Smithsonian traveling exhibition Americans opens in Sterling's Overland Trail Museum March 21

Sterling’s Overland Trail Museum will bring the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street exhibition Americans to Logan County, opening with a 10:00 a.m. grand celebration Saturday, March 21, 2026, in the museum’s High Plains Education Center. The program will feature Phillip Glover, Senior Director of Tribal Engagement at History Colorado, and Crystal C’Bearing, Tribal Historic Preservation and NAGPRA Officer; following the morning presentations, guests are invited to view the exhibit.

Americans is adapted from an original exhibition developed by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and focuses on four historical events: Thanksgiving, the life of Pocahontas, the Trail of Tears, and the Battle of Little Bighorn. The touring copy that arrives in Sterling includes objects and images intended to “help spark unexpected memories of visitors’ perceptions of American Indians,” material the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street describes on its exhibition page.

The exhibition’s themes foreground contested public memory. Museum on Main Street materials state the show “shows what is remembered, contested, cherished and denied, and why that still resonates,” and local reporting frames Americans as one that “explores how deeply intertwined American Indians are in the history, popular culture and identity of the United States.” Those lines shape the program for Sterling audiences and local educators planning visits during the run.

Sterling is one of five Colorado communities hosting Americans during a statewide tour that runs in Colorado from September 2025 through July 2026. The Breckenridge History Center hosted the tour prior to Sterling, with its Breckenridge installation listed as January 17, 2026, through March 15, 2026. The Museum on Main Street tour schedule lists Sterling’s on-view dates as March 21, 2026, through May 10, 2026; a republished local announcement in the Akron News-Reporter and Journal-Advocate lists the Sterling run as March 21 through May 9, 2026. The Museum on Main Street schedule is the official tour listing, and both local and national listings agree on the March 21 start.

Museum on Main Street offers a Resource Center of materials tied to Americans that local schools and community groups can use while the exhibit is on view. The Resource Center lists Exhibition Guides, Lesson Plans, Scavenger Hunts, a Reading List, Docent Handbooks, Free Posters, and other educational materials. For questions about the touring program, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service provides contact and delivery information: mailing address PO Box 37012, MRC 941, Washington, DC 20013-7012; delivery address 600 Maryland Avenue SW, Suite 5060W, Washington, DC 20024; tel 202.633.5335; fax 202.633.5344.

The Overland Trail Museum’s hosting, chosen by History Colorado as part of the Museum on Main Street partnership, will give Sterling a high-profile Smithsonian show through early May. The exhibit’s focus on Thanksgiving, Pocahontas, the Trail of Tears and the Battle of Little Bighorn and its framing about memory and identity make it a likely focal point for school visits, community conversations, and local programming while the show is on view.