Forging a Nation: The American History Collection at Gilcrease Museum

On a Humid Morning in Philadelphia in 1776, the Second Continental Congress severed forever all ties with Great Britain, and a new republic was born. As colonists-turned-citizens took to the streets in celebration, few foresaw the great struggles-and achievements-that lay ahead.

Forging a Nation: The American History Collection at Gilcrease Museum explores the era of national sell-invention that followed, tracing its broad movements and evolving ideas through art, artifacts, and archival materials drawn entirely from the collections of the museum. 'the story unfolds in word and image, from the foundations of the American republic through wars of expansion, the vanquishing of slavery, the last bloody conflicts on the Plains, the closing of the American frontier, and the forging of a new collective identity with its fresh-minted symbols and shared beliefs. It ends as the nation prepared to enter the world stage, its frontiers destined to become those of industry, science, and technology, its greatest battles destined to be the internal ones of a maturing society attempting to build upon its idealistic foundations.

Included are works by artists such as Charles Willson Peale, John Singleton Copley, George Catlin, and Jean Antoine Houdon, plus the lasting handiwork of engravers and map makers, early photographers and book printers, die-makers and gunsmiths, and many rare and authentic documents-founding treatises such as the Declaration of Independence, personal letters in the hand of storied Americans such as Thomas Jefferson, treaties, log books, muster rolls, and trade agreements. Here, presented eloquently and without guise, is the unique American story.