The Douglas Historical Society is proud to be a 2025-2026 Host Site for the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum On Main Street’s exhibit Voices and Votes: Democracy in America.
Join us Saturday, September 13, 2025 through Saturday, October 25, 2025 as we transform the Douglas Municipal Center Gym into a miniature Smithsonian Museum Exhibit.
Since 1994, the Smithsonian has brought 13 different exhibits to over 1900 communities through Museum on Main Street, a part of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Museum on Main Street is the means for the Smithsonian Institute to provide small-town America access to various museum exhibitions, research, educational resources and programming with ready-to-install exhibitions.
Completed in 2000, Voices and Votes: Democracy in America is based on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History permanent exhibit, American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith.
“When American revolutionaries waged a war for independence they took a leap of faith that sent ripple effects across generations. They embraced a radical idea of establishing a government that entrusted the power of the nation not in a monarchy, but in its citizens. That great leap sparked questions that continue to impact Americans: who has the right to vote, what are the freedoms and responsibilities of citizens, and whose voices will be heard?
Our democracy demands action, reaction, vision, and revision as we continue to question how to form “a more perfect union.” How do you participate as a citizen? From the revolution and suffrage, to civil rights and casting ballots, everyone in every community is part of this ever-evolving story – the story of democracy in America.”1
It is the Smithsonian’s hope that Voices and Votes: Democracy in America will be “…a springboard for discussions about those very questions and how they are reflected in local stories.”2
Voices and Votes was completed in 2019 and explores the action and reaction, vision and revision, that democracy demands as Americans continue to question how to shape the country. Exhibition sections explore:
- 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.
Voices and Votes features historical and contemporary photos; educational and archival video; engaging multimedia interactives with short games; and historical objects like campaign souvenirs, voter memorabilia, and protest material.
Voices and Votes has been made possible at the Douglas Historical Society in Douglas, Massachusetts by Mass Humanities.
Voices and Votes: Democracy in America is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and State Humanities Councils nationwide. It is based on an exhibition by the National Museum of American History. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.
- Voices and Votes: Democracy in America. Accessed July 15, 2025. https://www.sites.si.edu/s/topic/0TO1Q000000cTOZWA2/voices-and-votes-democracy-in-america. ↩︎
- See above note. ↩︎