Cover of Gaffield (ed) The Haitian Declaration of Independence
Image Source: www.upress.virginia.edu
photo of Julia Gaffield
Image Source: juliagaffield.files.wordpress.com
Julia Gaffield
Detail map of Durham, North Carolina, United States,Port-au-Prince, Turgeau, Ouest Department, Haiti,Kew, Richmond, England, United Kingdom

A: Durham, North Carolina, United States, B: Port-au-Prince, Turgeau, Ouest Department, Haiti, C: Kew, Richmond, England, United Kingdom

Liberté ou la Mort: Julia Gaffield Discovers Haiti's Declaration of Independence

1804 to 2/2010
The only known copy of Liberté ou la Mort, the Haitian declaration of independence.
Image Source: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
The only known copy of Liberté ou la Mort, the Haitian declaration of independence.

In February 2010 Julia Gaffield, then a Canadian graduate student at Duke University discovered in the British National archives the only known copy of the printed declaration of independence for Haiti, an 8-page pamphlet headed Liberté ou La Mort. 

Prior to Gaffield's discovery no copy of this document was known.

Timeline Themes

Survival of Information / Philology
Social / Political