Join us for America 250 at Penn events and exhibits hosted by participating partners across campus.
Informed by current scholarship and richly illustrated with full-color photographs and maps, The Greater Philadelphia Region and its companion volumes Greater Philadelphia and the Nation and Greater Philadelphia and the World bring to the public an up-to-date, diverse history of Philadelphia across its many dimensions.
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, The Penn Art Collection, and Penn Libraries are pleased to present We the People: Sam Maitin, an exhibition of selected works by the celebrated Philadelphia artist, on view at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania, October 15, 2025 through February 21, 2026.
Arts Lounge at the Annenberg
Showcasing more than 250 items from the Penn Museum’s North American collections alongside contemporary Native art pieces, this 2,000-sq.-ft. interactive exhibition will share complex histories and living relationships of Indigenous peoples to their ancestral homelands.
The session provides a brief, hands-on demonstration of historic printing practices, allowing participants to produce a themed broadside while engaging with material culture from the Revolutionary Era.
Hosted by Common Press
Reinterpreting the Declaration: A Creative Typesetting Workshop gives participants a hands-on opportunity to work with the original text of the Declaration of Independence, choosing whether to preserve, alter, or omit the words in their assigned section. Hosted by Common Press at Penn Libraries, the workshop explores how meaning shifts through the act of typesetting and invites participants to rethink this historic document through the lens of printmaking.
Hosted by Common Press
Dr. Emily Sneff, a leading expert on the history of the Declaration of Independence, will share some of the stories behind the first printings of the founding document of the United States.
Hosted by the Kislak Center
The Shakers: A World in the Making explores the design legacy of the Shakers, a religious group whose values of community, labor, and equality shaped their furniture, architecture, and everyday objects. Through works by contemporary artists influenced by the Shakers, alongside original Shaker-made pieces, the exhibition considers how their design principles remain relevant today.
By pairing historical artifacts with newly commissioned works, the exhibition invites reflection on how Shaker ideals continue to inform conversations around inclusion, gender, and intentional living in the 21st century.
This exhibition was organized by the Vitra Design Museum, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, and the Wüstenrot Foundation in collaboration with the Shaker Museum.
Join us for a drop-in Open Studio at Common Press to print a broadside (a single-sided print meant for public display) commemorating the important role iron played in Pennsylvanian and American history.
Hosted by Common Press
In 2026 the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania will open its year-long exhibition, Nursing the Revolution. To help mark this event and in partnership with the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, the Bates Center invites scholars and professionals working in areas related to early American care work, nursing, medicine, and the Revolutionary War to join us for a special symposium.
Hosted by Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at Penn Nursing
See how rags from our community cloth collection are processed in preparation for papermaking. Stop by the Common Press to participate in removing buttons, tags, and zippers and cutting the fabric into tiny pieces.
Hosted by Common Press
Join us for a drop-in Open Studio at Common Press to print a broadside (a single-sided print meant for public display) about the Lenape, the original users of the land around the Historic Rittenhouse Town papermill.
Hosted by Common Press
Stop by Historic Rittenhouse Town to see how rags are beat into paper pulp using the Hollander beater at the studio, and see how paper pulp making has evolved over the last 250 years.
Hosted by The Studio at Historic Rittenhouse Town
Join us for a drop-in Open Studio at Common Press to print a broadside (a single-sided print meant for public display) exploring a key ingredient used to produce ink, fabric, and paper during the Revolutionary era: flax!
Hosted by Common Press
See the work of Common Press during our residency at the papermill at Historic Rittenhouse Town where we will be turning the cloth collected during our community rag collection into large sheets of handmade paper.
Hosted by Common Press
Join us for a drop-in Open Studio at Common Press to print a broadside (a single-sided print meant for public display) reflecting on important aspects of labor history during the early days of the United States of America.
Hosted by Common Press
Visit us on Weitzman Plaza where we will be pulling sheets of paper from the pulp made from the cloth collected during our community rag collection. This handmade paper will be used to print copies of the Declaration of Independence at Common Press during Summer 2026.
Hosted by Common Press
This conference will bring together PARC Associates and aging researchers from across Penn and will include guests from other external aging centers. The Aging Retreat aims to foster collaborations for innovative aging research, provide networking opportunities, and encourage work that advances the PARC Research Themes.
Hosted by Population Studies Center's PARC
The first edition of the Declaration of Independence was typeset and printed within 12 hours starting on July 4, 1776. To honor the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, Common Press will host a 12 hour, two day community typesetting event during which all are invited to hand-set metal type to help create a historically-accurate replica. The final form of metal type will remain available for printing on our 19th-century hand press through September 2026.
Hosted by Common Press
Visit Common Press during the Summer 2026 to print a copy of the Declaration of Independence for yourself. The composition will be set in Caslon metal type and ready to print on our 1889 cast-iron handpress. This hour-long demonstration is open to all, and we welcome participants of all ages and backgrounds. Groups of up to 20 people are welcome!
Hosted by Common Press
The Equity in Action Visiting Scholars program (EAV Scholars) is a new initiative by the Office of Social Equity & Community that aims to strengthen the Penn community by hosting local scholars, activists and community organizers that use the arts, lecture, and dialogue to shine a light on issues of social justice. Scholars from diverse backgrounds and disciplines will engage in research, teaching, and conversation, and are selected based on their expertise in areas such as activism, community organizing, criminal justice reform, and gun violence prevention. In keeping with Penn’s ongoing commitment to engaging with important societal issues, at the heart of this initiative is a “call to action” giving attendees an opportunity to engage the broader community in meaningful ways with a deepened articulation of opportunities for social impact.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — what do these foundational ideals mean in a 21st century context? In a range of new works and contemporary reinterpretations, the artists featured in our America Unfinished season will illuminate our ongoing struggle to fulfill the promises made by our nation's founders 250 years ago. How do these principles resonate in the America of today, and what do they reveal about our evolving democracy? Join us as an exciting collective of American artists reflect on this pivotal moment in our country’s legacy.
As part of the Penn Libraries America 250 programming, join the Common Press for a series of monthly public events exploring the typesetting, printing, and paper-making involved in the production of the Declaration of Independence.
This two-day conference highlights the visual documentary interventions of Sol Worth and Harvey Finkle in Philadelphia during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Hosted by the Kislak Center
To coincide with the 250th anniversary of the US Navy and Marine Corps, this conference will bring together scholars from the whole sweep of US history to discuss these branches of America’s military forces in their various contexts.
Hosted by the McNeil Center for Early American Studies
This fall, TIP is collaborating with the Penn Press and Penn GSE to offer a special set of workshops on Philadelphia, in preparation for the 2026 Semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary, of the founding of the United States. These workshops will be led by authors of the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, a resource the Penn Press is distributing free to schools in the School District of Philadelphia. Workshops with the Liberty Bell symbol are part of this series.
In all TIP workshops, teachers acquire cutting-edge knowledge from university professors and write lesson plans based on the material they have learned. Applications open May 5 and the deadline will be October 3.
The exhibition Revolution at Penn? examines conflicts around the formation, structure, and mission of the university in the era of the American Revolution.
Hosted by the Penn Libraries
Panels and roundtables will propose new frameworks for comprehending the earliest period of European colonization in America and novel arguments for scholarly attention to this era.
Hosted by the McNeil Center for Early American Studies
In conjunction with the exhibit Revolution at Penn?, learn about the significance of Philadelphia’s coffeehouses as major sites of political activity and debate in the decade leading up to the Declaration of Independence.
Hosted by the Penn Libraries
Hear songs and instrumental selections from the music room of Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis Lewis, George Washington’s step-granddaughter.
Hosted by the Penn Libraries
Starting at the site of the University of Pennsylvania's original college campus at 4th and Arch Streets, this walking tour of Old City will bring to life stories of the places and people associated with Penn in the 18th century.
Hosted by the Penn Libraries
In conjunction with the National Library of Medicine traveling exhibit Politics of Yellow Fever in Alexander Hamilton’s America, on view in the Holman Biotech Commons from February 5 to March 15, this walking tour will take visitors to various sites related to Philadelphia’s 1793 yellow fever epidemic.
Hosted by Holman Biotech Commons
In conjunction with the National Library of Medicine travelling exhibition Politics of Yellow Fever in Alexander Hamilton’s America, this panel brings historians and physicians together to explore and discuss two important epidemics in Philadelphia.
Using the historical example of the 1793 yellow fever epidemic and the contemporary example of the COVID-19 pandemic, this program will bring together historians and physicians to examine the evidence around how epidemics unfold and who is held accountable as they do.
Hosted by the Kislak Center and Holman Biotech Commons
To celebrate the opening of Revolution at Penn?, exhibition curators John Pollack and J.M. Duffin will give a tour of the exhibition, followed by a panel talk exploring Philadelphia and Penn at the time of the Revolution.
Hosted by the Penn Libraries
David Waldstreicher, Distinguished Professor of History at the CUNY Graduate Center, will inaugurate the new Benjamin Franklin Distinguished Lectures series November 4-7 on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus.
Hosted by the McNeil Center for Early American Studies
A collaboration between the John Carter Brown Library on the campus of Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania’s McNeil Center for Early American Studies and Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts.
The conference is chaired jointly by Emma Hart of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, Sean Quimby of Penn Libraries, and Karin Wulf of the JCB.
Hosted by the Kislak Center
Undergraduates from English Professor Zita Nunes's course Community Writing: Post-COVID University will present their work as part of the America 250 at Penn series, leading up to Penn's 2026 commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Hosted by the Penn Libraries
This one-day forum is an opportunity for area repositories and historic institutions to learn about each other’s plans to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Hosted by the Penn Libraries and the McNeil Center for Early American Studies
Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Rutgers University
In conversation with Dean John L. Jackson, Jr. (Annenberg School for Communication), Dunbar will discuss the central role played by Black women in the founding of the nation and their centuries’ long agitation and activism to force the nation to live up to its promises.
Hosted by the Kislak Center
Phillip Mead, Museum of the American Revolution
Philip Mead will discuss the initial plans for the Museum of the American Revolution’s exhibition to mark the 250th anniversary of 1776.
McNeil Center for Early American Studies and/or Virtual
Bringing together voices from across the educational spectrum, from K-12 teachers to university and public historians, Teaching Independence will consider the challenges of teaching the Declaration of Independence, the history of the American Revolution, and the nation's founding, in the 21st century.
