The United States will celebrate its 250th birthday next year. What is your wish for the United States? History museums across the country invite you to chime in at OnOur250th.org.
The Democracy Center at JANM is partnering with Made By Us, The New York Historical, and history museums across the country to invite YOU to share your wish for the United States’ 250th birthday, coming next year. Add your wish at OnOur250th.org and check out our pop-up “Wish Wall” on our plaza during Civic Season (June 19-July 4) and at locations across the nation this summer.
FAQ
What is OnOur250th.org?
OnOur250th.org is a collaborative, digital collection of birthday wishes for the United States as it celebrates 250 years as a nation and democracy. We invite you to share your hopes, wishes, and/or visions for the country’s future.
Why should we share a wish?
We love the idea of a virtual mountain of good wishes for this epic birthday, PLUS we also think OnOur250th.org can:
- Demonstrate what we believe in, as individuals and as a nation. We all learned from studying history what America’s founders believed . . . . It’s incumbent on contemporary Americans to share our ideals!
- Offer new ways to discover unexpected similarities and important differences across our neighbors, and across the nation and even the globe.
- Practice the habit of civic participation, adding your voice and unique perspective to the big picture.
Does adding a wish really do anything?
You’ll be surprised how taking a few minutes to think about our country will impact you. In addition to adding your voice to this important record of our unique moment in history, we encourage you to find ways to build upon your wish. Once you’ve articulated your vision, you might:
- Find a local Wish Wall near you to connect with others in-person.
- Take action to learn more about issues you care about and how to make a difference.
- Send your wish to your elected representatives.
- Find similar wishes across the country and create art, data, stories or even policy out of what you find.
- Discover more activities to grow your civic superpowers at TheCivicSeason.com.
Who’s behind this?
The New York Historical, in collaboration with the nationwide network of museums and historic sites known as Made By Us, have joined forces to bring you OnOur250th.org and affiliated programming throughout 2025.
Launch partners include:
The New York Historical
Made By Us
Atlanta History Center
Chicago History Museum
Democracy Center at Japanese American National Museum
Harriet Beecher Stowe House
Idaho State Museum
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
Levine Museum of the New South
Lincoln Presidential Foundation
National Liberty Museum
National World War I Museum and Memorial
New York Historical
Revolutionary Spaces
Ruth Mott Foundation/Applewood
Senator John Heinz History Center
Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
Virginia Museum of History & Culture
Wyoming State Museum
Is this only for Americans?
No, we invite all who care about the past and future of the United States to contribute.
Where’s my wish? I submitted it.
All birthday wishes go through a content review to filter inappropriate language or violations of our Code of Conduct. Your wish is likely to be live within 48 hours.
What happens to our wishes long term?
Wishes will be part of the historic collection at The New York Historical. You’re making history!
How long will this go on?
We invite you to share your wish by July 4, 2026—the country’s 250th birthday.
Who decides what wishes get published?
The review team at The New York Historical will approve wishes for publication that abide by our Code of Conduct and wish criteria.
Wish Criteria and Code of Conduct
OnOur250th.org invites broad participation from all those who care about America’s future. For that to happen, we need to provide some general rules of the rhetorical road. It’s on all of us to make this forum productive—with room for discussing ideas respectfully, even if we don’t agree. We seek your support and collaboration to help flag posts that violate our code of conduct.
We believe in upholding freedom of speech and encouraging robust, respectful debate. Egregious expressions of hateful, threatening, insulting, harassing, or abusive language or behavior is prohibited. Any behavior or language that is unwelcoming is strongly discouraged. Sexist, racist, and other exclusionary posts will not be tolerated.
Do not post or share any content that is:
- Illegal
- Discriminatory
- Encourages or incites violence
- Pornographic or NSFW content
- Threatens, harasses or bullies or encourages others to do so
- Contains personal and confidential information
- Impersonates someone in a misleading or deceptive manner
- Spam
- Trolling
We will remove any comments or posts to this effect.
Submissions which are not wishes (random posts, jokes, political rants, personal statements, or opinions which aren’t focused on the future of the country) can be removed at the discretion of the OnOur250th.org team.