The onlookers gathered for a pair of major revelations Tuesday at the Peoria Riverfront Museum included a group of fifth-grade students from Glendale Elementary School in East Peoria.
“Do you know what we’re doing here today? You’re about to find out,” museum president and CEO John Morris told the kids as they stood along a wall in a gallery room.
Aided by a $1 million gift, the museum announced the launch of an All-Illinois Student Pass as part of its America 250 celebration in 2026. Morris said the program serves as an expansion of the museum’s ongoing Every Student Initiative.
“We came up with a new twist on how we would make certain that every single K through 12th grader in the state of Illinois would be able to come and see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and George Washington’s Thanksgiving proclamation, and all these great documents to celebrate America’s semiquincentennial,” said Morris.
The announcement came in conjunction with the unveiling of that last historical document he mentioned — George Washington’s first presidential proclamation from 1789 declaring the Thanksgiving holiday.
“In October, George Washington signed the proclamation of Thanksgiving for Nov. 26,” Morris told the students. “We gave a little lead time; they didn’t have instantaneous updates on Facebook at the time, kids.”
Morris noted Washington wrote two versions of the proclamation because the first one contained a mistake. While that document resides in the Library of Congress, the second proclamation with no mistake belongs to a private collector who has loaned it to the Peoria Riverfront Museum.
It will be on display in its current location through the holidays, then become a part of “The Promise of Liberty,” the museum’s anchor exhibition of the seven that will comprise the America 250 collections.
“There will not be another museum in the country, on a proportionate basis — and maybe an actual, all-out basis — then we’ll have as big of an observation and contemplation about who we are as a nation,” said Morris. “I like to believe history informs the present and inspires the future, so this is really quite a privilege to be here at this time in our nation’s history, and in this place, the city of gratitude.”
The $1 million gift comes through a combination of three philanthropic sources, with Peoria residents Ashley and Josh Bellamy contributing half the amount. The rest comes from the Gilmore Foundation and a Chicago-based organization that preferred to remain anonymous.
“Giving an opportunity to so many kids to take advantage of the world-class environment that’s been created [here] is amongst the highest honors and privileges that we have,” said Josh Bellamy. “Even if we impact one child, one kid — or adult, for that matter — to continue to do something positive or chase their passion, that’s really what it’s about.”
“This is an appropriate place to have the first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation,” added Gilmore Foundation president Laura Cullinan. “Could you imagine that there would be every student in Illinois coming to this museum to see the preeminent America 250 [exhibits], every document that is important to our country?”
Morris said he was heading to Springfield to meet with 38 regional education superintendents to raise awareness of the All-Illinois Student Pass.
“We’ll get the party started by locking arms with them to be able to offer this free admission starting in January for the entire state of Illinois,” he said, noting Illinois has around 2 million students and the value of admission is $15.
“With that, there’s $30 million worth of admission to come see the most valuable and consequential documents ever assembled.”
