News & Events
The Promise of Liberty Exhibition Tour
Special advisor Seth Kaller and the Peoria Riverfront Museum curatorial team take you on an unforgettable guided tour of The Promise of Liberty. Guest curated by legendary filmmaker Ken Burns, this powerful exhibition explores America’s boldest idea—that liberty belongs to all—and the ongoing work to make that promise real.
From a rare July 1776 printing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution’s first newspaper appearance, to Lincoln in Peoria, the Emancipation Proclamation, Frederick Douglass, Charles White, and the writings of Betty Friedan, experience extraordinary artifacts that shaped our nation’s story.
The Long Road to Liberty—250 Years of Civil Rights in America with Seth Kaller
Go behind the scenes of The Promise of Liberty with Seth Kaller, curator and special advisor, as he takes you inside the stories behind the documents that changed the world with an informative conversation on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, at 6 p.m. in the Giant Screen Theater.
Seth Kaller will discuss how the centerpiece exhibition for the Peoria Riverfront Museum's celebration of America 250 came to be through documents written by civil rights leaders such as Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. These objects in The Promise of Liberty tell the story of our nation and the road we still travel toward the liberty promised by our founding fathers. Museum board member Aaron Kilgore will moderate the discussion.
“I Hear America Singing” – A Musical Journey Through 250 Years of Liberty
As part of the Peoria Riverfront Museum’s commemoration of America 250 they are presenting I Hear America Singing, an original performance created in partnership with Shot in the Dark Productions. This two-performance celebration brings America’s story to life through the power of song—honoring 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This is the inaugural performance of a show that will go on to travel as a gift to the nation to celebrate 250 years of America, and share our music with the next generation.
Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28, 2026.
On both days, Seth Kaller, curator and Special Advisor to the Museum, will be giving special tours of the Promise of Liberty exhibit prior to the performances.
VIP Lenders and Supporters Extended tour: 1:00-2:30 pm.
Shorter tour: 5:00–6:00 p.m.
Presidents Day event
During a tour of The Promise of Liberty exhibit a group of kids got a close-up look at the September 19, 1787, issue of The Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser—regarded as the first public printing, as well as the first newspaper printing, of the United States Constitution.
The Promise of Liberty Exhibition
Seth Kaller is a special advisor and curator of the Peoria Riverfront Museum’s major exhibition, “The Promise of Liberty,” which opened January 31, 2026 and runs through January 3, 2027.
This powerful exhibition looks honestly at America’s aspirations, achievements, contradictions, and unfinished work, inspiring today’s citizens—and tomorrow’s—to imagine a stronger democracy and a more inclusive society.
Through a remarkable collection of authentic historic documents, The Promise of Liberty reintroduces the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and other cornerstones of freedom not just as artifacts of the past, but as tools for the present. Democracy is presented as a form of technology—a system designed to solve problems, balance competing interests, and adapt over time.
Watch Seth discussing the exhibit with PRM board member, Sid Ruckriegel below.
For details about the exhibition click here.
Smaller Promise of Liberty exhibits in New York, Connecticut, Boston and other venues will be announced soon.
Preparing the “First Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation”
Kicking off the programming for “The Promise of Liberty” exhibition, special advisor and curator Seth Kaller and Peoria Riverfront Museum President and CEO John Morris discuss the “First Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation” as the document is prepared for exhibition.
Promise of Liberty Preview Exhibit
In 2026, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we plan to take this exhibit nationwide. We are partnering with Sail 4th 250, which is bringing tall ships from 30 nations to help celebrate America’s birthday. While the ships visit New Orleans, Norfolk, Baltimore, New York, and New Jersey, The Promise of Liberty will be part of the educational and entertainment connections on land.
At the 2024 Empire State Rare Book and Print Fair preview exhibit of The Promise of Liberty, Seth Kaller and Chris O’Brien discussed plans for 2026.
Sag Harbor Reception Introduces Plans To Bring Tall Ships Back to New York Harbor for Nation's 250th Birthday Celebration
Seth Kaller and Chris O’Brien
Source: Sag Harbor Express
Americans have just shy of two more years to learn how to say "semiquincentennial," as the country prepares to observe the 250th anniversary of its founding on July 4, 2026.
But Chris O'Brien, the president of Sailth 250, has more pressing thoughts on his mind: His organization needs to raise about $30 million to underwrite the cost of bringing a flotilla of tall ships to New York Harbor and four other Eastern Seaboard cities during the festivities.
On Thursday, August 8, O'Brien presented those plans to a roomful of sailing enthusiasts at a reception at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor, where participants watched a video reviewing past tall ship gatherings and outlining the semiquincentennial flotilla that is expected to draw at least 30 tall ships, including the USCG Eagle, as well as another 30 modern warships. Depending on the weather, the flotilla could draw more than the 40,000 spectator boats that crowded the harbor for a tall ship review to mark the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in 1986.
O'Brien said he was bitten by the tall ship bug when he was a U.S. Coast Guard officer assigned to the Eagle during a 1992 celebration to mark the quadricentennial of Columbus's voyage to the new world. It didn't hurt that he got to talk to Walter Cronkite that day.
After leaving the Coast Guard, he became the director of Fleet Week, when the U.S. Navy and visiting countries visit New York, before becoming the president of Sail4th.
"You can't put your finger on it, but you know it's something special," O' Brien said of the tall ship reviews that have taken place over the years in New York's harbor. "This is going to be the nation's birthday party, so it's not just something happening locally. This is the main event for the country."
Besides New York, the flotilla is expected to make stops in New Orleans, Norfolk, Virginia, Baltimore and, after New York, Boston.
With two years to go, O'Brien and organizers are working on plans to reconfigure piers that are no longer used for docking so that ships can be tied up and the public given access to them and undertaking other infrastructure work.
Also present at the American Hotel event was Seth Kaller, a dealer in historic documents, who brought along "The Promise of Liberty" show, a collection of early printed copies of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and other documents, including letters from George Washington to Congress, and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, given at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963.
Kaller said the documents should not be looked at simply as artifacts. "We shouldn't be talking about the Constitution as history. We should be talking about the Constitution as technology, because technology is a system of applying knowledge to solve problems," Kaller said.
"These people weren't trying to be doctrinaire, they weren't creating a religious movement. They weren't telling us, 'This is what you have to do, this is what you have to believe.’ They're setting up a system of government that, unbelievably, with only 5,000 words, is still, almost 240 years later, with a few more words, being used."
Kaller said American democracy remained a work in progress, and noted that King himself recognized that the promises made in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were "a promissory note that the founders made to all Americans."
"The Promise of Liberty" collection will also be displayed at sites across the country during the semiquincentennial.
Before the reception at the hotel, many of the guests took complimentary cruises in a fleet of Hinkley powerboats that were loaned for the occasion by Barton & Gray, a mariners' club that owns 90 boats, which it keeps at various locations, including several on the East Coast. Club members can rent the boats, which come with a trained captain and supplies, for day trips.