EPISODE · Jul 29, 2026 · 40 MIN
America's 250th: The Man Putting the Declaration Back in Every Classroom | Mark Hill
from The Jenny Beth Show · host Jenny Beth Martin, Mark Hill
Mark Hill is the owner of the Theodore Ohman collection and the founder of BigParty250.com. With his brother, Hill purchased the complete Ohman collection in 1995 — the original lithographs, glass plates, and printing plates behind Ohman's restorations of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution — and he is now carrying Ohman's every-school mission into America's 250th anniversary. Key topics: Theodore Ohman: the Bohemian immigrant lithographer who restored the founding documents How Ohman rebuilt the Declaration from an 1823 William Stone print and 1903 glass-plate negatives The 1942 Declaration, the 1953 Constitution with the Bill of Rights, and the 25-year every-school mission The stone print the Library of Congress received in 1939 and cannot explain The on-camera tour: glass plates, printing plates, and the originals The signature Constitution: President Trump, Ted Cruz, Charlie Kirk, Jesse Watters, and more How to put the founding documents in your local school Timestamped breakdown: 00:00 — The mission: the Declaration and Constitution in every school in America 01:33 — Who was Theodore Ohman: a schoolboy in Bohemia who never forgot the Declaration 03:05 — Ohman's authentic restoration: the William Stone print and the Handy negatives 05:13 — The 1953 Constitution lithograph with the Bill of Rights 05:51 — A set in every school: 25 years of selling sets to hometown banks 07:35 — How Mark Hill ended up with the collection 12:21 — Human Events sells 1,200 original Declarations in six months 16:01 — The Library of Congress mystery: a stone print with no record 19:34 — The mission today: America's 250th and finding a partner 23:00 — Human nature, checks and balances, and why socialism always ends in tyranny 25:36 — On-camera tour: glass plates, silvering, and the printing plates 31:17 — The signature Constitution and President Trump's five tries 33:24 — Promo code JENNY and putting these documents in your local school Links mentioned: BigParty250.com — the Ohman prints, the Ohman story, and the signature-piece photo gallery jennybethshow.com — all episodes teapartypatriots.org — Tea Party Patriots Action
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What this episode covers
The Declaration of Independence was fading away, and the federal government had no plan to restore it. A Bohemian immigrant named Theodore Ohman did. Jenny Beth Martin sits down with Mark Hill, owner of the Theodore Ohman collection and founder of BigParty250.com, for the story of the immigrant lithographer who spent decades creating exact restorations of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, then spent 25 years putting them on classroom walls across America. Ohman was taught the Declaration as a schoolboy in Bohemia under the Austro-Hungarian Empire and never forgot it. After arriving in America in 1912, he found the original Declaration faded and torn, so he tracked down an 1823 William Stone print and the 1903 Handy glass-plate negatives and rebuilt the document letter by letter. He printed his Declaration in 1942 and his Constitution, with the Bill of Rights, in 1953, then sold sets to hometown banks town by town so every local school could hang them. Mark Hill explains how the collection survived in crates for decades, why the Library of Congress cannot explain the stone print it received in 1939, how the National Archives reacted to Ohman's glass negatives, and the signature Constitution bearing President Trump's signature after five tries. Now Hill is restarting Ohman's mission for America's 250th anniversary. Learn more at teapartypatriots.org and jennybethshow.com.
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America's 250th: The Man Putting the Declaration Back in Every Classroom | Mark Hill
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