Looking ahead to America’s 250th birthday celebration in Philadelphia
As Fourth of July celebrations wind down for 2025, Philadelphia is already gearing up for next year’s party, commemorating America’s 250th birthday. Watch the video here.
A generation of Americans never learned cursive. So Philly historians are teaching AI to transcribe it.
The American Philosophical Society in Old City is using AI to transcribe thousands of Revolutionary-era documents. The decline of formal penmanship has no doubt pained old-fashioned letter writers everywhere, but it poses a particular threat to Philadelphia historians. Those humble servants of 18th-century antiquary tasked with preserving and interpreting the private musings and public pronouncements […]
Are you ready for Philly boot camp? Philly is recruiting 10,000 ‘Phambassadors’ for America’s 250th birthday
Phambassadors’ will serve as trained Philly champions, advocates and storytellers ahead of America’s 250th birthday in 2026 Are you ready for Philly boot camp? Are you Philly proud enough to withstand the rigors of one, five-hour session learning Philadelphia fun facts and hidden histories, playing Philly-themed Quizzo, and enjoying a happy hour at a Historic […]
Forget Boston. Philly was where the Revolutionary War really went down.
The American Philosophical Society’s new exhibit for the 250th birthday of America documents daily life in Philadelphia during the fevered days of the Revolutionary War. Boston may have lit the fuse, but Philly is where the Revolution really went down. Caught in the middle of all the fury and foment were roughly 40,000 everyday Philadelphians […]
Philly will host 52 parties to celebrate 52 historic firsts in 2026
The weekly, citywide, yearlong celebration, organized by the Philadelphia Historic District 250th Committee, will honor America’s 250th birthday Philadelphia is home to a lot of American firsts. First Slinky. First ice cream soda. First Thanksgiving Day Parade. First Mummer. Totally us. First Zoo. First penitentiary. First children’s hospital. First flower show. First African American Methodist […]
Artifacts from Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, and Gandhi are coming to Philly for America’s 250th
Many of the new artifacts carry the weight of history, but also the freedom stories and intimate histories of the families that long preserved them. Kenneth B. Morris Jr.’s family treasures have always been American treasures. Morris, 62, is the great-great-great-grandson of abolitionist and orator, Frederick Douglass, and great-great-grandson of famed educator and founder of […]
Can We Still Throw an Epic 250th Birthday Party?
So far, Philadelphia’s schemes to celebrate the nation’s Semiquincentennial have had their fair share of setbacks and doubters. Is it too late to make next year’s celebration of America our best yet? Everyone, no matter who you are — whether you were born here, whether you came here from another country because you were being […]
Time for a civic ‘Tush Push’
We need an all-hands-on-deck, brotherly and sisterly shove to get us over the goal line in readying Philadelphia for the Semiquincentennial celebrations. Lately, we’ve been detecting a particularly Philadelphian phenomenon relating to next year’s Semiquincentennial. It might be best characterized as premature disappointment syndrome — a pessimism that great things can’t happen in Philadelphia. Yes, […]
Philadelphia will kick off America’s 250th birthday with a birthday bash for the Navy and the Marine Corps
The week-long commemoration is scheduled to be the largest national event honoring the military and veterans for America’s 250th birthday. When George Leone began thinking about America’s 250th birthday in 2026, the retired New Jersey Superior Court judge and former Philadelphia assistant district attorney did not want to see Philly blow its chance in the […]
Late for the Party: Philly’s preparations for America’s 250th anniversary lost momentum amid COVID and other challenges. Is it too late to pull off a great party in the nation’s birthplace?
Philadelphia has always gone big for America’s birthday. In 1876, to mark the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in our “greene countrie towne,” as William Penn called it, we built a small city in Fairmount Park and hosted 10 million people from 37 countries. In 1926, the crowds thinned, but […]
