Independence Seaport Museum's New Exhibit Opening: Seeking Profit & Power: Philadelphia, China Trade, and the Making of America

Independence Seaport Museum is opening a new exhibition that celebrates the nation’s Semiquincentennial this year. Opening on March 20, 2026, Seeking Profit and Power: Philadelphia, China Trade, and the Making of America examines how the United States, needing new foreign trade alliances for survival in the immediate aftermath of gaining independence, turned eastwards toward China. The relationships built in that time period, in turn, shaped America into the global economic power it is today. Comprised of 150 rarely seen objects (including loans from George Washington’s Mount Vernon, The Dietrich American Foundation, The Society of Cincinnati, and Andalusia Historic House and Gardens, among others), Seeking Profit and Power will be on view until January 3, 2028.

Seeking Profit and Power is generously supported by the Philadelphia Funder Collaborative for the Semiquincentennial, the Richard C. von Hess Foundation, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania, and WSFS Cares Foundation.