Small exhibitions often have the freedom to tackle big ideas, and Unfurling the Flag: Reflections on American Patriotism at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library does exactly that.

Drawn entirely from the library’s extraordinary collections, the exhibition presents rare books, photographs, manuscripts, posters, and other historical documents in two long display cases. Rather than telling a chronological story, it explores patriotism through a series of themes, including absolutism, inclusion and exclusion, American exceptionalism, and patriotism as ideology. The introductory label reads:

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