Connecticut's Revolution

The Museum of Connecticut History at the Connecticut State Library announces a new exhibit commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary. 

Connecticut’s Revolution explores the ideas and experiences of the people who made history: Connecticut’s soldiers and statesmen, Patriots and Loyalists, painters and printers, farmers and sailors—men, women, and children from America, Europe, and Africa. To try to see the world through their eyes, the Museum of Connecticut History’s exhibit team, including Connecticut State Historian Andy Horowitz, has drawn on the tens of thousands of documents and objects in the Connecticut State Library’s museum, archival, and printed materials collections. Some of these materials make it possible to retell old stories in new ways, others make it possible to recover previously untold stories. Taken together, they reveal how Connecticut changed during this revolutionary time and how Connecticut, in turn, changed the world.

Exhibited through a 21st-century lens, this grouping of over 100 Revolutionary War-era objects and documents has never before been collectively displayed. Highlights include the Connecticut State Archive’s “Goddard Broadside,” one of only nine copies of the Declaration of Independence printed by Mary Katharine Goddard; Connecticut’s resolution of June 14, 1776 sanctioning the state’s Continental Congressional delegates to vote for independence; the Museum of Connecticut History’s Second Regiment Light Dragoons Standard, one of only 30 extent flags from the war; a fragment of the King George III sculpture that was torn down in 1776; a pocket watch that crossed the Delaware River with its owner and George Washington; the plow that General Israel Putnam dropped when he heard the Lexington Alarm (loaned by the Connecticut Military Department); a powder horn gifted to Benedict Arnold (loaned by the Henry Whitfield State Museum); a cloak worn by Deborah Champion on a mission across British lines (loaned by the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History); a cannon and other period armaments; a military uniform and accoutrements; and much more. 

Connecticut’s Revolution will run from July 4, 2026 through July 9, 2027 at the Museum of Connecticut History, located within the Connecticut State Library at 231 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106. The exhibit will officially open to the public on Saturday, July 4, 2026 as part of Hartford Bonanza’s 2026 + America 250 Connecticut Commemoration. A Recommitment to the Ideals of the Declaration ceremony sponsored by the America 250 | Connecticut Commission will take place on the steps of the Connecticut State Library & Supreme Court Building at 10:00 a.m. The Connecticut’s Revolution exhibit will be launched at the conclusion of the ceremony and will remain open until 4 p.m. The exhibit's regular hours will be Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with select Saturdays. Admission is always free! 

Support for Connecticut’s Revolution is provided by Connecticut Humanities as part of its America 250 | CT program and the National Endowment for the Humanities’ “Celebrate America!” grant. Additional financial support comes from Gold Sponsor Liberty Bank; Silver Sponsors Hinckley Allen, Prime Materials, and ProPark; Bronze Sponsor Koskoff, Koskoff and Bieder; and Family Saturday Sponsors Data Mail, Robinson + Cole, and the Schmid Family. In-kind support comes from Central Connecticut State University, the Connecticut Supreme Court Historical Society, the Office of the State Historian, and the University of Connecticut.

In addition to collections of the Connecticut State Library, the exhibit also includes items loaned by museums and institutions from across the state, including, along with those aforementioned, the Alex Breanne Corporation, 2nd Company Governor’s Foot Guard, Central Connecticut State University’s Archaeology Laboratory for African and African Diaspora Studies, Cromwell Historical Society, Fairfield Museum and History Center, Stowe Center for Literary Activism, Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center, Litchfield Historical Society, Mystic Seaport Museum, New Haven Museum, the Office of the State Archaeologist, Prudence Crandall Museum, Putnam Memorial State Park, and Ridgefield Historical Society.

Along with the Connecticut’s Revolution exhibit, the Connecticut State Library also presents “Small but Mighty: Connecticut’s Revolution,” a subseries of “Under the Charter Oak,” a monthly podcast produced and run by the Division of Library Development highlighting different library projects and initiatives of the State Library and partners. This six-episode subseries features in-depth discussion of six historic objects from the Connecticut’s Revolution exhibit and is available at https://underthecharteroak.buzzsprout.com/. The Connecticut State Library has also curated a digital guide to Revolutionary War resources from its vast collection, available here: https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/america250