Freedom story

The Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom echoes with whispers as tourists walk past America’s founding documents: the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. The chamber is dimly lit to keep the brown ink marks on the documents from further fading away.

“The loving adjective we’ve come up with is ‘beige butterflies,’” public affairs specialist Aaron Scheinblum says of the fragile documents. Around the corner, the museum’s newest permanent exhibit aims to give visitors a hands-on view of those documents through touch screens at AI-powered kiosks.

The American Story opened to the public in November after nearly a decade of planning and a $40 million renovation. The nine-room exhibit is part history, part document research, and part cultural throwback, displaying the range of artifacts stored in America’s attic. A copper engraving plate used to make copies of the Declaration of Independence is on display, as well as patents for American innovations like the Barbie doll and the Zamboni.

It’s just one of many museum exhibits across the country capitalizing on renewed interest in America’s founding as this year’s 250th anniversary approaches.

Beyond the original artifacts, what makes The American Story unique is the 35 touch screen portals spread throughout, inviting visitors to go deeper. “We’re the first museum in Washington, D.C., to create this personalized journey for museum visitors,” said Grace McCaffrey, the Archives’ America 250 representative and my tour guide. That personalized journey began with a barcode on the back of my ticket. In the exhibit’s first room, I checked in at one of eight kiosks the size of vending machines. Instead of asking for my name or other personal information, the touch screen asked me to pick three areas of interest from a starburst of options ranging from diplomacy to parades.

I wanted to learn more about religious freedom in America, but had to content myself with First Amendment rights, court cases, and holidays. The AI-powered kiosks give museum guests access to 2 million digitized documents, maps, photographs, and drawings. The machine learning doesn’t generate content but sorts through the digital archives to find artifacts that relate to each display and visitors’ interests.

The exhibit starts with backstory on the founding documents in the Chartering Freedom room. A copper engraving plate sits under glass next to a copy of the Declaration of Independence printed in 1823. On the other side of the display case, a touch screen flashes with questions about the copper plate, such as, “Why is the text backward?”

“It’s kind of plugging on the questions visitors always ask,” McCaffrey explains.

Even without the curation of my special interests, I was able to learn a good bit about how the Declaration of Independence was copied and preserved. When I scanned my ticket, the ­display offered three documents from the founding era related to my areas of interest. The court filing about Revolutionary War veterans’ claims was on point, but Secretary of State William Seward’s invitation to a celebration of George Washington’s 130th birthday party felt like a stretch for holidays.

Next, I explored the Land and Home room, about the acquisitions and agreements that expanded the original 13 colonies into a continent-wide nation. The Louisiana Purchase and a treaty with the Winnebago Indian Tribe in Michigan flank the room. The portals offer stories about 10 lesser-known figures from this era, ranging from Mormon church founder and Utah Gov. Brigham Young to Chinese immigrant and later U.S. businessman Ping Chinn. The museum plans to rotate the original documents on display every three to six months to keep displays fresh and preserve the old documents.

A More Perfect Union offers guests a look at George Washington’s draft copy of the U.S. Constitution, as well as displays featuring amendments and documents related to debates later in American history. When I visited, the gallery displayed several items related to Title IX and women’s sports, including letters to President Gerald Ford sent by groups on opposite sides of the issue.

Moving into the 20th century, The American Story showcases artifacts from presidential libraries and footage from wartime presidencies. A display on the president as commander in chief offers visitors a choose-your-own adventure experience of three conflicts. I was able to see some of the documents presented to George H. W. Bush ahead of the Persian Gulf War, and the display prompted me to consider how I would have responded to Iraq refusing to withdraw from Kuwait. I discovered that my preference to wait and see did not line up with his decision to send in the troops. I noticed these displays were limited to modern presidencies, so no role-­playing commander in chief for the Spanish-American War or War of 1812.

The rest of The American Story exhibit aims to surprise guests with the breadth of the National Archives’ holdings, from patents to space race innovations. In the Moon Room, guests can learn how scientists solved problems for exploring the moon and in the process laid the foundation for inventions like electric vehicles, GPS, and lactose-free milk.

The exhibit closes with one more example of how the National Archives document America in unexpected ways: genealogy. “If someone’s on Ancestry.com or any of the other popular genealogy sites, they’re using National Archives Records, and they might not know it,” McCaffrey said. I used one of two kiosks donated by Ancestry.com to learn about my great-grandfather, William Zouhary. The kiosk pulled up a page from the 1930 census and highlighted various details about my grandfather (born in Syria, lived in Toledo, Ohio; did not attend school but could read and write, and was still single at age 24).

Where other museums may craft a narrative for displays, to frame artifacts in a way that tells visitors what to think about them, The American Story at the National Archives goes a different direction. It puts tools in the hands of visitors to see the museum as an archive for research, letting guests decide what they want to learn about, and how much. That said, access to the digital archives in the exhibit is curated through a set list of filters. That prevents teenagers from making up all manner of search categories, but it also means some categories, like religious freedom in America, are left off the table.

While screens may have some appeal for visitors, the main attraction will always be around the corner in the Charters of Freedom Rotunda, where the line to view America’s founding documents is only growing by the hour. Grace McCaffrey expects those lines to just keep growing with the addition later this year of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote.

“But the real star of the show this year is the Declaration,” she said.

Flying exhibit

From 1975 to 1976, a traveling museum of artifacts crisscrossed the contiguous United States aboard the American Freedom Train to commemorate the Bicentennial. To mark America’s 250th birthday, the National Archives has commissioned a traveling exhibit called the Freedom Plane National Tour to visit eight cities between March and August. The decked-out Boeing 737 will fly an exhibit of 10 documents to eight museums. Items will include George Washington’s and Alexander Hamilton’s signed oaths of allegiance, as well as the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War.

March 6–22: Kansas City, Mo.

March 27–April 12: Atlanta, Ga.

April 17–May 3: Los Angeles, Calif.

May 8–25: Houston, Texas

May 28–June 14: Denver, Colo.

June 20–July 5: Miami, Fla.

July 9–26: Dearborn, Mich.

July 30–Aug. 16: Seattle, Wash.

More exhibits

Other museums featuring special exhibits for America’s 250th include:

National Museum of American History—In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness (Spring 2026–Sept. 2026). Featured objects include Thomas Jefferson’s portable desk and the gunboat Philadelphia.

National Portrait Gallery: 250th Festival—Celebrating Our Story

Smithsonian Castle: American Aspirations (Summer 2026). A special exhibition reflecting on the nation’s ideals, featuring artifacts like Harriet Tubman’s hymnal.

Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia—The Declaration’s Journey

Mount Vernon in Virginia—Washington’s Original Clothing