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The Spirit of '76: Celebrating America's 250th Anniversary

Declaration of Independence
In person
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Los Altos History Museum
Los Altos, CA
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Join us for an educational evening on Friday, October 16 for a Dartmouth event at the Los Altos History Museum, featuring a talk by Leslie Butler, Professor of History and Vice Chair of the Department of History at Dartmouth College.  

The evening centers on The Spirit of '76, an exhibition organized by the Los Altos History Museum, which invites visitors to reflect on foundational texts and their relevance today, while exploring local histories of civic engagement and community building. Rather than offering a single narrative, the exhibition holds space for the full range of feelings this milestone anniversary evokes. The Spirit of ‘76 invites visitors to consider how earlier generations marked their own milestone anniversaries, and to imagine, in turn, what they hope for the nation's next fifty years. 

Professor Butler will offer reflections on the nation’s 250th anniversary, using examples from The Spirit of '76 exhibit to consider how pivotal moments in American history continue to shape our understanding of the past and present. The evening will also include a reception, as well as time to explore The Spirit of '76 exhibition. 

Program

6:00 – 7:00 pm: Registration opens and reception begins with heavy bites and open bar serving beer, wine, and soft drinks 
7:00 – 8:00 pm: Presentation by Leslie Butler 
8:00 – 9:00 pm: Reception continues and time to view Spirit of '76 exhibit 
9:00 pm: Event concludes   

Pricing

General Admission: $65 
Young Alumni (Class of 2016-2026): $25 

Location

Los Altos History Museum 
51 South San Antonio Road 
Los Altos, CA 94022

Headshot of Leslie Butler

Leslie Butler

Professor of History and Vice Chair of the Department of History

Leslie Butler is an American intellectual and cultural historian, with an emphasis on the nineteenth century. She is the author of two books: Consistent Democracy: The "Woman Question" and Self-Government in Nineteenth Century America (Oxford University Press, 2023), which was awarded the Annual Book Prize from the Society of U.S. Intellectual History and short-listed for the Edwards Book Award, Rodel Institute and Critical Americans: Victorian Intellectuals and Transatlantic Liberal Reform (University of North Carolina Press, 2007). 

She joined the faculty at Dartmouth in 2003 and since then she has also taught at University College, London and Occidental College, where she was the 2020-21 Ray Allen Billington Visiting Professor. Her other scholarship includes articles and contributions to the Cambridge History of America and the World and the Oxford Illustrated History of the United States. Her research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Huntington Library, the American Antiquarian Society, and Massachusetts Historical Society.