AMERICA AT 250

This year, the Connecticut Museum will open two new exhibitions, host a series of programs, and highlight collection items to reflect on America at 250. Explore moments of growth and change in Connecticut’s history over the past 250 years through stories that align with the themes presented by the CT250 Commission:

TELL DIVERSE STORIES | POWER OF PLACE | DOING HISTORY | FOR THE COMMON GOOD

Join us as we explore lesser-known stories that took place during the American Revolution, and moments throughout Connecticut history when its residents pursued their own visions of life, liberty, and happiness.

RELATED PROGRAMS

Virtual lectures, hands-on workshops, book talks, presentations with special guests, and much more. Discover 250 years of Connecticut’s history through a variety of historical and cultural lenses. Select an event to learn more and get tickets.

UPCOMING

Virtual Lunch and Learn
Tuesday, February 10 @ noon

Lunch and Learn – The People and the Law in Revolutionary Massachusetts

Exhibition Opening Reception
Thursday, February 12 @ 5:30 pm

Exhibition Opening Reception – Drawn Here: Stories from Hartford’s North End

Book Talk
Thursday, February 19 @ 6 pm

Portraits of Patriots: Colonel John Trumbull and Five Fellow Patriots From Connecticut in the American Revolution

PAST

Film Screening and Discussion
Thursday, January 15 @ 5:30 pm

Hidden History: Native Peoples and the American Revolution

Virtual Lunch and Learn
Tuesday, January 27 @ noon

Lunch and Learn – Faith Trumbull Huntington: An Eighteenth-Century Woman Encounters War

DRAWN HERE:

STORIES FROM HARTFORD’S NORTH END

Opens February 12, 2026

REBELLIOUS

Opens April 23, 2026

The North End has been home to migrants for hundreds of years. The experiences of the Irish, Italians, Eastern Europeans, Black Southerners, West Indians, Puerto Ricans, and others who have made the neighborhood their home, whether briefly or for generations, add nuance and depth to our understanding of what it means to be American.

Rebellious reflects on moments throughout Connecticut history when its residents pursued their own visions of the nation’s founding ideals, often by challenging the systems, structures, and perceptions that limited their liberty, equality, and happiness.

COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS

from 250 years of Connecticut’s history

Pin-back button originally owned and worn by Civil Rights activist Mardon Walker, who was arrested during a sit-in at a segregated diner.

Connecticut Museum Collection: 2017.105.57

Photograph of Olga Mele, advocate for Puerto Rican education, health, and public service in the Greater Hartford area, in a Hartford Puerto Rican Parade.

Connecticut Museum Collection: 2017.105.57

Hat of Captain Phineas Meigs, who was shot by a musket ball through the head during a skirmish, and is known to be the last Connecticut man killed in the Revolutionary War.

Connecticut Museum Collection: 1850.10.0

Coatdress worn by Columbia Anne Botticello, writer and dancer, who marched for the Women’s Equal Rights Amendment representing Connecticut in the Washington D.C. Women’s March in 1978.

Connecticut Museum Collection: 2006.84.1

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