{"id":249085,"date":"2026-07-30T07:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T11:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=249085"},"modified":"2026-07-30T09:41:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:41:25","slug":"curating-the-250th-history-professors-mark-countrys-anniversary-with-museum-exhibitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/07\/curating-the-250th-history-professors-mark-countrys-anniversary-with-museum-exhibitions\/","title":{"rendered":"Curating the 250th: History Professors Mark Country\u2019s Anniversary with Museum Exhibitions"},"content":{"rendered":"

When C-SPAN asks UConn\u2019s Manisha Sinha<\/a> each year to participate in its ranking of U.S. presidents from best to worst, her favorite \u2013 Abraham Lincoln \u2013 often comes out on top.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve read every word he ever wrote,\u201d she says. \u201cI actually have the multivolume set of Lincoln letters on this shelf up here. Before it was digitized, I\u2019d literally get sucked into Lincolnia.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, when the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum<\/a> asked last fall if she\u2019d be interested in curating an exhibition, how could she say no? How could she turn down a request to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution through the lens of her latest book, \u201cThe Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic\u201d<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\"Posters
UConn’s Manisha Sinha, the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History, curated the latest exhibition at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. (Contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sinha was doing other work while on sabbatical last year from her UConn teaching responsibilities as the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History<\/a>, and she knew a curatorial project in Springfield, Illinois, would be a significant time commitment \u2013 especially since it\u2019d be her first.<\/p>\n

\"A
UConn’s Manisha Sinha, the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History, is being interviewed by members of the media at the opening of the latest exhibition at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. (Contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But it\u2019d be an honor, she told them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do as much as possible whenever people call on me to talk in public or reach a broader audience,\u201d she says. \u201cThe New York Times has just asked me to do something for its anniversary this year. I make the time because as historians, we need to reach a broader public. I know more people will read the object identifiers I wrote for the Lincoln exhibition than will read my book, so I didn\u2019t hesitate to say yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Second American Revolution\u201d<\/a> is up through Jan. 17, 2027, and argues the point of Sinha\u2019s latest book: \u201cThe refounding of the American republic took place under Lincoln,\u201d she says. \u201cThe first republic fell with the secession of the Deep South states and the Civil War. The republic was then re-created with the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, which abolished slavery, gave citizenship rights and equal protections, and extended the right to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Sinha\u2019s exhibition considers the shaping of the country post-Civil War, one closer to home centers on the president that sometimes beats Lincoln in C-SPAN\u2019s annual ranking \u2013 George Washington \u2013 and his contemporaries who declared war on Britain and started it all.<\/p>\n

Finding Stories<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In \u201cConnecticut\u2019s Revolution,\u201d<\/a> at the Museum of Connecticut History<\/a> inside the Connecticut State Library in Hartford, a curatorial team that included State Historian Andy Horowitz<\/a>, an associate professor of history<\/a> at UConn, delivers the story of the Nutmeg State circa 1776.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned an incredible amount from the archivists and curators at the museum, the depth of their knowledge and research skill at being able to pull out stories from the archive,\u201d Horowitz says. \u201cThere\u2019s a ton of paper in there and the stories are there, but they\u2019re lost unless you have these experts willing to do the often-painstaking work of finding a name in an enlistment record and tracing it to find what rations he was given and where he lived, what happened to his wife, and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take for instance, the pocket watch owned by Elisha Bostwick, a New Milford man who crossed the Delaware River with Washington in December 1776. The story might have been lost were it not for collections curator Beth Burgess, who found the watch in a jewelry box that was in storage and pored over military records to authenticate it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re seeing the good work of a historian and a curator and archivist to put these items into context,\u201d Horowitz says. \u201cMost people are aware of Washington crossing the Delaware because there\u2019s a famous painting of it. This gave the museum an opportunity to tell that story, but to tell it through the story of a common soldier from New Milford.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
Connecticut State Historian and associate professor of history at UConn Andy Horowitz poses for a photo in the Museum of Connecticut History’s “Connecticut’s Revolution” exhibition that he helped curate in Memorial Hall of the Connecticut State Library & Supreme Court Building in Hartford on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Up until July 9, 2027, \u201cConnecticut\u2019s Revolution\u201d seeks to give visitors what they expect in unexpected ways, Horowitz explains.<\/p>\n

The team, headed by museum administrator Jennifer Matos, knew people would want to see the Declaration of Independence, Horowitz says, but the exhibition offers it via the contribution of Mary Katharine Goddard, a New London native who the Continental Congress commissioned to print copies of the Declaration to give to each of the original states.<\/p>\n

\"A
Connecticut’s copy of the Declaration of Independence printed on Jan. 18, 1777 by Mary Katharine Goddard sits on display in the Museum of Connecticut History’s “Connecticut’s Revolution” exhibition in Memorial Hall of the Connecticut State Library & Supreme Court Building in Hartford on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because she was the printer, her name appears on the bottom of each copy – \u201cHers is the only woman\u2019s name that appears on the Declaration of Independence,\u201d Horowitz notes.<\/p>\n

Ask him about his next favorite artifact and Horowitz heads to what looks like simply a chunk of metal under a glass case and debates how to start telling its story.<\/p>\n

\u201cCitizens of the new democracy who were moved into a patriotic fervor, or we could just call them an unruly mob,\u201d he starts, pulled down a 4,000-pound gilded statue of King George III in New York City\u2019s Bowling Green, broke it into pieces, and pulled it on carts into Litchfield, where it was to be melted down and eventually repurposed into 42,000 lead musket balls.<\/p>\n

Before the group made it into northwestern Connecticut, they stopped overnight in Wilton, Connecticut, and while everyone was asleep, one or more British Loyalists took several chunks and likely buried them for safekeeping, he continues. That piece, the one on display, was found buried in a garden in Wilton nearly a century later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s so amazing is you get to imagine a Connecticut, where there are Patriots and Loyalists even here in these little towns,\u201d Horowitz says. \u201cIt helps you see the story of Connecticut as the Provision State because even then its citizens were well aware of the material value of the lead and the immediate military use it could be put to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also a story about history,\u201d he adds. \u201cYou have these colonists who had inherited a history they didn\u2019t want anymore, the history of the monarchy, and they transformed that history into a future they wanted to live in. This artifact carries all of that, and that\u2019s why, to me, it\u2019s one of the most moving pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grabbing Attention<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Over the last year, Sinha and Horowitz worked with professional staffs at both museums to bring their respective exhibitions to life, and they each describe experiences that gave them a deeper appreciation for the past, surreal in some cases.<\/p>\n

For Sinha, that was the teeth marks on the pen that Lincoln used to sign the Emancipation Proclamation, an artifact on rare loan from the Massachusetts Historical Society, which used state troopers as escorts to ensure its safe delivery to the Midwest, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking at this Emancipation pen, and I\u2019m thinking Lincoln probably put it in his mouth,\u201d she says. \u201cThose are the kinds of things that really blow my mind. It\u2019s a whole different experience seeing these objects and that\u2019s why museums are so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horowitz agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an aura to every item,\u201d he says. \u201cTo me, the most important tool that a historian has, and also our highest aspiration as historians, is empathy. We want to see the world through somebody else\u2019s eyes. The aura of the original document or the original object helps me with that empathetic aspiration, helps me remember that these are real people. They\u2019re people who could have been me, could have been like me, could have been my neighbors, and it makes them feel more three-dimensional.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
Historical items sit on display in the Museum of Connecticut History’s “Connecticut’s Revolution” exhibition in Memorial Hall of the Connecticut State Library & Supreme Court Building in Hartford on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sinha \u2013 who recently gained additional prominence when Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson cited her latest book in the justice\u2019s concurrence on birthright citizenship and appeared as an expert on the podcast \u201cReconstruction: The Unfinished Promise\u201d<\/a> featuring President Barack Obama \u2013 got most of her wish list in the Lincoln exhibition.<\/p>\n

She says she wanted the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, the one that abolished slavery, on display. The Library had the original but hesitates to display it often because the ink is fading.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey created a darkened case, which is shut and if you want to view it, you open the case and then it shuts again,\u201d Sinha says, describing the protections around it.<\/p>\n

The exhibition also features blown-up images from her book; a 10-minute film with her explaining the three amendments being discussed; a chair from Ford\u2019s Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated; and a Red Shirt from the namesake white supremacist terrorist group that sought to overthrow Reconstruction.<\/p>\n

The exhibition ends with 75-word biographies of 20 women who were key suffragists and women\u2019s right advocates, think Mary Edwards Walker, an Army surgeon who wore pants; Harriet Jacobs, author of the first female slave narrative, \u201cIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl\u201d; and Lucy Stone, who kept her maiden name upon getting married giving rise to the moniker \u201cLucy Stoners\u201d for those who followed suit.<\/p>\n

\"Portrait
“Portrait of Esther Jackson” by Kern Bruce sits on display in the Museum of Connecticut History’s “Connecticut’s Revolution” exhibition in Memorial Hall of the Connecticut State Library & Supreme Court Building in Hartford on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI knew what would grab people\u2019s attention because when I tell these stories to my students at UConn, they sit up in their chairs and really listen,\u201d Sinha says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re teaching, you\u2019re constantly trying to get your students\u2019 attention. I imagined museum visitors being my average student who knows some American history but probably has no idea about the period you\u2019re talking about in-depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continues, \u201cI want those who see this exhibition to go away with the notion of active citizenship. If these women and enslaved people fought for their own freedom, then I don\u2019t think we have any excuse now not to be active citizens, to keep ourselves informed, to be aware of our history, and see how our present is informed by the past. I think that\u2019s what history does.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fall 2026 Draper Workshop<\/a>, organized by Manisha Sinha as the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History, will be held Monday, Nov. 16, at 4:30 p.m. in Herbst Hall, Room 101<\/a>, at UConn Storrs. A panel of experts, including Connecticut State Historian Andy Horowitz, an associate professor of history at UConn, will discuss \u201cThe American Revolution: A 250th Appraisal.\u201d The event is open to the public.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manisha Sinha curated the latest exhibition at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, while Andy Horowitz was a member of the curatorial team that put together the show at the Museum of Connecticut History<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":249105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,2460,2235,2225],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2368],"class_list":["post-249085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-faculty","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-storrs"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-06 12:14:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249085"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249186,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249085\/revisions\/249186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/249105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249085"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=249085"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=249085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}