The New Jersey State Museum presents the new exhibition “Spirit of ’76: The Bicentennial” as part of their celebration of America’s 250th. The exhibition, which opens Saturday, February 14, examines the multitude of ways governments, businesses, and citizens reflected upon and marked the 200th anniversary of the nation’s independence.
In the midst of the turmoil of the early 1970s, officials looked to the Bicentennial as an opportunity for Americans to forget their differences and rally together around pride and patriotism for their shared country. Celebrating the distinct look and feel of 1970s America, the exhibition will be on view on the Museum’s second floor Riverside gallery through February 2027 and is supported in part by the Beulah L. Brinker Fund through the New Jersey State Museum Foundation.
Drawing exclusively from the State Museum’s own collection, the exhibition showcases an assortment of rarely seen artifacts and artworks produced 50 years ago for the Bicentennial. Highlights include the Kent Bicentennial Portfolio, a collection of lithographs and screen prints commissioned from 12 artists including Jacob Lawrence and Robert Indiana, whose visually stunning works are responses to the prompt “what does independence mean to me?”
Historical artifacts include New Jersey state government-issued items like license plates and maps, flags made by the Annin Company of Verona, commemorative medallions, ceramic works by Trenton porcelain firms Cybis, Boehm, and Lenox; and a handcrafted album quilt from Princeton.
The exhibition also includes artworks and artifacts honoring the famed “Ten Crucial Days,” the period between December 25, 1776 and January 3, 1777, when George Washington crossed the Delaware River near Trenton and turned the tide of the Revolutionary War.
According to Nicholas Ciotola, NJ State Museum’s curator of cultural history, “This year the nation is celebrating its 250th anniversary. But it’s also the 50-year anniversary of the Bicentennial, a long-overlooked chapter of recent American history that is equally deserving of remembrance. In 1976, not unlike today, Americans were wrestling with issues of belonging, equity, and patriotism and channeled their feelings about the country in a variety of different ways — socially, politically, and, most importantly for this exhibit, artistically.”
Spirit of ’76: The Bicentennial, New Jersey State Museum, 205 West State Street, Trenton. On view Saturday, February 14, through February 2027. Museum hours are Tuesdays through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.; closed on all State holidays. General admission is free; donations welcome. www.statemuseum.nj.gov.
