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Overview: Out of Many, One?

Americans have long created an identity based on distinct principles and values that define the country. This unit explores the tensions between being an individual and being part of a group or nation and provides insight into what it means to be an individual in America, today and centuries ago.

Overview: Prosperity for All?

America was founded on the principles of equality, freedom, liberty, and respect for individual rights. But these ideals have not always applied to everyone, and many Americans have fought since the founding of this country to broaden those values so that they apply to all Americans.

Large wooden wardrobe with panels, each with a border of red, green or black and painted decoration simulating the look of wood grain; drawers across bottom and cornice at top.

Object Story: Painted Schrank

This wardrobe holds important clues about the identity of an early Pennsylvania family.

Painting of white woman in voluminous grey dress with white sash and large locket around her neck seated before a window holding a prayer book and looking at the viewer.

Object Story: Portrait of Elizabeth Stone Coffin

Portrait of Elizabeth Stone Coffin painted by John Brewster Jr. in 1801.

Icon with a light bulb, star, and shapes above a pencil.

Activity: Portrait Investigations

Investigate the person in a portrait using clues and information from primary sources, images, and through research.

View of eight quilts displayed in a museum gallery with a spinning wheel placed in the center of the room.

Object Story: Stitching Statements and Sentiments

Explore quilt patterns that reflect women’s perspectives on the world and current events.

Print on paper showing arrangement of squares; within each square there are strips of colored rectangles that are arranged asymmetrically in shades of red, blue, white, and black.

Object Story: African American Quilting

Contemporary African American quilt traditions and their transformation into new artforms.

Five glass toy lamps in a variety of shapes, three with feet and bulbous or V-shaped reservoirs, another in a shape resembling a teacup, and another in the shape of a oval sphere.

Object Story: Toy Lamps

Blown glass lamps made for burning whale oil.

Icon with a light bulb, star, and shapes above a pencil.

Activity: Candle Math

Explore the relationship between candle light and contemporary lighting from incandescent and fluorescent lamps.

The Common Good

Americans are known for their commitment to individual freedom: freedom to make their own choices, freedom to speak their mind, and freedom to come and go as they please.