Delaware Celebrates America at 250!: Happenings

to enhance and repair an existing exhibit and to create two new exhibits at the New London Avenue School Museum.

to support Voices of the Brandywine, a multi-pronged interpretive strategy to create a people-centered interpretation through outdoor interpretive panels, thematic tours, and public programs. Interpretation will highlight stories of indigenous peoples, immigrants, people of color, and labor history, supplementing the current du Pont-centered interpretation.

for the creation of a sign at Johnnie Walker Beach that interprets the beach’s history and significance in Delaware history, as well as for the restoration and preservation of important photographs that document that history.

to support, over the course of the next two years, the running of eight tours related to the many different histories along the scenic Nanticoke Heritage Byway.

to support two public-facing projects combining art, ethnobotany, and language revitalization that honor and explore the deep ties between Delaware’s Native/Indigenous peoples, native plants, and the land.

for creation of an exhibit and conducting of oral histories related to the history of the lightships on the Delaware Bay.

to support the documentation of oral histories connected to the untold stories of the many people whose work gave shape to the Marian Coffin Gardens and Gibraltar estate.

to support the creation of an exhibit, online walking tour, and public events commemorating the history and contributions of the African American community of Rehoboth Beach.

to support research, digitization, and public outreach to create a more complete picture of the holdings related to Black Delaware history resources within UD’s Special Collections and to make these collections more visible to the public.

to support the development of a museum dedicated to DSU’s history, with an emphasis on Loockerman Hall and the university’s sports program. As a former plantation house and the inaugural building of the school when it opened in 1891, Loockerman Hall is deeply tied to Delaware history.

to support the creation of a documentary based around interviews with Lenape Elders. The documentary, which seeks to honor the history of the Lenape and to build a bridge to the present day, will be showcased in venues across the state.

to support the installation of five memorial headstones to commemorate Smyrna area veterans from World Wars One and Two, the war in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War, and the Global War on Terror. The markers will be placed alongside an existing memorial for Korean War veterans in Wright Municipal Park.

for the creation of a documentary about the Walnut Street YMCA, which has played an important role in the Wilmington community for 85 years.

for the production of two programs using vocal arts (song and poetry) to respond to and comment on important aspects of Delaware history, including Juneteenth, the work of Thomas Garrett, and the contributions of African Americans to Delaware’s culture.

to create four community engagement programs, to take place while the museum is closed for renovations: a traveling exhibit, interpretive placards, a speaker series, and digital engagement.

to support the 2026 special exhibit “First State: Community Perspectives on 250 Years of Delaware History.” The exhibit will invite twenty-five community members to select and write label text for objects that speak to Delaware’s history.

to conduct archeological field work to locate physical evidence of the 257-year-old Corbit Tannery, as well as to install an associated tannery exhibit in the Historic Odessa Foundation Archaeology Resource Center.

to support the recording and distribution of two original musical commissions, “Cooch’s Bridge: The African American Presence” and “Cooch’s Bridge: The Battle.” These works, by composer Jonathan W. Whitney, interpret the diverse histories of Delaware’s only Revolutionary War battlefield through an artist’s lens.

to conduct new documentary research on Caesar Rodney, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the fourth president of Delaware who was also an enslaver. The resulting report will aid in development of draft interpretive panels and will serve as a model for community conversations around understanding and interpreting the full and sometimes contradictory histories of leaders in the Revolutionary period and early America.

for the creation of American Harmony, a year-long program empowering 150 youth and teaching them about African American history through song. The program will include weekly rehearsals, three public concerts, and the premiere of a new commissioned work for choir and orchestra.

for the creation of a 15-minute documentary featuring the stories of four families from Sussex County’s evolving Latino community.

for research and installation related to Historic Benchmarks, a new public history program. The program, a collaboration with the National Park Service’s First State Historical Park, encourages the public to learn about New Castle’s history while enjoying the city’s outdoor recreation areas in Battery Park and other locations throughout the historic district.

to support the Heritage Hallway Renovation Project, a large-scale undertaking that includes a renovated museum space, interpretation, and building updates. The museum exhibit space explores the African American contributions to Delaware’s history through the lens of the independent Black church movement and its founding minister and groundbreaking civil rights activist Peter Spencer.

for grounds enhancement and repair to make the historic site, which includes the gravesites of veterans from the American Revolution and other wars, visitor ready for 2026.

to support Belmont Hall’s second annual Revolutionary War Day event.

in partnership with Delaware Public Libraries, for the digitization of previously made films about Delaware’s history, in order to make the films more readily available via updated technology.

for its Art and Democracy Project, which facilitates conversations across the State on how Delaware’s arts and cultural organizations can create content that reflects Delawareans’ shared history and imagines their collective future.

to support the Knowing Newark series, a variety of community events showcasing Newark’s history and heritage.

to support the Society’s exhibition From Revolution to Republic: The Neill Household (1792-1803). This exhibition will curate the society’s Burton Ingram House (c. 1785) to reflect the home of Revolutionary War veteran Colonel Henry Neill, his wife Mary, and the seven enslaved people that lived and worked in this space.

to develop an oral history project connecting young people to community elders via stories of Delaware’s past, present, and hoped-for future.

to increase access to collections for researchers and the public ahead of the Semiquincentennial through space renovation, improved archival storage, and dedicated collections management.

to create a series of “book talks” focusing on inclusive and relevant histories of the Revolutionary era through the theme “We the People.”

to develop a series of in-school artist residencies culminating in a public dance performance and scholar’s talk. The project aims to foster deeper understanding of the American Civil Rights era and the impact of Martin Luther King’s assassination on the city of Wilmington, ideas that connect with the country’s long struggle to secure the promises of the Revolution.

to support programming for the October 2024 bicentennial commemoration of Major General Lafayette’s farewell tour. Fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, French hero of the American Revolution Lafayette returned as the “Guest of the Nation” to visit the country he helped to form.

to produce the documentary film The Colored Balcony, centering on the history of the then-segregated Schines Theater in downtown Milford.