Opening this autumn at the Science Museum to mark 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Becoming America traces the scientific and technological forces that shaped the land and identity of a nation in the making. Spanning four decades, from the 1760s through to the first US presidency, the museum’s exhibition weaves together the interlocking stories of Anglo-American colonists, enslaved and free people of African descent and Indigenous Americans, examining how their practices shaped one of the most consequential periods in modern history.
Over a hundred objects will be on display, ranging from a rare surviving Dunlap print of the Declaration of Independence to Benjamin Franklin’s pioneering map of the Atlantic Gulf Stream, a ten-foot Indigenous dugout canoe crafted using traditional fire methods and even a Mark Catesby watercolour of a bald eagle once owned by King George III. Visitors will be able to encounter the popular almanac of Benjamin Banneker, a freeborn astronomer and surveyor of African descent, as well as tools and crop rotation plans from George Washington’s Mount Vernon farms.
Supported by Griffin Catalyst and created in partnership with the Library of Congress, the exhibition also sheds light on figures and histories often absent from conventional tellings, including the botanical knowledge of enslaved women, the agricultural and navigational technologies of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy as well as the role of scientific spectacle in crafting a sense of national identity.
The exhibition will be on view 23 October 2026 – 25 April 2027.
