Contact: Karis Erwin, National WWI Museum and Memorial, 816.888.8122, kerwin@theworldwar.org
KANSAS CITY, MO. – The National WWI Museum and Memorial announced advance tickets for the Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents That Forged a Nation traveling exhibition. The Freedom Plane National Tour brings original founding-era documents from the National Archives and Records Administration to eight American cities throughout 2026 in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The tour’s first stop is at the Museum and Memorial from Friday, March 6 through Sunday, March 22.
The Museum and Memorial will have special extended hours from March 6-22. The Freedom Plane and all Museum galleries will be open seven days a week, forgoing the usual Tuesday closing during the winter season, as well as until 8 p.m. on Thursday evenings.
Freedom Plane National Tour tickets are required but will be FREE. There are two ways to obtain them:
- Advance tickets (with purchase of Museum admission) are available beginning today at theworldwar.org/visit. Guests will choose the date of their arrival, add Museum tickets to their cart and then be prompted to add Freedom Plane tickets. On the day of the visit, guests can skip the Ticketing line and proceed straight to Memory Hall or other Museum galleries.
- For those wishing to visit only the Freedom plane, same-day tickets will be available at the Ticketing Counter on the day of the visit.
Due to anticipated large crowds and the sensitive nature of the documents, lines may form outside the building.
The original National Archives records featured in the Freedom Plane: Documents That Forged a Nation exhibition —most of which are leaving Washington, D.C. for the first time in many decades— include:
- Original Engraving of the Declaration of Independence, 1823: One of only about 50 known engraved copies of the Declaration of Independence, printed from a copperplate of the original. Commissioned by John Quincy Adams and made by engraver William J. Stone, the engraving captured the size, text, lettering, and signatures of the original document (on loan from David M. Rubenstein).
- Articles of Association, 1774: The most important agreement at the time, adopted by the First Continental Congress and signed by all 53 delegates, urged colonists to boycott British goods.
- George Washington’s, Alexander Hamilton’s, and Aaron Burr’s Oaths of Allegiance, 1778: Oaths of Allegiance all officers of the Continental Army signed during the Revolutionary War.
- Treaty of Paris, 1783: Signed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, the Treaty with Great Britain formally recognized the United States as an independent nation.
- Secret Printing of the Constitution in Draft Form, 1787: A rare copy of the U.S. Constitution in draft form, with a delegate’s handwritten notes made during the Constitutional Convention.
- Tally of Votes Approving the Constitution, 1787: The voting records of the Constitutional Convention reflecting the debates, resolutions, and eventual vote on the final text that would become the Constitution.
Traveling together for the first time in history, the tour will make these historic and consequential documents, fundamental to America’s founding, accessible to Americans across the nation.
The Freedom Plane National Tour is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation, through the generous support of The Boeing Company, Comcast Corporation, Microsoft, and P&G. The exhibition at the Museum and Memorial is supported by Presenting Sponsor America 250 Missouri Commission and Premier Sponsor E&K.