Each year, millions of Americans stream through the Capitol Visitor Center to see how our country’s legislative body works.

As America celebrates its 250th birthday this summer, tucked away under the staircase that leads up into the building, visitors can find a treasure trove of artifacts that tell the stories of our nation’s biggest anniversaries.

“We looked at the ways that Americans were commemorating and observing those anniversaries and what they created or what they left behind when they were doing those commemorations,” explained Christine Blackerby, an exhibits curator with the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.

Blackerby said it took three years to gather what visitors can see today, each display representing meaningful moments of celebration in our nation’s history. Some of the items on display include the Declaration of the Rights of Women, written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1876, Binns Engraving of the Declaration of Independence and Arba the eagle puppet.

Blackerby is particularly excited for visitors to see the 1826 portion of the exhibit, paying tribute to the 50th anniversary of America and the visit of the Marquis de Lafayette. A French military officer, Lafayette was just 19 years old when he arrived in America to help the newly united colonies to fight the British.

His lobbying for increased support for America from the French marked a real turning point in the war. By the time he had returned 50 years after the revolution, he was one of the last surviving generals of the Continental Army.

“He returned to the United States and traveled across the country that he helped to found, and as part of that travel, he went to all 24 then-existing states, and he met hundreds, thousands of Americans who were so excited to have that direct connection to a hero of the Revolutionary War,” she explained. 

The exhibit features items honoring Lafayette’s return to America, including a dainty glove depicting his portrait and a plate bearing a painting of his arrival in the country.

Blackerby and her team created a giant map along one of the exhibit’s walls that shows how Lafayette traveled through the U.S. during his 1826 tour and how impactful his presence was on the still fledgling nation.

“Many Americans who were inspired by him — they named or renamed where they lived for him, and that's what's marked on this map,” Blackerby pointed out. “Places all across the nation that are now called Lafayette or Fayette or Fayetteville.”

The largest item in the exhibit was a gift from Civil War widow Anna Diem. She put together a time capsule within a 4,600-pound cast iron safe at the nation’s centennial celebration in Philadelphia with the intent that it would be opened on the nation’s 200th birthday.

“She gifted the entire safe to Congress, so it was here in this building for almost 100 years until it was opened, here in the building by President Gerald Ford, in July of 1976,” said Blackerby, who added that while the safe is now empty, it held photo albums, inkstands, and other items that fit the time period.

250 years have passed since the founders signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, and the hallowed document has remained a common thread linking all of these celebrations together.

“While we were making this exhibit, I was really struck by the way that Americans continue to be focused on what this document means to them, and the ways that they tried to bring out the ideals and the principles of the Declaration into their own lives,” said Blackerby. 

Visitors will be able to see these artifacts celebrating the semiquincentennial through the end of the year, but for those who can’t see the exhibit in person, the Capitol Visitor Center has photos and videos on its website.

Whether you get to experience the exhibit in person or you do so virtually, Blackerby says she hopes people will “think about what the Declaration means to them” on this 250th anniversary.

“Maybe they will find some inspiration in the stories that we tell here about how other people have thought about the Declaration, and how the country has changed because of it.”