Missouri History Museum

Most Americans see our history as a story of liberty and freedom. Our country was founded on these ideas. But not everyone in America has been free, and no one at any time has been free to do whatever he or she pleases. This exhibition displayed more than 200 objects that tell the story of American iconography. By looking at these symbols that Americans have invented to represent the ideas of liberty and freedom, we are able to see that these ideas have been both unifying themes and sources of tension in American history. Americans have had competing and often conflicting visions of liberty and freedom, and have debated and even fought over them. From this process, the meanings of liberty and freedom have gradually expanded through time, as each generation of Americans wrestles with their scope and application. Visitors to the exhibition discovered that, because of other competing factors such as cultural prejudice and the need for security, the ideals of freedom remain unfulfilled, and perfect freedom is never achieved.

Organized by the Virginia Historical Society with additional support from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation and the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Changing Exhibitions Fund, American. http://www.vahistorical.org/visions/about.htm