On October 18, 1775, a small Royal Navy flotilla commanded by Lt. Henry Mowat bombarded the small port settlement in Falmouth, bringing the violence of the Revolution to Maine. A profound moment in local history, it is just one of innumerable moments with local, regional, and national significance from the Revolutionary War (1775–1783).
In “Founding Memories: America at 250,” we use maps, textbooks, posters, and objects, from the 1770s to the 1970s—all taken from the rich collections of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education—to reflect on the different and changing meanings that the Revolution has had for Americans. We explore how municipalities, political figures, educational institutions, museums, libraries, corporations, artists, scholars, activists, and civic-minded individuals, among others, have used large commemorative events like centennials and bicentennials for their own purposes: to increase morale and patriotic sentiment, to raise money, to revise education curricula, to showcase “progress,” to bring communities together in celebration, and to challenge the status quo, to name but a few.
This year-long exhibition is designed to engage viewers of all ages by investigating the iconography of the American Revolution. Focusing on the themes of memory and commemoration, we examine eighteenth-century cartographic portrayals of the Revolution in Maine and New England; maps created to address the provisions of the Treaty of Paris in 1783; maps and ephemera created for the 1876 centennial and the 1976 bicentennial commemorations of the July 4, 1776 adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress; and posters from World Wars I and II and the Vietnam War that incorporate imagery that resonates with the ideals of the Revolution and 1776.
Over the course of the past 250 years, the ways in which the Revolutionary War has been portrayed on cartographic materials has continuously shifted and changed, ranging from celebratory and patriotic items to items challenging the nation to fully live up to its Revolutionary ideals of equality, freedom, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As you engage and reengage with this exhibit, we ask everyone to contemplate: What is history and what is memory?
And, what is America at 250?
Bicentennial memories
Do you have memories from the bicentennial in 1976? Do you recall seeing the Freedom Train, the Wagon Train, or any other memorial event mentioned in this exhibition? Were you a part of any protests? How did you mark the event? We would love to hear from you!
Please fill out this form with your contact information and let us know a little bit about your memory of the bicentennial. All responses will be kept confidential and only shared on our website/social media if you provide permission.
Acknowledgements
The exhibit is curated by Dr. Libby Bischof (OML Executive Director and Professor of History); Dr. Matthew Edney (OML Faculty Scholar, Osher Chair in the History of Cartography, and Professor of Geography); Paul Fuller (OML Coordinator of Digital Projects and Digital Initiatives); and our University of Southern Maine faculty colleagues Dr. Ashley Towle (Associate Professor of History and Associate Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences), and Dr. Adam Schmitt (Associate Professor of Teacher Education and History), with assistance from Renee Keul, Brie Robichaud, and Shauna Martel, OML’s Educational Outreach team. The curators wish to thank the entirety of the OML staff for their assistance in making this exhibit a reality. We are grateful to the digitization team of Adinah Barnett, Nora Ibrahim, and David Neikirk, for digitizing all of the materials in the exhibit (including the bound volumes); Kelsey Riordan, for designing the posters and promotional materials; Roberta Ransley-Matteau, for cataloguing the collections; and Jess Hovey, for her work in caring for and organizing our physical collections and preparing materials for exhibition. Special thanks to Kevin Callahan for framing, mounting, and installing this exhibition, and to USM’s Special Collections staff for lending materials related to Maine during the bicentennial.