Voices and Votes: Democracy in America Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit

The Latah County Historical Society and the University of Idaho Library are proud to welcome “Voices and Votes: Democracy in America,” a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street program in cooperation with the Idaho Humanities Council. The exhibit examines the nearly 250-year-old American experiment of a government “of, by and for the people,” and how each generation since continues to question how to form “a more perfect union.” Opening at the University of Idaho Library’s second floor gallery on August 23rd, “Voices and Votes” will be on display through October 3rd and is free and open to the public for viewing.

“Voices and Votes” is based on an exhibition currently on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History called “American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith.” Through historical and contemporary photos, videos, and objects, the exhibit explores the origins of American democracy, the struggles to obtain and keep the vote, the machinery of democracy, the right to petition and protest beyond the ballot and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. The Latah County Historical Society and University of Idaho Special Collections and Archives will also display local artifacts from area elections that explore the evolution of campaigning.

The Museum on Main Street program is a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and state humanities councils nationwide, and support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.