PEORIA, Ill. – The Peoria Riverfront Museum is hoping to become one of the premiere destinations to celebrate a significant birthday for the United States of America.
Museum leaders announced Friday morning its plans for “America 250,” an exhibition starting in January 2026 to mark the country’s 250th birthday.
“The greater Peoria region will have the greatest celebration in the country, and the Peoria Riverfront Museum will anchor that celebration,” said PRM President and CEO John Morris.
Morris announced that filmmaker Ken Burns will assist the museum in its celebration as a collaborator and guest curator. Burns is working on a six-part series entitled “The American Revolution,” and will debut on PBS in the fall.
Burns, speaking at the event through a pre-recorded video, says the exhibition will include the history of indigenous Americans in the Illinois River Valley, French explorers who settled in the Peoria area, as well as the Great Migration and the Black Renaissance in the area.
“Here in Illinois, it is my pleasure to serve as guest curator for the Peoria Riverfront Museum, helping inspire the yearlong exhibition and series of programs that tell original American stories through the lens of Central Illinois. Much is planned,” Burns said.
The exhibition will also feature artifacts from the history of the country, including a centerpiece and anchor artifact that is one of the most important documents in American history. Morris says the 1776 copy of the Declaration of Independence will be on display at the museum.
Other artifacts include an Abraham Lincoln tintype and presidential campaign image, taken steps away from the museum in downtown Peoria, as well as Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington from Colonial Williamsburg. More than 50 documents from American history are expected to be part of the exhibition.
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