The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens has opened a major exhibition titled “THIS LAND IS …. Reflections for America at 250” at the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Co-curated by Josh Garrett-Davis, Linde Lehtinen, and Armando Pulido, the show features six thematic sections—roots, uprootings, amendments, edge effects, disturbances, and regeneration—and includes two annotated 1776 copies of the Declaration, an inscribed Woody Guthrie guitar, historic Native American treaties, a 13th Amendment resolution, a Walt Whitman manuscript, and contemporary photography by Cara Romero. The exhibition is on view through January 11, 2027.
The exhibition anchors a broader cross-Huntington “This Land Is …” initiative that includes art museum installations, a new Oak Meadow Garden, and community programs, such as an all-day festival on June 28. The initiative also encompasses a major reinstallation of the American galleries in the Art Museum, curated by Christina Nielsen, which examines land, history, and identity from the Colonial period through Reconstruction. A companion volume, “This Land Is … Field Notes on American Ground,” edited by Garrett-Davis and Lehtinen, features essays from multiple contributors. The show matters because it uses the milestone anniversary to provoke reflection on the American story through the lens of land, connecting historical documents, contemporary art, and ecological themes in a way that resonates with current cultural and political conversations.