Before Columbus : 525 million years ago to 1492. Burgess shale fossils ; Bald eagle ; Clovis stone points ; Mississippian birdman copper plate -- New World : 1492 to mid-Eighteenth century. Christopher Columbus's portrait ; Spanish Mission hide painting of Saint Anthony ; Pocahontas's portrait ; Plymouth Rock fragment ; Slave shackles ; Americæ Nova Tabula (map) -- Let freedom ring : 1760s to 1820s. Declaration of Independence ; George Washington's uniform and sword ; Benjamin Franklin's walking stick ; Gilbert Stuart's Lansdowne portrait of George Washington ; Star-spangled banner ; Thomas Jefferson's bible -- Young nation : late Eighteenth century to 1850s. Conestoga wagon ; Eli Whitney's cotton gin ; John Deere's steel plow ; Isaac Singer's sewing machine ; Nauvoo Temple sun stone -- Sea to shinning sea : 1800 to 1850s. Lewis and Clark's pocket compass ; John Bull steam locomotive ; Samuel Colt's revolver ; Morse-Vail telegraph ; Mexican army coat ; Gold discovery flake from Sutter's Mill ; Martha, the last passenger pigeon -- A house divided : 1850 to 1865. Frederick Douglass's ambrotype portrait ; Harriet Tubman's hymnal and shawl ; Emancipation Proclamation pamphlet ; Christian Fleetwood's Medal of Honor ; Appomattox Court House furnishings ; Abraham Lincoln's hat --
Summary
A literary exhibition of 101 objects from across the Smithsonian's museums that together offer a marvelous new perspective on the history of the United States. Ranging from the earliest years of the pre-Columbian continent to the digital age, and from the American Revolution to Vietnam, each entry pairs the fascinating history surrounding each object with the story of its creation or discovery and the place it has come to occupy in our national memory.--
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 735-743) and index
