By Sian Wilkerson

With help from a Virginia Commonwealth University professor, the Library of Congress is exploring two famous Georges from early American history – George Washington and Britain’s King George III – to illuminate how reality differs from myth, and how the adversaries shared some surprising similarities.

While assembling its new exhibit –  “The Two Georges: Parallel Lives in an Age of Revolution” opens March 28 and will run through March 21, 2026 – library staff approached several historians to serve as external advisors, including VCU researcher Brooke Newman.

Newman, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of History in VCU’s College of Humanities and Sciences, and her third book – “The Crown’s Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery” – will be published in January. She said the library’s invitation was an opportunity to tackle a new way to approach history education.

“With a book, you expect people to spend time reading it. It’s an experience that can be drawn out,” Newman said. “But an exhibit is sensory and visual and time-bound. You really want to give people something interesting, impactful and informative that they can take away, and that will actually make them want to read more.”

As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding in 2026, “it is more important than ever for history educators and scholars who adhere to professional standards to share accurate, honest history with the public, helping Americans grapple with the complexity of the past and its continued influence on the present,” she added.

Newman, an expert on early modern Britain and the British Atlantic with a special interest in the British royal family, provided expertise, advised on exhibit content and suggested edits for the script. The exhibit draws from collections at the library, the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, the Royal Collection, London’s Science Museum and George Washington’s home of Mount Vernon in Northern Virginia, among others.

Though one George was a farmer who came to power unexpectedly as the first U.S. president and the other was a hereditary monarch born into his position, “they probably would have had a lot to talk about if they were in the same room together,” thanks to their surprisingly similar perspectives, Newman said.

“Both men were products of their time,” she said. “They were in two totally different worlds, but they had so many similar interests: innovation, science, agriculture.”

Newman is eager to visit the library in Washington after the exhibit opens later this month: “One of the reasons that I said yes to this was I loved the idea that it was at the Library of Congress, and so many people would be engaging with it, but also I live close enough that I could go and actually see it.”

The exhibit includes a companion book of the same title, as well as a companion exhibit at the Science Museum in London that will open next year.