Sometimes, history seems distant and dry, like black and white photos in a textbook.

But sometimes history feels vibrant, relatable and connected to the present. This year, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding, is shaping up to be one of those times.

In Maine, museums, historical societies and other institutions are planning exhibits, lectures and events all year long. Mainers will be able to read a 1776 copy of the Declaration of Independence as it tours all 16 counties. There will be exhibits exploring the lives of real Mainers during the Revolution, Maine’s contributions to American art, Wabanaki Nations’ place in the American narrative and how the country’s birthday has been celebrated and thought of in the past.

“I think that any anniversary we commemorate allows us to take stock of where we have been and where we are,” said Libby Bischof, professor of history at the University of Southern Maine and executive director of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education in Portland. “It’s important to ask how the Revolution has been remembered, and how that memory has changed over time.”

Below is a list of some of the Maine museums and historical societies that have announced 250th anniversary events for 2026 so far, with dates, details and links for each. More organizations will likely announce events later in the year.

“Founding Memories: America at 250” now through June.

This exhibition uses maps, textbooks, posters and objects from the 1770s through the 1970s to look at the different and changing meanings the Revolution has had for Americans over the years. There’s a section on the Revolution in Maine, including maps of the town of Falmouth (now Portland) when it was burnt and destroyed by the British in October of 1775. There are maps and information on the disastrous defeat of American vessels during the Penobscot Expedition and of Benedict Arnold’s march through Maine, part of a failed attempt to capture Quebec City.

John Fielding, North America including the United States and their Boundaries, Agreeable to the Peace of 1783. The map is on view now at the Osher Map Library in Portland. (Smith Collection. Courtesy of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine. )

There are also war posters for World War I and World War II that used Revolutionary War images to bolster a patriotic spirit and induce enlistments. There’s a section on how Americans viewed and celebrated the country’s centennial and bicentennial, including the “Freedom Train,” which traveled the country with patriotic exhibits in 1976.

“Maine: A Force Within American Art (1890-2026)” now through Jan. 3, 2027.

This exhibit focuses on artists from Maine or with ties to Maine who had a huge impact on American art, especially in the last 130 years or so. These include Marsden Hartley, John Marin, George Bellows, and Charles Demuth. It highlights Maine institutions that have helped shape the national art scene, including the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Maine Media and Indigo Arts Alliance. The exhibit also explores Maine artistic centers, like Ogunquit, Monhegan and Slab City Road in Lincolnville.

George Bellows (1882-1925), Beating Out to Sea, 1913, Oil on plywood
panel, 14 5/8 x 18 7/8 inches, Museum purchase, 1945.567. (Photo by Alan
LaVallee.)

Museums of the Bethel Historical Society

“Independence 250” Now through November

“Independence 250” is a project innitiated by the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society with partner organizations all over western Maine, and includes a dozen or more lectures and other events. On Saturday, historical society director Will Chapman will give a talk at the Mason House Museums in Bethel about how the U.S. Centennial of 1876 and Bicentennial of 1976 were celebrated in the Bethel area. On March 21, author and former Press Herald reporter Colin Woodard will give a talk at Gould Academy in Bethel about “the American experiment,” among other topics.

A Revolutionary-era maritime flag with 13 stars, circa 1779, will be part of Maine Historical Society’s exhibit this year marking the country’s 250th anniversary. (Collections of Maine Historical Society)

“Pathways to Freedom: Maine Stories of the American Revolution” March 13 – Dec. 31

This exhibit will focus on six residents of the district of Maine who lived through the Revolution: Mali Agat, a Wabanaki “doctress” and artist; William Bayley of Portland, who served in the Continental Army; Prince Dunsick, a formerly enslaved person who enlised in the Massachusetts Regiment; Peleg Wadsworth, grandfather of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and a leader of the Penoboscot Expedition; Francis Waldo, a Loyalist and member of the affluent Waldo family; Hannah Watts Weston, a pregnant, 17-year-old woman who carried 30-40 pounds of powder, lead and pewter some 16 miles to Machias, to support the Patriot cause.

Since the historical society could not find images of these people, Penobscot artist Shannon Sockalexis created life-sized illustrations, based on research about each person or their relatives. The exhibit includes other artifacts, including a Revoloutionary-era martime flag with 13 stars, and a 250-year-old copy of the Declaration of Indpendence known as a Dunlap Broadside. The document is one of 26 known to have survived from an early printing in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. In July, the document will begin a free tour of locations in all 16 Maine counties, which will end in October.

Illustrations of the people who are the focus of Maine Historical Society’s “Pathways to Freedom” exhibit. (Illustration by Shannon Sockalexis (Penobscot)/Maine Historical Society.)

Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor

“In the Shadow of the Eagle” May 26 – Oct. 30

This contemporary art exhibit “aims to share a greater understanding of Wabanaki Nations’ place within our ongoing national narrative,” according to the museum website. The title comes from a book by co-curator Donna Loring (Penobscot Nation) about her time spent as a Tribal Representative for Maine. Themes include military service, treaties and self-governance, and the exhibit features new art from Wabanaki artists, along with historical and loaned items as well.

“American Conversations” April 10 – Nov. 15 and “Looking for America” April 10 – July 19

“American Conversations” explores the concept of America with pairs of paintings meant to start conversations from a range of artists, including Marsden Hartley, Lynne Drexler and Lois Dodd, who all worked in Maine. “Looking for America” weaves the work of multidisciplinary artist Hank Willis Thomas with the work of eleven artists who have collaborated with his studio. Thomas is known for using art to examine history, identity and popular culture in the United States.

Hank Willis Thomas, “Freedom Ride (Red, White and Blue),” 2017, screen print on retroreflective vinyl, mounted on Dibond. (Image courtesy the artist).

“Remembering the Revolution” June 27-Sept. 5

This scheduled exhibit will focus on local people involved in the Revolution, including Benjamin Simpson, who took part in the Boston Tea Party and served in the Continental Army, and Captain Jabez Lane of Buxton, who fought in campaigns from Boston to New York. The exhibit also will look at how the view of the Revolution was shaped over the years, including how the 1876 Centennial helped reinforce national unity after the Civil War and how the 1976 Bicentennial focused on similar themes, in the wake of the Vietnam War and Watergate, according to the museum.