This traveling exhibition from the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History documents and illustrates critical figures and events while tracing the evolving concept of freedom in the United States from the country’s founding through 1968. 

Among the highlights:

• a rare 1776 printing of the Declaration of Independence
• a printed draft and the official copy of the US Constitution
• Lincoln’s handwritten notes for speeches
• letters by leading figures such as Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Some of the more poignant descriptions of the meaning of freedom to the common person are found in the personal letters of Civil War soldiers, which speak to the pain and pride of fighting for national ideals.

Free. Please note: The Civil War Interpretive Center at Historic Blenheim will be closed Nov. 24-25 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.