I remember well, as a little girl by my mother’s side, picking out the blue fabric with small red and white flowers that would become my lace-trimmed and bonnet-topped colonial dress. My older sister had a matching dress, and we proudly wore them to the 4th of July celebration for our hometown in 1976. My brother’s bedroom was redecorated with wallpaper featuring soldiers carrying drums and small American flags with only 13 stars, and new brown and white dishes with scenes of Colonial America adorned our dinner table. Such was the celebration of the Revolutionary War during the Bicentennial; it was everywhere.
They say it is impossible to ever reclaim the glory of one’s youth, but this year, for America’s 250th Birthday, I wanted to try to recapture some of the magic of the American Bicentennial here at the Moulton Museum. During a recent visit to the Nixon Library with our docent group, we learned about what made the 1976 celebrations so distinctive. Unlike previous milestone national birthdays—1826 and 1876 and 1926—which had been celebrated primarily in Washington D.C., with smaller events in Boston, New York or Philadelphia, Nixon wanted a truly nationwide celebration. Planning began years in advance, and few towns missed an opportunity to be part of it, few businesses did not embrace it, few events failed to get in the spirit of ’76.
Moulton Museum’s new exhibition, “The American Revolution: The Augmented Experience” was recently described as “jumping on the bandwagon” of 250th Anniversary events. But indeed, it does not seem like a very big or loud bandwagon we are on this year, especially compared to 1976.
Instead, the Moulton Museum’s exhibition, focused entirely on the Revolutionary War, is extremely unique. Other museums in California, and places like Disneyland, are offering general sweeps of American history spanning 250 years. But we are focused on the beginning, on the moment when individuals like Jotham Moulton put so much on the line—including their homes, families, and even their lives—because they believed in an ideal of freedom and equal representation.
It is my hope that the visitors, especially the youngsters, who pick up tablets and are transported into 360-degree digital recreations of pivotal moments in the Revolutionary War, learn something about the people and places that turned the tide of history. More importantly, I hope they come away feeling part of the unfolding story of what it means to be an American.
