The 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence – “America250”, or the semiquincentennial – is on July 4, 2026. To recognize the occasion, the University of Idaho’s America250 committee will be giving $10,000 of funding to student projects centered around American history.
Projects can take a variety of forms, from movie screenings to field trips.
“I think that really cool projects might involve hands-on experiences,” said Dulce Kersting-Lark, head of the UI Library’s Special Collections and Archives and co-chair of the UI America250 committee. “Maybe it is an opportunity to engage in the way that something was produced in the past, like hand-sewing [or] a handicraft, and engaging with how that might have changed over time.”
The funding also isn’t limited by field of study or expertise. Rebecca Scofield, chair of the UI History Department and the other co-chair of the UI America250 committee, said, “We’re really hoping that students in a range of disciplines, like documentary filmmakers and musicians and scientists can think about how this anniversary has shaped their lives and then pursue a project that really speaks to that for them on a personal level.”
Anniversaries of this nature have been influential in the past. The legacy of the bicentennial in 1976 is still obvious to the layperson through the availability of commemorative merchandise in second-hand shops and antique markets and through its perseverance in collective memory. To historians, though, these anniversaries have great potential for the expansion of historical initiatives and for involving the public more with their history.
“I think what was so great about the bicentennial in 1976 was that in a lot of ways it helped create public history as we know it… Genealogy and reenactment and craft-based historical thinking really got popular,” said Scofield.
Kersting-Lark highlighted the expansion of the National Register of Historic Places, a list of sites considered to have historical value in the United States, during 1976. She also noted an effort to get UI campus listed as a historic district around the time of the semiquincentennial; this would make it the third historic district in Moscow, after the Fort Russell Neighborhood and the downtown.
Planning for America250 has been ongoing for the past decade on local, state and federal levels, although recently local organizations in Idaho have seen their grants pulled ahead of the event. Because UI was not represented in the Idaho planning committee, the UI America250 committee was especially careful to focus on local opportunities for engagement.
“People have put a lot of energy and time into thinking about how to pull in that same sort of fascination with America’s history that we saw during the bicentennial and during the centennial in the 19th century,” said Scofield. “I think what Dulce and I really want people to take away is that American history is not in the past. It is this kind of living, breathing thing all around us, and the more we understand our nation’s past, the better we can map a future together.”
This year’s Common Read – “The Small and the Mighty” by Sharon McMahon – and its programming were selected to go along with the upcoming anniversary. America250 events at UI, including the student projects receiving funding, are expected to mostly center around the Spring 2026 semester, although some are likely to wrap up in the fall.
The application for funding will remain open until Nov. 1. Further information, including requirements for potential projects, can be found under the “About” section of the UI Library Special Collections & Archives page.
Cal Torres can be reached at [email protected]