July 4th already passed, but Delaware’s celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary continued. One of those celebrations was a new exhibition by the Delaware Historical Society, which paired objects from the society’s collection with student artists to ask whether, 250 years after the Declaration of Independence, we are living up to its promise.
For the exhibition, titled “Objects, Ideals, & Delaware’s Unfinished Revolution,” the Delaware History Museum teamed up with ten students from Alexis I. duPont High School. The museum put together materials for the students, including photographs of selected objects from the Delaware Historical Society’s collection and context about the pieces. The students were challenged to create art inspired by those objects centered around the Declaration of Independence.
“As we were planning the exhibition, one of the things that was really important to us was to include the voices of young people because they are, after all, the very ones who are going to be leading us into the next 250 years,” said Chief Curator Leigh Rifenburg.
She said the students also prepared an artist’s statement.
“We were absolutely floored by the thoughtfulness with which they tackled this topic because it was not a fluff assignment,” Rifenburg said. “We were actually asking these students to think as both artists and historians and they did not shy away from difficult topics.”
While the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution were the catalyst for the exhibition, viewers could expect to see not just objects from the Revolutionary Era, but from generations of First State history.
“What they might not be expecting to see are a selection of backstage passes to the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, or a can of peas from the canning factory down in Sussex County, [or] a restaurant-grade tomato slicer from Leo and Jimmy's Deli,” Rifenburg said. “All of those things are connected to Delaware life and to the way that the ideals of the revolution and the promises that were made to us 250 years ago.”
The Declaration was at the heart of the exhibit, however, and Rifenburg hoped visitors to the exhibition would remember that it is a living document with messages and lessons for every generation since it was written.
“That's really what we're trying to do here and to hopefully share with people that as these are living words that were intended to grow and evolve with our state and our nation, it is our duty to interrogate those words,” she said.
The verdict from the student artists? That the state and the nation still has work to do.
“They were mostly focused on applying the principles, applying the ideals of the Declaration equally in a way that we have not done, in a way that we have never done, but in a way that we could do,” Rifenburg said.
Working with the young artists and curating the exhibit inspired hope and optimism at the historical society, Rifenburg added.
“For those of us who live in the historical space, their statements gave us hope for the future, and I think they will for visitors as well,” she said.
“Objects, Ideals, & Delaware’s Unfinished Revolution” is on display at the Delaware History Museum through the end of 2026.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
