by Natalie Fritz, Archivist and Outreach Director, Clark County Historical Society at the Heritage Center.

It’s July 2026, and we’ve officially arrived at the big celebration stretch for America 250. But if you’ve been doing this work in your own community, you already know the anniversary isn’t really about a single day. It’s not just the 4th of July. The commemorations, programming, and reflection have been unfolding all year long (and even before), and they’ll keep unfolding well past the fireworks.

As the Archivist and Outreach Director at the Clark County Historical Society in Springfield, I’ve spent the last year and a half feeling like I’m neck-deep in that work, and I wanted to share how it’s gone here. This is partly as a record for our own institution, and partly because I know so many of you are navigating the same in your own communities.

Leaning on the Ohio Commission

We’re fortunate in Ohio to have infrastructure behind this anniversary. The America 250 Ohio Commission has been planning for years, well before 2026, and launched many of its programs and initiatives back in 2025. One of the most useful things they provide is monthly guidance: a rotating set of themes and topics for local organizations to build programming around throughout the year. That guidance has shaped a lot of what we’ve done in Clark County, and I suspect it has shaped your work too.

At its core, the assignment for all of us has been the same: look at our own community’s place in America’s story, and share the pieces that make us unique.

Learning from Our Own Bicentennial

Before we built anything new, we looked backward. Our archives hold the collection of the Clark County Bicentennial Commission, which was a sprawling group of local volunteers and committees that organized county-wide activities fifty years ago. It’s a genuinely useful record of how our community mobilized around a big anniversary.

But looking at it honestly, we decided that structure wouldn’t translate to 2026. Instead of one large commission, we hosted a series of meetings throughout 2025 where we shared the statewide themes, talked through signature Ohio events, and brainstormed programming and community partnerships across the coming year. It was a smaller, more flexible model, better suited to how our community organizes today. As I emphasized at those meetings, this was a chance for people to continue to do what they already do well, but maybe add an “America 250 spin” on things where possible.

(To add extra fun to our planning work, 2026 is ALSO Springfield’s 225^th anniversary year!)

Turning Monthly Themes into Local Programming

The Ohio Commission’s monthly themes became the backbone of two of our regular programs for the Clark County Historical Society. First is our “History in Your Own Backyard” poster series. Each month, we spotlight a different local history topic. This year, we tied to the statewide theme and build an informative poster for our museum lobby, often paired with a small artifact display. We also create a duplicate poster for the Clark County Public Library, whose main branch sits just across the train tracks from us. They select books each month to complement the theme, so visitors get a matched experience at both institutions.

For our regular Speaker Series, we’ve used the same themes to line up presenters. For instance, in April, when the statewide theme was Transportation in Ohio, we hosted Wes Baker for a talk on the National Road and its significance to Clark County. When the Road reached Springfield in the 1830s, federal funding dried up and construction stopped here, which is how Springfield earned the nickname “The Town at the End of the Pike.”

Marking Our Revolutionary War Connection

Not everything was tied to the monthly calendar. In April and May, we held two events focused on the Battle of Piqua, which was the westernmost battle of the American Revolution, fought in August 1780 just a few miles east of Springfield. It’s a piece of local history that doesn’t get much attention nationally, but with a milestone anniversary like this one, it felt important not to let it pass without recognition.

The Harder Part of This Work

I’ll be honest: it has been difficult to write a post celebrating America 250 while our country feels this divided and uncertain. I don’t think that’s a unique feeling among archivists right now.

But that tension is exactly why this work matters. Our job is to document history, and that includes the here and now, not just the anniversaries we’re commemorating. I’m grateful we have the Bicentennial Collection to compare against, to see how communities marked a similar moment fifty years ago and what’s different this time. My hope is that I can do right by the history we’re living through, so that it’s there for whoever picks it up next.

Playing a Small Part in the Bigger Effort

I also serve on the Ohio Local History Alliance Board, and through that role I put my name forward as Clark County’s America 250 contact for planning and coordination. Beyond my own institution, I’ve been part of a loose committee of local folks working to spread the word and share guidance, support, and ideas across the county.

I know I’m not alone in taking on that kind of connector role. Many of you are doing the same thing in your own communities, often on top of your regular job description.

What’s Still Ahead

We’re not done yet. At the beginning of July, we’ll be at the Summer Arts Festival for the Springfield Symphony Orchestra’s long-awaited patriotic performance. We’ll have posters up featuring images and history from our archives, covering both the festival’s legacy and general summertime and 4th of July history. Then on July 11, we’re opening our 1820s Crabill Homestead for tours and a “Bring Your Own Picnic” event, with lawn games and activities pulled from Ohio’s America 250 Picnic Kits.

A Shared Sigh of Relief

As we head into the back half of this anniversary year, I hope that whatever we’ve done, and whatever we still have planned, does the year some justice. It has felt like a lot of pressure, if I’m being honest.

I know many of my fellow archivists and museum colleagues have been working just as hard in your own communities. Here’s to hoping we all get to sit back and breathe a collective sigh of relief when this big year finally wraps up.

Last Updated on July 2, 2026 by Emily Gainer