Everyone knows throwing a party takes time, money, and planning, even more so when the party is for the nation’s 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and everyone is invited!

On July 4, 2026, America will be celebrating its Semiquincentennial with special events planned over the next year and a half in cities, towns, and museums across the country to commemorate our nation’s history.

In 2016, Congress established the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission to frame and plan this important commemoration. America 250, a nonpartisan initiative formed to spearhead the celebrations, is now working with the Commission “to engage Americans across the country in designing the largest and most inclusive anniversary observance in our nation’s history.” This past August, America 250 announced Presidents Bush and Obama and their First Ladies as Honorary National Co-Chairs of the initiative.

This multi-year celebration, taking place now through July 4, 2026, and beyond, “is an opportunity to pause and reflect on our nation’s past, honor the contributions of all Americans, and look ahead toward the future we want to create for the next generation and beyond,” says the America 250 website.

To join the party, cities and states across the country have formed official committees under the America 250 umbrella, with plans now underway for a coordinated schedule of state, local, and regional special events, celebrations, and exhibits of all types designed to build pride in the stories and objects of local history.

Museums are also joining in, with plans of their own that showcase the patriotism behind their Americana collections and share their region’s contributions to the country’s fight for independence.

The National Archives in Washington, DC, has announced a new rotating exhibit, “Road to Revolution,” that features a selection of records that document major milestones in the journey from colonial resistance to American independence and the experiences of the nation’s founding generation. The Road to Revolution exhibition is part of Declaration250, the National Archives’ celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial in 2026.

The Concord Museum in Concord, MA, site of the “Shot Heard Round the World” that launched us into war with the British, will be celebrating 250 years of American spirit with a series of three special exhibitions focused on the theme of “Whose Revolution” and highlighting items from its collection, with the first planned for this spring. “Whose Revolution” will highlight the competing and contradictory meanings of revolution during the period leading up to the war through maps, documents, furniture, and other objects.

Working with institutional and private lenders, the Museum of the American Revolution will assemble and display more than a dozen original flags that were carried by Continental Army and American militia units in military campaigns in an exhibit entitled “Banners of Liberty: An Exhibition of Original Revolutionary War Flags.” This exhibition, running from April 19 – August 10, 2025, will feature the largest gathering of rare and significant Revolutionary War flags in more than two centuries.

Americana, a term broadly used to identify an item associated with the culture and history of America, is having a moment!

While plans are still in the process of being finalized and publicized, the one thing we can count on with the Semiquincentennial is a new crop of commemorative collectibles. The U.S. Mint, in consultation with the United States Semiquincentennial Commission, has already announced plans to release a series of commemorative coins that will include gold coins honoring historic designs and companion silver medals with modernized designs that will represent the best of America’s coinage. A contest from which to select the chosen coins is currently underway. Other officially sanctioned commemoratives of different natures are sure to be announced soon.

Unofficially, items such as T-shirts, coffee mugs, and buttons are now for sale on such e-commerce sites as eBay, Etsy, and Amazon. Genuine U.S. $2 bills commemorating the Semiquincentennial 250th Anniversary of the US July 4, 2026, are already selling at Walmart for $15.95.

For our October Americana issue, we start with an article from Judy Gonyeau on the OG of Americana images – the American Bald Eagle, chosen June 20, 1782, as the emblem of the United States of America because of its long life, great strength, majestic looks, and unlimited freedom. Since that time, the Eagle can be found on an innumerable number of objects that literally define the term Americana.

When it comes to historic imagery, no one has been more venerated and posthumously replicated than George Washington. The portraits taken during his lifetime by the greatest portraitists of his day, and the images produced after his death but based on these live sittings, adorned the homes and objects of patriots across the New Republic, leaving a wave of Americana artifacts for today’s collectors and museums.

We also look at the current market climate for one of the more controversial groups of Americana collectibles today — Black Americana. The derogatory nature of specific items, especially those mass-produced in the first half of the 20th century for commercial purposes, reflect a very different time in American history when it was acceptable to have black stereotypes not only in the home but everywhere. Many in the antiques trade question the ethics of placing a value on, making money from, or collecting items that reflect such a painful and shameful part of our history, while others say their intrinsic value as a tangible record of our past history is worth preserving and collecting.

Want to immerse yourself in more Americana? Click Here to read this month’s Americana issue.