After a months-long renovation, the “American Perspectives” exhibition at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum has reopened to invite visitors to look at American history through a Connecticut lens.

Tanya Pohrt, special project curator at the museum, said the exhibit had stayed the same for about 20 years, and about half of the pieces on display now are new to the exhibit, which is housed in the Palmer Gallery. The gallery is the same size, but walls were added and removed to change how visitors move through it.

“We’ve dramatically reconfigured the space we have available, much of which has been with the goal of increasing the legibility of the space and improving the way visitors and school groups in particular can access and flow through the exhibition space,” she said.

For example, a class of 25 children could stand in the space surrounded by paintings and other pieces from the Revolutionary War, the Burning of New London and the region’s rich whaling industry, and be able to see everything, Pohrt said. Visitors can also start in the 18th, 19th or 20th century sections of the exhibit.

The exhibit opens with an introduction of a small selection of pieces that showcase some of the themes represented throughout the space, including a tea table built in Rhode Island in the 1700s and New London resident Beatrice Cuming’s painting of Electric Boat’s USS Chubb submarine being built in Groton in the 1940s.

Several furniture pieces are featured in the exhibit, including an 18th-century chest of drawers, built in Colchester or Norwich using architectural motifs, and a 19th-century Hitchcock chair. It was a mass produced design pioneered by Connecticut native Lambert Hitchcock. The introduction section also showcases a two-legged chair built in 1964 by MIT architect George Nakashima, which uses physics and large feet for stability.

Each piece in the exhibit has at least a paragraph explaining the greater historical context, including the artist’s ties to the state. Larger panels throughout the space provide more information about the overarching themes tying together the pieces, such as the rise of material wealth in colonial Connecticut, family life in the 1700s and artists in the Old Lyme Art Colony.

“A visitor can cruise through or spend a whole day,” Sam Quigley, museum director, said. “We are trying to provide as much information as a visitor would like.”

The museum also offers free wi-fi and a free smartphone app so museum-goers can learn more about each piece as they explore the museum, he said.

In addition to reconfigured walls, the gallery also has motion-sensitive LED lights that turn off when visitors aren’t around. Pohrt said the new lighting will save energy and help preserve some of the light-sensitive artwork. Other pieces, such as the embroidery samplers from the section on girls’ education in the 18th century, can only be in the exhibit for three months at a time, so they’ll be rotated through with other pieces or another theme entirely.

A permanent exhibition at the museum, “American Perspectives” officially reopened Nov. 6, and Pohrt said it has been well received so far.

“I think people are excited to see the sense of energy in the gallery,” she said. “There’s always more to see and more to read about if they have the interest and the time.”

The Glassenberg Gallery has also reopened with “A Colorful Dream,” a family-friendly photography exhibition by Adrien Broom running through Jan. 8.

The museum is located at 625 Williams St. in New London. For more information, visit www.lymanallyn.org.

a.hutchinson@theday.com