Looking back at America’s Bicentennial

In celebration of the United States’ 250^th birthday this year, we wanted to take a look back at how Ohio celebrated America’s bicentennial back in 1976.

In 1970, Governor James Rhodes signed legislation to plan, coordinate and carry out Ohio’s celebration of the American Bicentennial. This bill also created the Ohio American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, which consisted of state officials and appointed citizens chosen to receive suggestions and make recommendations for the celebration. The name of the commission was later changed to Ohio American Revolution Bicentennial Advisory Commission (OARBAC).

In August 1976, the OARBAC began the Spirit of Ohio Bicentennial Photo Contest as part of a larger effort in Ohio to celebrate the bicentennial. The contest was meant to document “the spirit and character of the people and places which represent Ohio during [the] bicentennial year,” and to create a permanent photographic archive of the year’s festivity for use by future researchers. Both professional and amateur photographers submitted over 500 photographs for consideration, all taken within Ohio between January 1 and December 31, 1976.

The collection, which is part of our State Archives collections, consists of 539 black and white and color photographs relating to the people and activities in Ohio during the American Bicentennial celebrations. The collection includes photographs of festivals, parades, family projects, house decorations, military reenactments, ox roasts, motorcycle races, and much more! Some photographs depict patriotic scenes, while others capture everyday people and places around Ohio.

A selection of photographs from the 1976 contest have been digitized and are available for browsing on Ohio Memory.

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Thank you to Katy Scullin, Ohio Memory Program Coordinator at the Ohio History Connection, for this week’s post!