Phillis Wheatley 'Poems on Various Subjects: Religious and Moral' - open to title page
(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Visitors this spring to Firestone Library's Milberg Gallery will step into the world of revolutionary Princeton with the opening of "Nursery of Rebellion": Princeton and the American Revolution on April 15, 2026. This exhibition will offer the chance to see the Library's original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
PUL will also open a second Revolution-themed exhibition in its Mudd Manuscript Library in May, which will delve deeper into the campus and student experience of the war.
"The nation's semiquincentennial has provided Princeton University Library the opportunity to showcase its deep holdings and connections to the American Revolution with two exhibitions," said Wind Cowles, Acting Head of Exhibitions. "We're proud to offer the public a chance to see these treasures up close with the Library being only one of a handful of locations where visitors can see original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution."
"Nursery of Rebellion" will draw on an array of PUL's manuscript and rare book collections to commemorate the 250th anniversaries of U.S. independence and the Battle of Princeton. Curated by Michael Blaakman, Associate Professor of History, and Gabriel Swift, Librarian for Early American Collections, Princeton's renowned treasures from the revolutionary era will be showcased alongside documents and artifacts that reveal local experiences of the American Revolution on campus and in the surrounding communities.
On display for the entire three-month exhibition will be an original manuscript of the Declaration of Independence - the "Dunlap Broadsides" are the true originals of the Declaration, differing from the one ratified on July 4, 1776 - and one of only 13 remaining original copies of the U.S. Constitution.
Highlighting lesser-told perspectives, the exhibition will feature a signed copy of enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley's "Poems on Various Subjects: Religious and Moral" and a published copy of her letter and poem to George Washington, as well as items telling the story of three young Lenape men who came to study at Princeton during the Revolution, with items on loan from the National Archives.
Correspondence between George Washington and James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, as well as other husbands and wives, family members, friends, militiamen, and students will also be on display.
In "Real and Remembered" opening at Mudd Library on May 21, archivists highlight how Princeton became a center of revolutionary thought and youthful activism following the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765. The exhibition will highlight student voices as they protested British policies by wearing homespun clothing, wrote fiery Commencement orations, and famously burned tea in 1774.
The war directly impacted campus life as well, with Nassau Hall occupied, classes disrupted, and students leaving to fight. Caught between study and revolution, these young citizens became architects of a new republic.
The exhibition is curated by April Armstrong, Ashley Augustyniak, and Rosalba Varallo Recchia.
Both exhibitions are a unique opportunity to stand in the footsteps of the Revolutionaries. As are all Library exhibitions, these will be free and open to the public during gallery hours.
