I visited the Museum of the American Revolution ahead of America's 250th birthday. Here are the coolest things I saw.

George Washington's tent.Museum of the American RevolutionThe Museum of the American Revolution is hosting a special exhibit for America's 250th anniversary."The Declaration's Journey" chronicles the document's impact in the US and around the world.The museum also features a permanent collection that includes George Washington's war tent.America has a big birthday coming up.The year 2026 will mark 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, a milestone also known as America's semiquincentennial.Located down the street from Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were signed, the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia is gearing up for the celebration with a special exhibition, "The Declaration's Journey." The collection features over 120 artifacts that chronicle the impact of the Declaration of Independence in the US and around the world."The Declaration's Journey" opened on October 18 and will remain on display until January 3, 2027, in honor of the anniversary.The museum also features a permanent collection with artifacts focusing on the creation of America as an independent nation. The exhibits guide visitors through exploring four questions: How did people become revolutionaries? How did the Revolution survive its darkest hour? How revolutionary was the war? And what kind of nation did the revolutionaries create?Adult admission costs $25 when purchased in advance on the museum's website and is valid for two consecutive days.In October, I toured the Museum of the American Revolution's permanent collection and "The Declaration's Journey" with Adrienne Whaley, director of education and community engagement.Here are some of the coolest things I saw.This punch bowl, which predates the American Revolution, was discovered beneath the museum during its construction.A historic punch bowl at the Museum of the American Revolution.Talia Lakritz/Business InsiderThe text on the bowl, which is in the museum's permanent collection, reads "Success to the Triphena," which was a merchant ship that traveled between Philadelphia and Liverpool, England. The bowl would have been used in one of the local taverns that existed in Philadelphia between 1760 and 1770, where the museum now stands.The Triphena carried a letter from Philadelphia businesspeople to their British associates protesting the Stamp Act, which imposed a tax on all printed documents and helped spark the Revolution.The museum displayed a first-edition book by Phillis Wheatley, the first enslaved African-American woman to publish a book of poems.A first-edition book of poetry by Phillis Wheatley.Talia Lakritz/Business InsiderPhillis Wheatley, born in Gambia, was captured as part of the transatlantic slave trade and sold to the Wheatley family in Massachusetts in 1761. The Wheatleys taught her to read and write, and she published her first poem in 1767 when she was about 12 years old.The Wheatleys sent her to live with their son in London since no one in the colonies would publish a book of her work. The first edition of her book, "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral," was published in London in 1773."Even though it's not turned to that page because we have to constantly turn the pages for light protection, she signed this copy," Whaley said.In a display of historic muskets and rifles, a 6-foot-10-inch gun known as a fowling piece towered over the others.Muskets and rifles at the Museum of the American Revolution.Talia Lakritz/Business InsiderThe fowling piece was typically used for hunting birds, but militias of minutemen employed it during the early days of the war, illustrating the resourcefulness of the Revolutionaries as they battled British soldiers.George Washington used these silver camp cups during the Revolutionary War.George Washington's camp cups.Talia Lakritz/Business Insider"These would've been used when he was having meetings with people like the Marquis de Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, and John Laurens," Whaley said.The inscription, which reads "Camp Cup owned and used by General Washington during War of the Revolution," was engraved on the cups after the war.These pewter buttons from 1777 featured the first widespread use of the term "USA" to describe the newly formed nation.Pewter buttons.Talia Lakritz/Business InsiderContinental Army soldiers wore coats featuring these pewter buttons.The museum used real people — including Whaley herself — to model for their mannequins, ensuring they would look as lifelike as possible.Adrienne Whaley with the mannequin she modeled for at the Museum of the American Revolution.Talia Lakritz/Business InsiderWhaley's likeness is featured in an exhibit centered on the contradiction of American troops fighting for freedom while treating enslaved people as property and currency."Enslaved people who were captured by revolutionaries were considered contraband, and revolutionaries were being paid in contraband in some places at some points in the South," she said. "People were getting paid two-thirds of an enslaved person. It's like, how do you cash that check, and what did that mean? That's a real tension as we think about 'How revolutionary was the war?'"Moving on to the special exhibition, "The Declaration's Journey," I was greeted by two powerful artifacts: Thomas Jefferson's Windsor chair and Martin Luther King Jr.'s prison bench.The Declaration's Journey, a special exhibition at the Museum of the American Revolution.Talia Lakritz/Business InsiderJefferson likely sat in this chair while drafting the Declaration of Independence. King sat on this steel bench as he wrote "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" in 1963. Displayed side by side, they tie together similar themes of striving for freedom."This juxtaposition is really meant to get people thinking about that ongoing story of the revolution," Whaley said. "Two revolutionaries, 200 years apart, and yet here are the objects that help connect them."On loan from the National Library of Chile, this printing press was sent from New York to Chile in 1811 to support Chilean independence from Spain.The Aurora de Chile printing press.Talia Lakritz/Business InsiderThe Declaration's Journey also included a copy of the Aurora de Chile, a political newspaper printed on this printing press in the 1800s, that described Fourth of July celebrations in Santiago, Chile."American revolutionaries were supporting revolutions in other places, whether it's sending printing presses, whether it's sending books and materials, whether it's sending money, and so this is a really tangible example of that," Whaley said.The special exhibit also featured suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton's desk, where she likely worked on "History of Woman Suffrage."Elizabeth Cady Stanton's desk.Talia Lakritz/Business InsiderThe first three volumes of "History of Woman Suffrage," chronicling the history of the movement for women's voting rights, were published by Stanton along with Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage between 1881 and 1886. Ida Husted Harper compiled the final three volumes and completed the project in 1922, two years after the 19th Amendment passed.Stanton also wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, which declared, "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal."I ended my museum visit by viewing George Washington's war tent, accompanied by a stirring multimedia presentation.George Washington's tent.Museum of the American RevolutionWhen I told a friend who grew up in Philadelphia that I was visiting the Museum of the American Revolution, this is the permanent exhibit she told me not to miss. (Spoilers ahead!)First, a narrated film depicted Washington's leadership during the Revolutionary War, when his tent served as his private office and sleeping quarters. It also included historical photos showing how the tent was preserved and passed down through his descendants.Then, the curtain rose, and the tent appeared before us.The exhibit's lighting and sound design illustrated the tent enduring extreme weather conditions, and even projected Washington's pacing silhouette within.The presentation ended with narration saying that Washington's war tent "remains a symbol of the fragile American experiment, the power of the people to secure their own freedoms."The tent is shown on the hour in low lighting due to its fragility. If you see one thing at the museum, make sure it's this.The Museum of the American Revolution is the perfect place to reflect on how America came to be and how it continues to shape the world 250 years later.The Museum of the American Revolution.Talia Lakritz/Business InsiderMany museums and historic sites across the US are offering special programming to commemorate America's semiquincentennial. The Museum of the American Revolution offers the unique opportunity to engage with the ideals, battles, and artifacts that started it all.R. Scott Stephenson, president and CEO of the Museum of the American Revolution, told Business Insider, "The museum is devoted to uncovering and sharing those stories — of everyone from George Washington to James Forten to common soldiers and contributors whose names rarely grace the pages of history books — who, like us, had to make decisions with imperfect information, without knowing what the consequence would be, and who could never have imagined the great nation they would go on to create."Read the original article on Business Insider

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