Explore the Explosive History of Fireworks with Institute’s New ‘Flash! Bang! Boom!’ Exhibition Opening April 10

The Science History Institute presents Flash! Bang! Boom! A History of Fireworks, a new temporary exhibition that explores the origins of and the science behind fireworks. This sparkling new show is the Institute’s contribution to our nation’s celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The public is invited to Launch Party! A History of Fireworks Opening Celebration taking place on April 10, 2026, from 5pm to 8pm at 315 Chestnut Street, right here in Old City Philadelphia, the “birthplace of America.” Registration is required for this free event, which features a curator’s talk, hands-on fireworks-themed activities, light refreshments, and much more.

On display in the Institute’s museum, located just blocks from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, Flash! Bang! Boom! will allow visitors to gain a deeper understanding of the centuries of knowledge among pyrotechnical makers in an intriguing walk through the history and chemistry of fireworks. Told with historic rare books, fine art, consumer catalogs, the latest technologies, and other interpretive displays, this explosive story is divided into five sections: making, designing, testing, selling, and launching.

“The long and global history of fireworks isn’t told chronologically in this exhibition, but rather through the different elements of putting on a fireworks show,” says exhibition co-curator Jesse Smith, the Institute’s vice president of interpretation and education and director of the museum. “Fireworks are chemistry, they are art, they are a craft. There are amateur enthusiasts, professionals, and hobbyists. We touch on all of that.”

Co-curator, science historian, and former Institute fellow Nadia Berenstein adds: “What makes this exciting is the combination of familiar and unfamiliar. Pyrotechnics are technologies that not only produce spectacular effects, but also provoke big feelings—awe, grandeur, terror, patriotism, unity, delight. Even though a 17th-century royal fireworks spectacle might not at all resemble what we see on the 4th of July, the differences and similarities are illuminating.”

Support

Major support for Flash! Bang! Boom! is provided by the Bolte Family Foundation, Maria Maccecchini/Annovis Bio, and Kenan & Andrea Sahin/CAMX Power, with additional support from the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, the Laurie Landeau Foundation LLC & Lew Gasorek, Dan Adams & Manon Cox, Barry Arkles & Janine Black, Michael DeSimone & Susan Hughes, the Fireworks Foundation, Rod & Kathleen Ferguson, David Martin, Fred & Kimberly Middleton, Mike Oeth, Margaret H. Rakowsky, Eric Rugart, Cheryl Teich, and Fredric & Elizabeth Weber.

Featured image: Panorama of Some of the Aerial Effects in the National Firework Display at Hyde Park, 19th July, 1919, colorized printed plate from Pyrotechnics: The History and Art of Firework Making, 1922.