As the Class of 2026 graduates, Penn is celebrating the United States Semiquincentennial in Philadelphia.
Penn centers have organized events — including performances, exhibitions, and conferences — to honor the nation’s 250th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence. The University has joined city-wide efforts to schedule programming throughout the year.
Lynne Farrington, the director of programs and senior curator of special collections for Penn Libraries, told The Daily Pennsylvanian that programming for the Semiquincentennial aims to help people “understand more of the history of the country and where it comes from.”
She explained that Penn Libraries began planning this year’s programming in 2021.
Farrington leads programming for events honoring the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution through the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Earlier this year, the Kislak Center opened an exhibition detailing revolutions during the 1790s in France, Haiti, and Philadelphia.
Penn’s Pan-Asian American Community House celebrated the anniversary at its annual mural unveiling.
The artwork, created by PAACH Associate Director and Filipino language lecturer Vicky Faye Aquino, features individual drawings of 250 mandalas — created by the Penn community — that are arranged to form a tree. Mandalas symbolize “wholeness, balance, and connection,” according to Aquino.
Aquino explained that the number of mandalas included was a reference to the Semiquincentennial — as well as a way to “acknowledge the importance of the Asian presence and the Asian immigrants who have also shaped and built America.”
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The Philadelphia Historic District 250th Committee is organizing free weekly programming as part of its “52 Weeks of Firsts” initiative — which recognizes nationwide accomplishments that took place in the city. Six of these celebrations — for the first medical school, stadium, children’s hospital, university, “peoples,” and electronic computer — are being hosted on Penn’s campus.
Each “first” is accompanied by a sculpture that commemorates the location’s historical significance. The sculptures, shaped to display the number one, were commissioned by the city and designed by local artists.
On April 4, the committee honored Franklin Field as the first stadium in the United States. At the event, speakers highlighted the stadium’s historic significance as the location of the nation’s first functioning scoreboard, double-decker seating arrangement, and televised college football game.
“Philadelphia has always been a pioneering city, and 52 Weeks of Firsts captures that spirit for our nation’s 250th anniversary,” Penn President Larry Jameson wrote in a statement to the DP at the time.
1990 College graduate Cari Feiler Bender, a committee spokesperson, told the DP that the project’s goal was to “elevate the Philadelphia story” by highlighting the city’s “ingenuity” and “creativity.”
The project is one of several programs led by the Philadelphia Historic District 250th Committee. The group’s third-annual “Red, White, & Blue To-Do” celebration will take place on July 2. The day will feature a flag-raising ceremony at the Betsy Ross House, followed by a parade, block party, music series, and picnic.
“On the road to America’s 250th, Philadelphia is once again showing the world what it looks like when history, community, and celebration come together in the streets of our great city,” Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker wrote in a press release.
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Senior reporter Arti Jain covers state and local politics and can be reached at jain@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies economics and political science. Follow her on X @arti_jain_.
