Freedom's Framework

Freedom's Framework is open at the Indiana Historical Society through January 22, 2028. It opened on April 11, 2026, in recognition of the United States' 250th anniversary, arriving just ahead of the nation's semiquincentennial on July 4, 2026.

The exhibit asks how the ideals of the Declaration of Independence fared as the country expanded into the Old Northwest, and it puts the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 at the center. That was the piece of legislation that set the blueprint for governing new territories and admitting states to the Union, with effects that ranged from the promotion of education to the establishment of civil liberties. You follow that path through rare documents, artifacts and images from the Indiana Historical Society's collections and The Remnant Trust Collection, alongside stories of Native leaders, frontier settlers, abolitionists and national figures like Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, across the Underground Railroad, westward expansion and the Civil War.

The show is presented by the Efroymson Family Fund, a CICF Fund, with additional support from the Indianapolis Rotary Foundation and the Ayres Foundation. You'll find it at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, 450 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202, open 10 AM to 5 PM, Tuesday through Saturday. Tickets are $15 for adults, $14 for seniors 60 and over, $5 for youth ages 5 to 17, and $5 for Access Pass holders; entry is free for children under 5, IHS members, educators and military.