LOS ANGELES – A stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence. The Treaty of Paris, which ended the war with Great Britain. A sheet of paper that holds the Senate markup of the Bill of Rights from 1789. A 1778 document with George Washington's signature floating above the Oath of Allegiance.

These are among 16 of the nation's rare and delicate treasures that are on display at the USC Fisher Museum of Art, the third of eight stops for the National Archives' traveling exhibit to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the country's founding.

Museum visitors Jean and Phil Orozco marveled over the pieces of history inside the dimly lit exhibition room.

"In these times right now we're in, there's a lot of value in the documents and interpreting them in the way they're supposed to be interpreted," Phil said.

"It validates what we should've followed in the first place," Jean said.

USC is the only university to host the exhibit and Fisher Museum has been carefully prepped to display the sensitive archives, said Bethany Montagano, museum director.

"We have the infrastructure, and we have the staff to be able to live up to the rigorous standards," Montagano said.

The exhibit is being transported around the county on a specially equipped "Freedom Plane," which was greeted by a brass and drum welcome from the USC marching band when it recently landed at Van Nuys Airport. Members of the USC Reserve Officers Training Corps were in perfect step as they carefully maneuvered the documents off of the Boeing 737. The documents were taken to USC in degradation-safe cases.

USC President Beong-Soo Kim said that while the country continues the 250-year-long debate over the substance of these documents, he felt it important that the public be allowed to see every addendum and amendment to the original texts.

"It is really a tremendous opportunity for us to educate the community and give them an opportunity to appreciate these magisterial documents," said Kim, who was on hand at Van Nuys Airport to receive the archives in mid-April. "These documents remind us that these principles of freedom and democracy are ones that need to be worked at."

The Fisher Museum had to meet specific conditions to accommodate the documents, said Jessie Kratz, a historian at the National Archives and curator of the exhibit.

The documents are highly sensitive to light, and the lumens of the overhead lamps are kept as low as candlelight to avoid risking degradation.

The artifacts — yellowing parchment with slight marks of stress at the edges and an intricately detailed stone tablet — are almost luminous under dim overhead lights at the exhibit. A lengthy debate unfolds on the sheet of paper that holds the Senate markup of the Bill of Rights from 1789, and Washington's signature towers above the Oath of Allegiance.

Montagano, who holds a doctorate in history, said seeing the actual documents after studying copies for years was a cathartic experience.

"I can't tell you the thrill of being able to see the documents in person," Montagano said. "We're all, you know, well versed and steeped in the stories behind each document ... as students of history, it's amazing."

The curation was inspired by the "Freedom Train" traveling exhibit, which took place from 1947 to 1949 and again in 1975-1976, the latter to celebrate the bicentennial anniversary of the founding of the U.S. The second tour took the exhibit to 48 states and held historical documents in display cars for citizens to see up-close.

"These documents can only be on view a certain amount of time, in terms of the light, so we wondered 'How do we get to the greatest number of people?'" said Patrick Madden, CEO of the National Archives Foundation, a partner to the U.S. Archive. "That's where the airplane comes in."

The documents are on display in one museum room, which was buzzing with history buffs and visitors who took care not to photograph the documents with flash.

After seeing the stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence, Gina Linn Espinoza said her mind was racing with thoughts of the history that brought us to the present day. As the child of immigrants from Mexico, she said it reaffirmed the country's original commitment to newcomers.

"None of us here sprouted from the earth, we all migrated here," Espinoza said. "The Declaration of Independence meant something to [the founders], and they brought that forward into our lives."

She said that she believes seeing the documents in person can bring clarity to issues that have become opaque.

"We don't know our history anymore," Espinoza said. "It doesn't seem like it's getting talked about at the kitchen table anymore. … I think It's important that we go back, almost, to the basics with history."

Espinoza only wished that more documents could have been made available for display. "It was pretty small … but you can feel it," she said.

Lauren Chella, a middle-school history teacher and social-media influencer, said many of her students often come to class with questions about a particular Supreme Court ruling or new legislation.

Being able to attend the museum for free, she said, was an opportunity for "critical thought" about the founding documents. "Being able to actually engage with the documents themselves is so crucial," Chella said. "That's what my history teachers did for me, so it's a really special opportunity here with the National Archives."

Kratz said she hopes that exhibit visitors take away not only a road map of the United States' founding, but also the challenges that came with it.

"We always celebrate July 4, our favorite holiday, but that wasn't the very beginning." Kratz said.

The exhibit, open through May 3, is free with a ticketed reservation.

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