillips said she thought it would be interesting to connect Harvard to the Declaration. She said, “To my delight, I found that townspeople were outraged by the actions of the British and formed a committee at a town meeting. It was exciting to read about their experiences.”