Your Museum and America's Big Birthday Party
July 4, 2026, is coming fast — and it's not just for history museums.
The U.S. 250th anniversary is one of those rare cultural moments when everyone is paying attention. Science centers, children's museums, and natural history institutions all have a genuine stake in this celebration. The question isn't whether to participate — it's how to do it in a way that feels authentic to your institution, not like you slapped a tricorn hat on your usual programming.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Science Centers can explore the remarkable scientific curiosity of the Founding era — Franklin's electricity experiments, Jefferson's obsessive botanical collecting, George Washington's early work as a surveyor, and the Lewis & Clark expedition as one of the great scientific adventures in American history. The 18th century was buzzing with scientific inquiry. Lean into that.
Children's Museums can frame experiences around the simple, powerful question: "What does it mean to be an American?" Invite kids (and families) to add their voices, stories, and drawings to a living community mural or memory wall.
Natural History Museums can highlight how America's landscape shaped its people. Westward migration, the role of rivers and geography in settlement patterns, and Indigenous relationships with the land that predate 1776 by millennia.
The unifying thread? Make it personal, tactile, and local. Every community has its own semiquincentennial story hiding in plain sight, and it's probably right outside your museum's front door.
Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!
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