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On July 4\u2014250 years ago\u2014the United States was officially founded through the adoption of the Declaration of Independence here in Philadelphia, in the shadow of Penn\u2019s first campus. Over the following pages, the Gazette is spotlighting what happened at Penn (then the College of Philadelphia) during the American Revolution and to its Class of 1776 graduates; what the University is doing today to remember the Revolutionary era and the printing of the Declaration (as well as the country\u2019s 200th birthday 50 years ago); and how one alumnus is leading this summer\u2019s semiquincentennial celebrations in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
When Penn Was a State School<\/a> | The Class of 1776<\/a> | Revolutionary Typography<\/a> | Dissenting Voices<\/a> | Party Planner<\/a><\/p>\n As the capital-R Revolution raged across the colonies, a smaller one was happening inside Pennsylvania\u2019s first college. It\u2019s a little-known story\u2014a chaotic time often glossed over in Penn\u2019s lengthy history\u2014but one worth knowing about ahead of the nation\u2019s 250th birthday.<\/p>\n By Molly Petrilla<\/p>\n It\u2019s 1775 in Philadelphia, a bustling and well-established city\u2014the Northeast\u2019s biggest, in fact.<\/p>\n Some 30,000 people live and work in what will later be called Old City. Walking its streets are rich men and poor ones, families and orphans, doctors and ministers and merchants, people of varied faiths and ethnicities. And at the center of it all, on the corner of 4th and Arch Streets, sits the College of Philadelphia: the colonial-era precursor to Penn, and the only college in the Province of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also May, meaning it\u2019s time for that college\u2019s annual commencement. With change looming and battles already erupting, members of the Second Continental Congress\u2014led by their president John Hancock, and with George Washington in their midst\u2014join the commencement procession from Independence Hall to the College\u2019s main building. They\u2019ve come to the ceremony as guests, watching the Class of 1775 graduates alongside the usual audience of parents, professors, and provosts. In his speech, the college\u2019s valedictorian mentions \u201cour great American cause\u201d and calls liberty \u201cthe choicest gift of heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking back on it today, \u201cthat moment was an ending and a beginning,\u201d remarks John Pollack, curator of research services in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. \u201cIt was a moment of civic unity that wouldn\u2019t exist afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s because, only a month later, the American Revolution escalated, and a year after that, on July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n While Penn, Philadelphia, and the rest of the country plan to stage many events this year to celebrate the country\u2019s milestone 250th birthday, the Revolutionary War era is largely forgotten in Penn\u2019s history, according to Pollack. \u201cPeople don\u2019t know what happened during all these crazy years,\u201d he says. \u201cThey just don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s this weird, awkward period in Penn\u2019s history,\u201d notes J. M. Duffin, assistant university archivist, who together with Pollack curated the exhibition Revolution at Penn?, which was on display last year at Van Pelt Library\u2019s Goldstein Family Gallery [\u201cOld Penn,<\/a>\u201d May|Jun 2025]. \u201cPeople want to gloss over it because it\u2019s hard to explain.\u201d<\/p>\n But in the mid-1770s, proto-Penn \u201cwas at the center of the city geographically and it was at the center politically,\u201d Pollack says. And that starring role explains a quirky chapter in the University\u2019s history, when it was taken over by the new revolutionary-led Pennsylvania government and entered a period of identity crisis and upheaval.<\/p>\n After the Declaration was signed in 1776\u2014including by nine men with Penn ties\u2014there ensued a string of closings and reopenings at the College of Philadelphia. Classes were paused, resumed, and then paused again; Continental Army soldiers quartered at the school; and then British troops turned the campus into a military hospital upon occupying the city.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Pennsylvania\u2019s revolutionaries were hammering out a fresh state constitution, which obliterated the role of state governor and established a single-house legislature to be elected annually. James Cannon, a math professor at the College, was among the document\u2019s main writers. \u201cThey went from the idea of having a King-in-Parliament and all these intermediary layers, to basically direct rule by the populace,\u201d notes Duffin, calling it \u201cone of the most radical constitutions of all the new states.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1777, Pennsylvania began requiring all men over age 18 to take a loyalty oath before a Justice of the Peace, renouncing any allegiances to England\u2019s King George III and promising their commitment to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And there was more: \u201cI will discover and make known,\u201d the oath continued, \u201c\u2026 all treasons and traitorous conspiracies which I now know or hereafter shall know to be formed against this or any of the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe outcome of the war was uncertain, so the revolutionaries of Pennsylvania really hunkered down and started looking for spies and traitors,\u201d Duffin says. A law required any suspected traitors to appear in court and defend themselves. If they didn\u2019t, they\u2019d officially be declared traitors and the state would seize their property. \u201cThat happened to a lot of people,\u201d Duffin says, \u201cand several trustees of the College of Philadelphia were among them.\u201d<\/p>\n The College\u2019s provost, an Anglican reverend originally from Scotland named William Smith, raised eyebrows too [\u201cDueling Quills: The Provost Smith Papers<\/a>,\u201d April 1997]. \u201cThe revolutionaries didn\u2019t feel he was revolutionary enough, and so they were suspicious of him,\u201d Duffin says.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t help that Smith hadn\u2019t condemned the College\u2019s Tory trustees, who\u2019d already fled to Britain and British-occupied New York for safety and never returned. Nor that he\u2019d put out a pamphlet back in 1755, slamming local Germans and calling for an oath of allegiance to the British crown.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the point of view of the revolutionaries, the entire board of trustees was guilty of being friendly to the British cause,\u201d says Mark Frazier Lloyd, Penn\u2019s University archivist\u00a0emeritus. The revolutionaries also recognized the importance of their state\u2019s only college\u2014and because they considered it a hotbed of loyalism, \u201cthey felt they had to do something about the college,\u201d Duffin says. \u201cSo they decided they wanted to take it over.\u201d<\/p>\n So began this strange era in Penn\u2019s history. In November 1779, Pennsylvania\u2019s new state legislature passed \u201can act of dissolution\u201d to alter the College\u2019s charter and seize its property. \u201cThey kicked out all the old trustees, put in a whole new set, and got a new provost,\u201d Duffin says. They replaced the Anglican Williams with a Presbyterian named John Ewing. They even changed the school\u2019s name to the University of the State of Pennsylvania\u2014the first state-controlled college in America.<\/p>\n To ensure diversity among its new trustees, the University\u2019s revamped charter granted the \u201csenior minister\u201d of each church in Philadelphia a seat on the board: Lutheran, Presbyterian, Baptist, Anglican, Reformed, and Catholic\u2014but not the Quakers, who had frustrated the revolutionaries by refusing to fight in the war.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was another example of how the revolutionaries were turning the college into something they felt would be more democratic,\u201d Duffin says. \u201cReligious identity in Pennsylvania at that time was very much intermingled with ethnic identity \u2026 so this was a way to ensure that these different ethnic groups were given representation on the board.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think the revolutionary school tried to open itself up to more people, more students, more voices,\u201d Pollack says, noting that it also began teaching in German\u2014a sizable ethnic group in Philadelphia that Smith had once dismissed as \u201can uncultivated race.\u201d<\/p>\n The school\u2019s seal transformed, too: from a pile of books with Latin titles to an image of an orrery\u2014a mechanical model of the solar system used to visualize planets and moons. It was a decidedly New World icon, Duffin says, and seemed to promote the revamped school as a mecca for modern science.<\/p>\n Provost Smith and the original College\u2019s trustees, however, weren\u2019t willing to step aside without a fight. They launched a 10-year legal battle, arguing that the state\u2019s takeover had been unjust and illegal. And eventually, they won.<\/p>\n By 1789, \u201cthe same state legislature that had voted in 1779 to displace the old trustees voted to return all the property to them,\u201d Lloyd says. \u201cSo the old trustees, led by William Smith, reconstituted themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n The ruling didn\u2019t dissolve the new University of the State of Pennsylvania. It simply returned all funds, land, and buildings back to the original College. The College of Philadelphia restarted with Smith back as provost; students were enrolled and the school began awarding degrees again. The state-controlled University moved down the street and continued operating, too.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth schools limped along,\u201d says Lloyd, \u201cbut it was very apparent within two years that there weren\u2019t enough students, tuition money, or qualified faculty to support two separate institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n By then, the revolutionary fervor had faded and \u201cthe moderates finally got control of the situation,\u201d Lloyd says. A new state law in 1791 plucked all 12 trustees from each school to form a single, unified, private institution: the University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n This state-run chapter in Penn\u2019s history lasted only 12 years, Duffin notes, but it was \u201ca very interesting example of what happens when key figures at the school become completely enmeshed in local politics.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOfficials at universities today do not comment on political events,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt was completely different in the 18th century. Provost Smith jumped right into Pennsylvania politics only a year or so after the College was created.\u201d<\/p>\n But other issues from that time continue to reverberate today. Whether the government should control higher education \u201cstrikes me as a fundamental question that is being debated again now,\u201d Pollack says.<\/p>\n Questions around who should run a school, who should be admitted to it, what those students should learn, and who decides whether practices are equitable and participants are sufficiently diverse linger, too. \u201cThese are old questions in American life,\u201d Pollack notes. \u201cThe Revolutionary story at Penn suggests those were big questions then, too\u2014and they\u2019re never fully answered in education.\u201d<\/p>\n Molly Petrilla C\u201906 writes frequently for the Gazette.<\/p>\n Seven young men graduated from Penn one month before the American colonies declared their independence.<\/p>\n In 1776, seven young men graduated from the College of Philadelphia, later the University of Pennsylvania, during an unprecedented time for the school founded by Benjamin Franklin. Several class members made their marks on American history, in sometimes unexpected ways. A few all but disappeared from history.<\/p>\n Members of the Class of 1776 earned Bachelor of Arts degrees at the College of Philadelphia amid escalating tensions between the American colonies and Great Britain. The future graduates began their studies close to when colonial rebels in Boston dumped shipments of tea into the harbor to protest mounting British taxes. By autumn 1774, the First Continental Congress convened to draft a list of colonial grievances for King George III and a plan to boycott British trade. This pivotal meeting took place at Carpenters\u2019 Hall near Third and Chestnut Streets, just a few blocks away from the college campus. The following year saw several clashes between the Revolutionary and British armies both north and south of Philadelphia, including the Battle of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts and the Battle of Great Bridge in Virginia.<\/p>\n The College of Philadelphia Board of Trustees responded by closing the June 10, 1776, commencement ceremony to the public, allowing only the graduating students, trustees, and faculty to attend. \u201cThe Commencement is ordered to be a private one, on account of the present unsettled State of public affairs, and the Candidates to be excused from the delivering [of] the public Exercises usual on such occasions,\u201d the board\u2019s May 23 meeting minutes reported with customary brevity. Unlike nearly every previous year\u2014including in 1775 when the commencement was attended by members of the Continental Congress and featured a religious service, several lectures, and musical performances\u2014the 1776 ceremony was a quiet affair.<\/p>\n Despite the war, 1776\u2019s class of seven graduates was in line with the College of Philadelphia\u2019s historically small number of graduates in the 18th century. The Class of 1760 had eight graduates, while the classes of 1770 and 1771 each had 14 and the Class of 1772 only two. \u201cBear in mind, at this time period, the idea of having a college degree wasn\u2019t something that people sought,\u201d says J. M. Duffin, Penn\u2019s assistant university archivist. \u201cIt was an honor and a status symbol, but it wasn\u2019t like today, where it\u2019s something that you need for professional development.\u201d<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, the Class of 1776 came from privileged families and used their education to launch careers in the church, medicine, law, and politics.<\/p>\n Two 1776 graduates hailed from the Philadelphia area. Rev. James Abercrombie (1758\u20131841) was born in Philadelphia, the son of a Scottish sea captain, also named James Abercrombie, who went down with his ship on a voyage in the North Sea when his son was two years old. Abercrombie grew up on Second Street between Spruce and Locust Streets in a house still still known today as the Captain James Abercrombie House.<\/p>\n After graduation, Abercrombie abandoned his desire to study for the ministry due to an eye ailment. He became a merchant and city councilman but, after a doctor cured his eye injury, resumed his theological studies and was ordained. He served as assistant minister at St. Peter\u2019s Church in Philadelphia from 1794 to 1832 and often officiated at other churches in the area. Abercrombie also cofounded Philadelphia Academy in 1800, later becoming the private school\u2019s sole director.<\/p>\n The outspoken Abercrombie frequently used sermons to voice his opinions and didn\u2019t shy away from targeting high-profile public figures. While preaching at Christ Church in Philadelphia, Abercrombie notably made a thinly veiled dig at President George Washington, who was in the congregation that day. In an oft-reported story, the minister chastised well-known people who skipped communion and left church after the sermon, citing the \u201cunhappy tendency of those in elevated stations who invariably turned their backs upon the celebration of the Lord\u2019s Supper.\u201d Abercrombie didn\u2019t call out anyone directly, but the president knew the minister was talking about him. Washington subsequently simply stopped attending church on Sundays when communion was offered, according to the book, The Faiths of the Founding Fathers by David L. Holmes.<\/p>\n Also born in Philadelphia was Thomas Duncan Smith (1760\u20131789), the second-eldest son of William Smith, the College of Philadelphia\u2019s first provost. Smith followed in the academic footsteps of his older brother, 1775 graduate William Moore Smith. After his graduation in 1776, Thomas Duncan Smith studied medicine and set up his practice in Huntingdon, a town in central Pennsylvania founded by his father in 1767, according to a biography of the provost, Life and Correspondence of the Rev. William Smith, D.D. The younger Smith also served as a justice of the peace once the town became the capital of Huntingdon County. But he died young, at the age of 29, after suffering a severe fever. He is buried in Huntingdon.\u00a0<\/p>\n John Clopton (1756\u20131816) left Virginia for Philadelphia to further his studies, but his heart remained in the Richmond area where he was born and died. Clopton first attended William and Mary College and then earned a degree at the College of Philadelphia before studying law. He served in the Revolutionary Army as a lieutenant and captain and was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777 under General Washington. Clopton refused all other promotions \u201cbecause of his attachment to his company, which was composed of his relatives, friends, and humble dependents of his family, all belonging to the Parish of St. Peter\u2019s, who were furnished with supplies and clothed by his father during the whole war,\u201d according to the Penn Archives.<\/p>\n After the war ended, Clopton entered politics. He served as a member of the Virginia state house of delegates from 1789 to 1791. Clopton was elected as a Democratic Republican to the House of Representatives, serving multiple two-year terms from 1795 until his death in 1816.<\/p>\n Another graduate, John Leeds Bozman (1757\u20131823), was the son of a colonel, born in Oxford, Maryland. After earning a degree at the College of Philadelphia, Bozman traveled to London in 1784 to study law at the Middle Temple. Several years later, he returned to Maryland, was admitted to the bar, and began practicing law, according to the 1887 publication A Memoir of John Leeds Bozman, The First Historian of Maryland. He served as deputy attorney general of Maryland from 1787 to 1808. Bozman was also the first person from Maryland to chronicle the state\u2019s history. His books include A Sketch of the History of Maryland During the Three First Years After Its Settlement (1811) and The History of Maryland: From Its First Settlement in 1633 to Its Restoration in 1660 (1837).<\/p>\n Penn\u2019s remaining three 1776 graduates are a bit of a mystery due to the lack of documentation about their origins.<\/p>\n Ralph Wiltshire might have come from Barbados, based on clues pieced together by Duffin. A Ralph Wilshire was born in Barbados in 1757, the son of a doctor with the same name who died in 1770. A Ralph Wiltshire, presumably the son, married in Barbados in 1778. \u201cI can\u2019t be absolutely certain this is the same person, but it is not impossible since there were students from the Caribbean who attended the college and academy,\u201d Duffin says.<\/p>\n Research-based presumptions are all that can be applied to graduate William Cocke, as well. Cocke is believed to be from Maryland and may have been the same man who became a Circuit Court judge in Tennessee and served as a US senator from Tennessee between 1796 and 1805, according to the Penn Archives.<\/p>\n Even less is known about the seventh graduate, William Thomas. \u201cIt\u2019s primarily because we don\u2019t know where he\u2019s from. The only record we have of him is his name at graduation and his name in the tuition account books,\u201d Duffin says. \u201cUnfortunately, it\u2019s a fairly common Welsh name. So it could be anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Nothing is known about how the members of the Class of 1776 interacted, their activities outside of classes, or if any kept in touch with each other. What is known is that the College of Philadelphia shut down at the end of the year when the Pennsylvania militia moved into the city. As the board of trustees\u2019 December 1776 meeting minutes reported: \u201cNo Meeting, the Schools broke up, on Account of the public Alarms.\u201d By the beginning of 1777, troops were camped out on school property.<\/p>\n No further graduation ceremonies were held until 1780.<\/p>\n \u2014Samantha Drake CGS\u201906<\/p>\n Penn\u2019s Common Press studio is shining a (candle)light on how the first edition of the Declaration of Independence was printed 250 years ago.<\/p>\n Early in December, Jessica Peterson placed electric candles all around the Common Press studio and invited members of the Penn community to try their hand at 18th-century typesetting, as printer John Dunlap would have done the night of July 4, 1776, in creating the first edition of the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt ended up looking kind of like a romantic comedy set, instead of a revolutionary print shop,\u201d recalls Peterson, Common Press\u2019s manager. \u201cPeople came in like, It\u2019s so beautiful in here. And I was like, That\u2019s not what we\u2019re trying to go for.\u201d<\/p>\n A more historically accurate representation of Dunlap\u2019s working conditions in his Philadelphia print shop at Second and High (now Market) Streets would have included real candles\u2014but open flames are not allowed inside the Fisher Fine Arts Library, where the Common Press sits tucked away in the historic building\u2019s basement. Dedicated to \u201cthe scholarly exploration and creative practice in the history, craft, and material culture of printing and bookmaking,\u201d the studio is in the midst of a yearlong program called \u201cThe Typography of Independence\u201d during which it has been hosting events to mark the country\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n About two months after \u201cLighting in the Revolutionary Era,\u201d Common Press held an interpretative typesetting workshop in which participants set lines of type from the original Declaration of Independence with the option to alter or omit words. And on May 14\u201315, it will host a 12-hour, two-day Alumni Weekend community typesetting event to handset metal type to create a historically accurate replica of the Declaration\u2014which through the summer will remain available on the studio\u2019s 1889 cast-iron handpress for anyone to visit and print a copy for themselves. (Peterson calls Common Press\u2019s handpress a \u201cvery high-end model\u201d of the wood one that Dunlap and his contemporaries used.)<\/p>\n Peterson\u2014who came to Penn two years ago from New Orleans, where she had her own commercial printing shop\u2014doesn\u2019t have a background in history and was initially not all that interested in the Revolutionary era. But after being asked what the Common Press had planned for the US Semiquincentennial, \u201cI started doing a little bit of research, and it was really fascinating that letterpress printing is a huge part of this history,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd no one really thinks about it or talks about it.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s since come away with newfound empathy for Dunlap, who received the handwritten manuscript of the Declaration of Independence late in the afternoon on July 4, 1776, and had to work all night with his staff to complete what many refer to as the most important printing job in American history. Even for someone experienced in setting the tiny pieces of metal type upside down and backwards on a composing stick, doing it overnight was \u201cI\u2019m sure exhausting for your eyes,\u201d Peterson says. In an era long predating the Edison bulb, it required trust that each letter was in the correct spot of the wooden case he was pulling it from. (During Common Press\u2019s candlelight event, \u201cit was virtually impossible to see what letters you were using,\u201d Peterson notes, \u201cand you really had to trust the map\u201d showing the locations of different letters in the case. In the next event, participants had the benefit of electricity but still failed to set all the type in the 15 or so hours it took Dunlap to complete the job.)<\/p>\n Had Dunlap not been working under intense time constraints so that his shop could print hundreds of copies on the morning of July 5 to be immediately distributed throughout the colonies, Peterson postulates that he would have created something \u201cwith a lot more design consideration\u201d than what became known as the Dunlap Broadside. \u201cWhen you\u2019re given a handwritten document, it\u2019s really hard to figure out how long it\u2019s going to be,\u201d which could explain the very long line length across one single-wide column to fit in all 1,320 words on one poster-sized sheet.<\/p>\n Although there is no definitive record about who was inside Dunlap\u2019s print shop the night of July 4, 1776, Peterson likes to imagine Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin making the short walk from the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) and hand-delivering the manuscript before Franklin decided to \u201chang out for a while, being like, I\u2019ll help set the type.\u201d (The acclaimed printer and original Pennsylvania Gazette publisher did import the Caslon typeface used in the Declaration from England.)<\/p>\n Dunlap\u2019s original printing was the subject of a late January lecture, cohosted by the Common Press, featuring historian Emily Sneff, an expert on the history of the Declaration of Independence and a former fellow at Penn\u2019s McNeil Center for Early American Studies. Sneff also examined \u201cthe messy work\u201d that came afterwards: publishing more copies of the Declaration by other printers and newspapers and spreading the news of the colonies declaring their independence.<\/p>\n While broadsides like the one Dunlap printed were used for public readings at town squares or posted inside taverns, \u201cevery active newspaper in the United States included the Declaration of Independence,\u201d beginning with Benjamin Towne\u2019s Pennsylvania Evening Post on July 6. And Towne \u201cstarts this trend of taking away most of the capital letters in the Declaration of Independence\u201d noted Sneff, adding that other newspaper editors subsequently made their own capitalization and punctuation choices. \u201cSo the text never looks the same from one copy to the next, even within the same city,\u201d she said. \u201cIt makes for a really interesting project of tracing all of those changes.\u201d<\/p>\n Although many printers and publishers made their own mark on the Declaration, not all were positive. Given the difficulty of typesetting, Dunlap made several minor errors in his original printing. So did Mary Katharine Goddard, a Baltimore printer whose January 1777 broadside, commissioned by the Continental Congress, was the first to include the names of all of the signatories and, according to Sneff, \u201ctransitions the Declaration of Independence from a piece of news that\u2019s being published and communicated to people to the archival treasure that we think about today.\u201d The discrepancies and missing words in those broadsides, however, pale in comparison to those in the Massachusetts Spy newspaper, which accidentally changed \u201cbe self-evident\u201d to \u201cus self-evident\u201d and misspelled \u201cstates\u201d as \u201csates,\u201d among other glaring typos.<\/p>\n \u201cThey didn\u2019t have the benefit of spell check in 1776,\u201d said Sneff, adding that the poor quality of wartime paper, combined with iron gall ink eating away at the paper, led to \u201cink blotches and splotches and fingerprints\u201d on many copies.<\/p>\n The lack of modern technology also slowed how quickly people around the world caught wind of the news. Although newspapers in the Northeast began printing the Declaration within a week of July 4, \u201cit took about three weeks for it to reach the Carolinas, a full month for the Declaration to reach Georgia\u2014in part because the news had to go over land rather than by sea, because of British naval activity along the East Coast at that time\u2014and five weeks to reach London,\u201d said Sneff, whose new book, When the Declaration of Independence Was News, covers the topics she spoke about in the lecture, including the timing, transmission, transcription, typesetting, and translation of the world-famous document.<\/p>\n Peterson has become a big fan of Sneff\u2019s research and believes the discoveries of typos and changes in the text \u201cis really fascinating because we view the Declaration now as this static document that\u2019s always been the way it is.\u201d She hopes alumni and other Penn community members will visit Common Press to experience the challenge of 18th-century typesetting firsthand and enjoy printing a replica Declaration of Independence to take home. \u2014DZ<\/p>\n A Penn Libraries exhibit shows how Philadelphia\u2014central to the nation\u2019s Bicentennial celebration in 1976\u2014was a magnet for protests as well.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so much collective memory about the Bicentennial, and Philadelphia was really at the center of the celebrations,\u201d says Mitch Fraas, senior curator for special collections at the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. \u201cAnd it seems like the most prevalent collective memory is of the sort of red, white, and blue\u2014parades and the fireworks and the tall ships.\u201d<\/p>\n But there\u2019s another thread to the story, he adds, which is the subject of \u201cCelebrate or Demonstrate? Philadelphia and Bicentennial Discontent,\u201d a modest but provocative exhibition he curated that is on view in Van Pelt Library through Alumni Weekend. Fraas started gathering materials as far back as 2019, aided by bookseller David Anthem in particular, with an eye to this year\u2019s 250th anniversary observance, thinking it was important to help \u201cpeople understand that in that moment there were also voices of dissent,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd a lot of the sources are not canonical. They come from flyers or buttons or stickers and stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n The materials displayed in a pair of glass cases on the library\u2019s first floor represents about a tenth of the Kislak Center\u2019s collection, Fraas says. Featured are posters made by the two main organized protest groups, the more broad-based July 4th Coalition and further left-leaning \u201cRich Off Our Backs,\u201d which staged marches of more than 20,000 people in the city to counter the mainstream celebration at Independence Hall headlined by President Gerald Ford. Nearby are some blown-up photographs of marchers in Fairmount Park and along the route, taken by Chicago-based photographer and activist Allan Lee Koss, who traveled to Philadelphia for the protests, part of a collection recently acquired by the Penn Libraries.<\/p>\n Other highlights include materials from the People\u2019s Bicentennial Commission\u2014brainchild of Jeremy Rifkin W\u201967\u2014which sought to counter the commercialization of the Bicentennial celebration, including a mock advertisement for \u201cTom Paine Cola\u201d and \u201cRevolutionary Toothpaste\u201d; copies of the The Weekly Gayzette (\u201cGays Protest on July 4th,\u201d \u201cDykes for an American Revolution\u201d) and Majrity Report (\u201cWomen & the Bicentennial\u201d); a sticker calling for \u201ca Bicentennial Without Colonies\u201d by the Puerto Rican Socialist Party; and a mimeographed typewritten flyer for \u201cA Community Celebration of Struggle and Hope\u201d at the Church of the Advocate at 18th and Diamond Streets in North Philadelphia.<\/p>\n The flyer \u201cis just fascinating, because it\u2019s the community worship service in parallel\u2014opposition, you could say\u2014to the official events,\u201d says Fraas, both of which kicked off at 10:30 a.m. on July 4. \u201cAnd it\u2019s very much a patriotic celebration, but a different kind of patriotic activity \u2026 that\u2019s still just as American as the Independence Hall celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n As for protests around this year\u2019s US Semiquincentennial, Fraas says he isn\u2019t aware of the kind of long-range planning\u2014the People\u2019s Bicentennial Commission started up in the early 1970s\u2014or the level of coordination represented by the July 4th Coalition, for example, which involved more than 100 groups around the country. The official celebration plans seem more diffuse as well.<\/p>\n \u201cI wonder if there won\u2019t be more spontaneous things in July that pop up as the event gets closer. That\u2019s totally possible.\u201d Collecting materials today would involve a lot of electronic media, he adds, \u201calthough you know, there are also people in the city with a big interest in street art, and stickering things and flyering things. That\u2019s still very much alive.\u201d \u2014JP<\/p>\n Meet the Penn alum coordinating Philadelphia\u2019s semiquincentennial investments and For Michael Newmuis LPS\u201921, being tasked to lead Philadelphia\u2019s strategy for its semiquincentennial celebrations has been both rewarding and deeply personal.<\/p>\n \u201cMy fourth-great grandmother, Josephine, walked 20 miles toward freedom in 1863 with barely 40 cents and a dream,\u201d Newmuis says. \u201cToday, her descendant is leading America\u2019s 250th birthday celebration in the city where that freedom was first promised. That is the American story\u2014improbable, unfinished, and worth passing down.\u201d<\/p>\n And the perks of the job have come unexpectedly since Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker G\u201916 LPS\u201916 appointed him the city\u2019s 2026 Director two years ago. \u201cI had a terrific meeting with the Masonic Lodge and held in my hand letters handwritten by George Washington and Lafayette,\u201d Newmuis recalls. \u201cIt was a day I will remember for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n The city\u2019s expansive efforts to commemorate the nation\u2019s 250th birthday have taken Newmuis from the Masonic Lodge to Zoom\u00a0meetings\u00a0with White House officials to visits across the region with leaders in politics, business, and philanthropy. Among the events and projects he\u2019s helping coordinate are:<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0\u00a0 The city\u2019s hosting of World Cup soccer games and the Major League Baseball All-Star Game this summer. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0\u00a0 Ring It On!\u2014the city\u2019s neighborhood investment program for the semiquincentennial, which will bestow $120 million on more than 60 community and cultural organizations, with a focus on neighborhood festivals and beautification projects. Ring It On! programming includes a citywide high school vocal competition, free weekly events celebrating Philadelphia-born innovations, 250 block parties with \u201cLife, Liberty, and Happiness\u201d themed kits, and 20 artist-designed Liberty Bell replicas displayed in various neighborhoods with a citywide treasure map.<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0\u00a0 Infrastructure projects that include $500 million in airport modernization, set to be completed in time for the FIFA World Cup, as well as highway beautification along I-76 and improvements to the Market East corridor.<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0\u00a0 The commissioning of three permanent public sculptures honoring historic Black women leaders, including Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Ed1918 G1919 Gr1921 L\u201927 Hon\u201974 [\u201cOld Penn<\/a>,\u201d May|Jun 2021], whose statue by sculptor Vinnie Bagwell is expected to be unveiled across the street from City Hall in 2027.<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0\u00a0 The opening of the First Bank of the United States, which had been closed to the public for roughly 50 years, as a museum on July 1\u2014one day before a joint session of Congress convenes at Independence Hall, two days before a semiquincentennial parade is held, and three days before a time capsule will be buried at Independence National Historical Park on July 4 (engineered to survive 250 years underground and to be opened in 2276).<\/p>\n While working tirelessly to prepare Philadelphia for the spotlight this summer, Newmuis has emphasized the importance of working collaboratively and giving others credit. \u201cIt\u2019s really about setting a grand vision, but then empowering folks to execute it,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd in this role when you\u2019re setting a vision that\u2019s citywide, across so many partners, both at the federal, state, local, and hyper-local community level, you need to be able to see where people are and really align their interests in a way that\u2019s meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n Newmuis previously worked as head of impact at the global asset manager FS Investments and executive director of the FS Foundation. Before that, he was the chief external affairs officer and chief of staff at Visit Philadelphia, the region\u2019s official tourism marketing agency, where he contributed to the successful execution of events including the 2017 NFL Draft, the 2016 Democratic National Convention, and Pope Francis\u2019s first visit to the US in 2015.<\/p>\n During a recent speech, Parker praised Newmuis\u2019s contributions to the city. \u201cI watch people, I watch talent. I met him when he was at Visit Philadelphia, and I remember saying to myself, \u2018I\u2019m going to have to steal him and he\u2019s going to work with me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Newmuis says he took a significant pay cut to leave an $86 billion asset management firm to work for the City of Philadelphia, but he felt compelled to \u201cbe part of something so much bigger than myself\u201d in large part because of the mayor. \u201cShe\u2019s historic as the first Black woman to lead this city,\u201d he says. \u201cBut for Philadelphia, the semiquincentennial\u00a0is more than any one person. It\u2019s the combination of imaginations from so many leaders that just needed to be coordinated in a more strategic way.\u201d<\/p>\n Jonathan Burton, director of development for the Independence Historical Trust, the philanthropic partner to Independence National Historical Park, believes Newmuis \u201chas a rare ability to bring the right people to the table and make everyone feel invested in the outcome. He understands that 2026 is not just about celebration, but about collaboration. Michael consistently uplifts organizations across Philadelphia and is deeply committed to ensuring the semiquincentennial reflects the full story of our city and is truly inclusive and welcoming for all.\u201d<\/p>\n At Penn, Newmuis studied cognitive psychology. What drew him to the University and that program was\u00a0\u201cit\u2019s really interdisciplinary,\u201d he says, noting that he took courses across Penn\u2019s schools. \u201cAnd why I loved it so much is because when you think about cognitive science, it\u2019s really about the ways in which we see the world and see each other and our place within it. It\u2019s about judgments and decision making.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that plays nicely through the current role that I\u2019m in and, frankly, through some of my past roles in shaping the narrative of Philadelphia and getting people to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n In his current role, Newmuis has been gratified to help deliver on key funding and partnerships\u2014and hopes that the country\u2019s 250th birthday party will \u201cset a bold new narrative for not just our city but our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCelebrations create moments; investments create change,\u201d he says. \u201cPhiladelphia is pairing this milestone with real investment in neighborhoods, small businesses, and communities still striving for the American Dream, while bringing folks closer together. If 2026 inspires a new generation to live up to our founding ideals, Philadelphia will have done more than host a party\u2014we will have reawakened the promise.\u201d <\/p>\n \u2014Jon Caroulis<\/p>\n Across several departments and spearheaded by Penn Libraries, the University will be commemorating![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f1_spread_0526.jpg\")
Download a PDF of this article<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f1_0526_first-campus-drawing-1200x727.jpg\")
The College of Philadelphia\u2019s Fourth Street campus in 1770.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f1_0526_seals.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f1_0526_first-grads_Melinda-Beck.jpg\")
Illustration by Melinda Beck<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f1_0526_dunlap-broadside_national-archives-946x1200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f1_0526_metal-type_Amanda-Mott.jpg\")
John Dunlap\u2019s original 1776 printing of the Declaration of Independence will be replicated
by handsetting metal type (above) at Penn\u2019s Common Press Studio. Broadside courtesy US National Archives; type photo by Amanda Mott courtesy Penn Today<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f1_0526_young-BF-at-press.jpg\")
Benjamin Franklin, seen here as a young man working on the printing press, imported the Caslon typeface used in the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f1_0526_protest_bicentennial_2_Allan-Lee-Koss-1200x856.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f1_0526_bicentennial-protest-1_Allen-Lee-Koss-1200x866.jpg\")
Allan Koss photographs of the Bicentennial Protest, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 3\u20134, 1976.<\/p>\n
celebrations.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f1_0526_Newmuis_TLeonardi-903x1200.jpg\")
Photo by Tommy Leonardi<\/p>\n
the nation\u2019s 250th birthday through the rest of the year. Follow this link to see some of the events, exhibitions, performances, and other programming on tap: www.library.upenn.edu\/america-250-penn\/events-and-exhibits<\/a><\/p>\n
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