Something 250 years in the making didn’t just start in one day.
While America will officially celebrate its semiquincentennial anniversary in 2026, the newest exhibit at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture in Richmond recognizes the events and important people leading up to what shaped the birth of the nation.
“Give me Liberty: Virginia & the Forging of a Nation” is the first significant commemoration of its kind for the 250th anniversary of America, and is expected to draw visitors from across the country.
It opened Saturday, the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech, which riled the Colonies. Henry, later elected Virginia’s first governor, spoke on March 23, 1775, at St. John’s Church, just five miles from the museum.
The 5,000-square-foot exhibit, on display through January 4, will tour Virginia, arriving at the American Revolution Museum in Yorktown for a seven-month stay starting July 1, 2026.
“We have an advantage of being first out of the gate,” said Jamie Bosket, president & CEO of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. “This is not unusual for Virginia, given our oversized role in the story of the Revolution. What makes this exhibition special is it brings together objects, really treasures, from a number of historical institutions into one place.”
Visitors can see Henry’s eyeglasses and the whalebone paper cutter he wielded as he delivered the speech to the Second Virginia Convention. The exhibit features an original copy of Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation, which promised freedom to any enslaved person who joined Great Britain’s forces.
A handwritten letter from George Washington to his stepson is on view. Washington asked the stepson to care for his mother as Washington assumed command of the Continental Army. It’s on display along with one of the earliest printings of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. George Mason drafted the document asserting the rights to life, liberty and property and establishing the principle that government served the people, not the other way around. Thomas Jefferson later drew upon that document to draft the Declaration of Independence.
Because of preservation concerns, Washington’s letter and the Declaration of Rights will be displayed for the exhibition's first six weeks and the final six weeks.
The exhibition highlights lesser-known Virginians, such as Clementina Rind, the first female newspaper printer and publisher. Rind published one of Jefferson’s tracts, which proclaimed that the Colonies had a right to self-governance under natural law.
Rind was the official printer for the House of Burgesses and the Virginia Gazette newspaper.
“She was a female owner of a business at a time when most women did not own businesses,” Bosket said. “She’s a fascinating figure.”
The museum designed the exhibit to be immersive, using modern technology to accentuate the artifacts and informational panels.
“There are a lot of ways to evoke emotion,” Bosket said. “One of our goals is to turn facts into feelings. We want people to connect with the past and relate it to their lives.”
One of the audiovisual programs peeks into the window of a 1774 Williamsburg tavern. Taverns were spaces where ideas were debated and shared among everyday Virginians, including African Americans, many of whom were conflicted about whether to support the Colonists or the British.
Henry’s speech is also recreated in a dramatic audiovisual program.
“Revolution is loud and revolution is passionate,” Bosket said.
The museum also recently launched a podcast, “Revolution Revisited,” which shares stories about events that shaped the country.
A mobile exhibition version will travel across the commonwealth through 2027 and visit more than 50 museums, libraries and community centers.
