Revolution at Penn?
Through May 27, 2025
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
Events and Exhibits
Join us for America 250 at Penn events and exhibits hosted by participating partners across campus.
Walking Tour: Penn's Revolutionary Campus
March 29, 2025
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
Music in the Pavilion: Tempesta di Mare Recital, Nelly's Songs
April 25, 2025
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
Brewing a Revolution: Coffee in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia
April 29, 2025
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
Where is Early America?
May 1 - May 3, 2025
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
Navigating the Past: Histories of the US Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-2025
October 9 - October 11, 2025
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
Walking Tour: Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 in Philadelphia
March 5, 2025, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
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
Exploring Epidemics in Philadelphia: Yellow Fever and COVID
February 25, 2025
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
Revolution at Penn? Historians in Conversation
February 13, 2025
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
The Problems of Slavery in an Age of History Wars: Looking back at 2019/1619
November 4, 2024
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
Archives of Revolution: A Conference About How We Make the Past
June 20 - 22, 2024
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
Student Perspectives on the University in the 21st Century
January 26, 2024
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
The Local Archive and the Semiquincentennial: A Forum
March 10, 2023
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
Truth Be Told: Black Women and the Making of a Democracy
October 25, 2022
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
The Declaration’s Journey: Thinking about the 250th Exhibition at the Museum of the American Revolution
April 13, 2022
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.
Teaching Independence: Bridging the Communications Gap
March 25-26, 2022; 4:00 PM
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.
