Event Calendar

The first comprehensive traveling exhibition devoted to Norman Rockwell's iconic depictions of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Four Freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom of Want, and Freedom of Fear. 

Rockwell, Roosevelt, & the Four Freedoms explores the indelible odyssey of humanity’s greatest ideals. 

The notion of the Four Freedoms has inspired dozens of national constitutions across the globe, yet Franklin D. Roosevelt’s declaration that the United States was willing to fight for Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear—now considered a sublime moment in rhetorical history—did not turn out to be the immediate triumph envisioned by the President. As the nation found itself sliding ever closer to direct involvement in World War II, the underlying meaning of his words captured surprisingly little attention among Americans. Following his January 6, 1941, Annual Message to Congress, government surveys showed that only half of Americans were aware of FDR’s Four Freedoms and that less than a quarter could identify them correctly. Moreover, many had no clear idea why the United States was being called upon to enter the war. 

It would take the continuous efforts of the White House, the Office of War Information, and scores of patriotic artists to give the Four Freedoms new life. Most prominent among those was Norman Rockwell, whose images became a national sensation in early 1943 when they were first published in The Saturday Evening Post. Roosevelt’s words and Rockwell’s artworks soon became inseparable in the public consciousness, with millions of reproductions publicizing the Second War Loan Drive bringing the Four Freedoms directly into American homes and workplaces. When Eleanor Roosevelt convinced United Nations delegates to include these ideals in its postwar statement of human rights, FDR’s words—now forever entwined with Rockwell’s images—achieved immortality. 

Born amid the turmoil of World War II, the Four Freedoms have since become one of its greatest legacies, a testament to the paramount importance of human rights and dignity. Brought forward by one of America’s greatest presidents and immortalized by one of its most beloved artists more than seventy-five years ago, the Four Freedoms continue to inspire, resonating across generations as strongly today as they did in their time. 

CO-PRESENTING MAY 25, 2018 - SEPTEMBER 2, 2018: 
ROOSEVELT HOUSE (REIMAGINING THE FOUR FREEDOMS) 

OCTOBER 13, 2018 - JANUARY 13, 2019: 
THE HENRY FORD MUSEUM 
20900 Oakwood Blvd. 
DEARBORN, MI 


FEBRUARY 9, 2019 - MAY 6, 2019: 
THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY MUSEUM AND THE TEXTILE MUSEUM 
701 21st Street, NW 
WASHINGTON, DC 


JUNE 4, 2019 - OCTOBER 27, 2019: 
Le Mémorial de Caen 
Esplanade Général Eisenhower 
CS 55026 
14050 Caen Cedex 4 
CAEN, FRANCE 


DECEMBER 15, 2019 - MARCH 22, 2020: 
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON 
1001 Bissonnet 
HOUSTON, TEXAS 


FALL 2020: 
NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM 
9 Glendale Rd / Rte 183 
STOCKBRIDGE, MA 


The New-York Historical Society 
170 Central Park West 
at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street)

New York, NY

The impulse to collect is human. We collect for many reasons: to gather information about the world, to preserve the past, or to follow our interests and desires. For some, it is a lifelong pursuit. 

Pioneering collectors have long shaped Smithsonian Libraries. Each had their own unique passions, from hot-air balloons to seashells, from Japanese prints to world’s fairs. Together, these diverse collections form a vast network of knowledge. 

Smithsonian Libraries continues to build upon the work of these curious collectors. We preserve historic treasures and everyday items to provide a window onto the past. We seek out new sources and collections to advance research and scholarship. And we share our collections with the world to inspire curiosity and spark new ideas. Like a modern day cabinet of curiosity, Smithsonian Libraries collections span eras and disciplines, enabling discovery, inspiring creativity, and illuminating history. 

Our collections are living and breathing. What will we collect next? 

10am - 5:30pm 
(summer hours may vary) 

Smithsonian Libraries Exhibition Gallery 
Smithsonian National Museum of 
American History 
14th Street & Constitution Avenue NW

Washington, DC

The Brontë siblings are as famous for their deaths as they are for their novels and poetry, and tragically Patrick Brontë outlived all his children, as well as his wife. Our 2019 exhibition explores how illness, poor health and death plagued his life. 

Although tragic, the Brontë deaths were unremarkable in an over-crowded village where 46% of children died before reaching 
the age of six. The average life expectancy was twenty-five years, which corresponded with that of some of the unhealthiest districts of London. Patrick campaigned relentlessly for improvements to public health, but sadly, these came too late to benefit 
his own family. As a minister, Patrick was expected to have an informed knowledge on how best to advise and assist those of his parishioners who couldn’t afford medical treatment. His medical text books, which will be collectively on display for the first time, provide us with an insight into his determination to aid the sick and document his own fascinating discoveries. 

Highlights of the exhibition include the handkerchief used by Anne Brontë and spotted with blood from her infected lungs; Patrick’s medical manuals heavily annotated with his own experiences; Charlotte’s pillbox, which still has pills inside; Patrick’s tobacco pipe and the extensive collection of spectacles owned by the Brontë family. Thanks to a loan from Thackray Medical Museum, we will also display the type of ophthalmic instruments which would have been used to perform Patrick’s cataract surgery and a laudanum bottle, similar to those bought by Branwell from the apothecary in Haworth. 

April to October: 10am - 5.30pm 
November to March: 10am - 5pm 

Free with admission to the Museum 

Brontë Parsonage Museum 
Church Street 
Haworth 
Keighley

West Yorkshire, UNITED KINGDOM

Today only about 200 complete sets of The Birds of America exist. The Museum’s set, bound in four leather portfolios, was acquired by the State of North Carolina in 1848 and kept for more than a century at the State Library before being transferred to the Museum. The hand-colored engravings were recently conserved and rebound. In the new Audubon Gallery, the NCMA presents Audubon’s work in special cases designed for each of the enormous “double elephant” volumes, with hydraulic lifts that allow staff access so that the pages can be turned periodically to display a new selection of birds. 

Tue – Thu 10am – 5pm 
Fri 10am – 9pm 
Sat & Sun 10am – 5pm 
Closed Mondays & some holidays 

NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART 
2110 Blue Ridge Road

Raleigh, NC

In the library we have a display of writers from Bathsua Makin (c.1600-c.1673) to Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) who took on issues of equality, gender difference, biology as destiny, women in politics, education and equal pay. Issues we think as intrinsically modern have their origins in the long eighteenth century. Long before the Suffragists and Suffragettes, long before feminist movements and #MeToo, the pen was in these eighteenth-century women’s hands! 

11am – 4.30pm 
Last entry 4pm 

Chawton House 
Alton

Hampshire, UNITED KINGDOM