How archives across England are sharing different sides of America’s Independence story (part two)

‘We the People’

We the People: America’s Fight for Freedom and Beyond (running until Sunday 13 September 2026) is the latest exhibition launched by University of Nottingham at the Weston Gallery, Lakeside Arts. 

Drawing from the university’s manuscripts and printed collections, the exhibition consists of six exhibition boards, including a large map showing the United States' westward expansion from 1776 to 1861.

One of the boards, entitled ‘No taxation without representation’, covers the British government’s attempts to introduce new taxation in its American colonies, sparking outrage, resistance and eventually independence. The remaining boards tackle a broader range of periods from American history, expanding beyond the late 18th century and American independence.

We the People covers the ‘discovery’ of America by Christopher Columbus at the end of the 15th century. Explorers such as Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512), from where the name ‘America’ comes from, were charged with discovering new sources of land, labour and natural resources by their European patrons. This began the process by which Spain, Portugal, Britain, France, and the Netherlands claimed American territory for themselves.

The exhibition also focuses on key historical figures and communities from the region. It identifies Nottinghamshire families as being among the Mayflower Pilgrims who established Plimouth Plantation in 1621, one of the first English settlements in North America. 

It features a board on Julian Pauncefote, a former lawyer descended from the Smith banking family of Nottingham. In 1889, he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary or 'Envoy' for short and in 1893, he became Britain’s first Ambassador to the United States.

The final board looks at Enid Hilton (1896–1992), of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, who emigrated to Mendocino County, California. There, Enid was employed as a social worker among the Native American communities who lived in the Covelo area and the Round Valley Indian Reservation. She worked to improve living conditions in the area, encouraging young Native Americans to gain new vocational skills, travel, and overcome barriers with non-Native communities.

We the People showcases materials from the university’s Family and Estate collections, most prominently the Newcastle (Clumber) Collection. This features the estate and personal papers of the Dukes of Newcastle-under-Lyne of Clumber Park, from the 2nd to the 7th Dukes, and intersects with early American history at several key points. The 2nd Duke was one Henry Clinton (1730–1795) whom you may recognise from my first blog as having fought alongside Earl Percy at the battle of Fort Washington.

Over the spring and summer, University of Nottingham held a series of special events to complement the exhibition. This included a live performance from The Easy Rollers, a septet inspired by British jazz music’s roots in 1920s and 1930s Harlem, Kansas City and New Orleans. They also held a screening of Greta Gerwig’s Academy Award winning adaptation of Little Women (2019) set against the backdrop of the American Civil War. The screening included an introduction by We the People’s exhibition curator, Dr Richard Gaunt.

America 250

The American Museum & Gardens in Bath are commemorating the independence anniversary with the America 250 trail, running all year through their permanent galleries. A key item on temporary display is a rare original 1776 Dunlap printing of the Declaration of Independence, on loan from The National Archives (on display until Sunday 6 September). The Museum's permanent collections showcase colonial American interiors set up as period rooms from 1690 through to 1860.

The loan of the Declaration is not the extent of our collaboration with The American Museum. Curators of the American 250 trail have referenced the Peace Commissioners Reports (Catalogue reference: CO 5/177) held at The National Archives, thanks to information shared by Graham Moore, Early Modern Parliament Records Specialist and one of the curators of our Revolution 250 exhibition.

The trail provides a brief history of European arrival in the Americas, the decades leading up to the revolution and just after. It showcases the historical context and objects from the museum's collection that are connected to the revolution.

Earlier this year, the museum ran an exhibition celebrating the world-renowned work of Gee’s Bend artists: a group of African American women from a remote river island community in Alabama, engaged in a 200-year tradition of making quilts. The women of Gee’s Bend would pass down skills and traditions through generations, creating quilts that are renowned for their improvisational style, bold colours, and abstract designs, often compared to modernist art movements like abstract expressionism.

The American Museum has rounded out their commemoration with a vibrant public events programme. This has included evening jazz concerts and a speech from renowned historian David Olusoga OBE reflecting on the American Declaration of Independence 250 years later. Depending on the day of your visit, you can also listen to Pop-up Talks on subjects ranging from the Shakers movement to The Salem Witch Trials.

Our own exhibition, Revolution 250, is open until Sunday 29 November 2026 and we look forward to welcoming you in Kew if you haven’t visited already.

Hopefully these blogs have also given you a flavour of the wide variety of archive collections that are held by other services across the country. If you’d like to find out which other archives are near you, try our Find an archive directory.