Imagined Nation

George Deem, (George Washington and His Portrait (George Washington, George Washington), 1972, Oil on canvas) © 2026 New Britain Museum of American Art / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, George Washington’s copy of the first printing of the first edition

Opening February 12, 2026

Marking the 250th anniversary of the United States, Imagined Nation invites visitors to explore how artists, writers, and printers have imagined the country’s future from its founding to the present. Through a rotating series of installations unfolding across 2026, Imagined Nation invites visitors to consider the questions that continue to shape the nation today: How is history made and remembered? How are communities created and sustained? And how have ideas of freedom and democracy been debated, challenged, and reshaped over time?

In the Leventhal Room, visitors will encounter rare and perhaps unexpected materials drawn from George Washington’s own library—including his personal copy of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. Alongside Washington’s books on agriculture and military strategy are pamphlets that reveal the era’s contested ideas about slavery, Indigenous diplomacy, and early American politics, offering a complex portrait of the nation at its beginnings.

Additional highlights from the Athenaeum’s Special Collections trace the Revolution’s lasting legacy, from early printings of the Declaration of Independence and maps of the young republic to striking World War II–era posters that show how revolutionary ideals were reimagined generations later.

Where’s Boston? 50 Years Later

Sunday morning flea market, Faneuil Hall

High school football game, White Stadium

Sunday afternoon gathering of friends, Franklin Park

Girls with baby carriages at neighborhood grocery, Mattapan

Demonstrator in front of City Hall, Government Center

Opening June 15, 2026 in the Norma Jean Calderwood Gallery

In 1974, photographer Constantine Manos (1934-2025) spent nine months documenting Boston’s streets, capturing a vivid portrait of the city and its people. From Boston Common to Franklin Park, his images reflect the city’s energy, cultural diversity, and evolving identity. Originally commissioned for the Where’s Boston? Bicentennial exhibition, the photographs highlight both public gatherings and private moments—protests, parades, flea markets, diners, and games—offering a dynamic snapshot of urban life.

Through scenes of celebration, tension, and daily life, the photographs explore the complex intersections of community, race, and access in Boston, presenting a powerful, nuanced document of a city both in motion and in reflection. Manos’ work raises enduring questions: Who are Bostonians? What defines the city? How have spaces, identities, and divisions changed—or remained the same—over fifty years?

Help us identify Manos’ Photographs

This project invites the community to help bring these photographs to life. We are seeking to connect with people/families who appear in the photographs—or who lived in the neighborhoods and communities that Manos documented. Were you, or a member of your family, part of a moment, a movement, or a neighborhood captured in his lens? Whether you recognize someone, remember an event, or simply want to share your experience of Boston in the 1970s, your story matters. We are collecting identifications, personal stories, and oral histories to accompany the exhibition and become part of our growing digital archive.

View Manos’ photos and share your insights with us.

In the News

Re-Reading Special Collections

On view in the Bayard Henry Long Room

Re-Reading Special Collections features a rotating series of highlights from the Athenaeum’s Special Collections, including paintings, sculpture, works on paper, and rare books. 

Taking an expansive view of American art and history, Re-Reading Special Collections brings a fresh perspective to beloved and lesser-known works from the Athenaeum’s collections. Major themes and stories include the Athenaeum’s history of promoting the arts and culture, the circulation of ideas in print culture, and collaborations across media. An ongoing and dynamic exhibition, the objects featured in Re-Reading Special Collections rotate throughout the year.

Initial support for Re-Reading Special Collections was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

In Focus: Indigenous Collections

This installation, based on the research of Sage Innerarity (Ione Band of Miwok Indians, Boston Athenaeum Indigenous Collections Fellow, 2024-2025), explores Indigenous agency and resistance during the nineteenth century, featuring print materials from the Schoolcraft Collection of Books in Indigenous Languages. This significant and under-studied collection at the Boston Athenaeum includes over 200 translations of catechisms, tracts, Bibles, primers, grammars and vocabularies, and instructive works on Christian morality accumulated by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864) during his career as an ethnographer, Federal Indian Agent, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Michigan Territory.

On view in the Long Room from November 4, 2025 – February 10, 2026, this installation reframes the collection with Indigenous knowledges and contributors at its center. From Cherokee printers like John Candy to Mohican political leaders like John Quinney and Hendrick Aupaumut, Indigenous peoples were not passive recipients of settler colonialism. The texts in the Athenaeum’s collection reveal how Indigenous peoples strategically navigated their relationships with missionary organizations and state governments, and they record the forms of active participation and resistance that ensured their survival for generations to come. 

This installation accompanies a new research guide by Sage Innerarity. This project was supported by a grant from the Lyrasis Foundation.