Supporting scholarship and promoting popular understanding of the American Revolution is central to the work of the American Revolution Institute. The Institute welcomes distinguished scholars and authors to share their insights and discuss their latest research with the public at Anderson House through lectures, author's talks and panel discussions. The Institute also hosts a variety of other historical programs throughout the year, including our Lunch Bite object talks, battlefield tours, special Anderson House tour programs and other events. Many of the events we offer are free.
September 2018
Lecture – Alexander Hamilton’s New York
Discover the intriguing life, accomplishments and legacy of Alexander Hamilton and his relationship to the city he called home—New York. From the obscure island of Nevis in the Caribbean, Hamilton moved to New York in 1772 to attend King’s College. While attending school, Hamilton became a revolutionary and made many of his first public speeches in New York. After his military service in the Revolutionary War, Hamilton rose to the world stage and crafted the story of the nation in…
Find out more »October 2018
Author’s Talk – American Honor: The Creation of the Nation’s Ideals during the Revolutionary Era
Born in the aftermath of the American Revolution, the Society of the Cincinnati was created to preserve the fraternal connections forged by the officers of the Continental and French armies on the battlefields of the new United States. Framed on the Revolution's ethical ideal of honor, the members of the Cincinnati pledged, "to promote and cherish, between the respective States, that union and national honor so essentially necessary to their happiness, and the future dignity of the American Empire." Led by…
Find out more »Lecture – Skull, Severed Heads and Skeletons: Battlefield Clean-up during the American War of Independence
Battlefield clean-up is a topic rarely covered by modern historians. However, following almost any military engagement, corpses need to be buried. Who disposed of these corpses and how can we tell who buried whom? Were officers and other ranks buried together or separate? Just in time for Halloween, Dr. Bob Selig, historian, will try to answer these and related questions about burying the dead during the American War of Independence. The lecture will last 45 minutes with time afterwards for questions.
Find out more »December 2018
Author’s Talk – Frontier Rebels: The Fight for Independence in the American West, 1765-1776
Patrick Spero, director of the American Philosophical Society Library, discusses and signs copies of his book on the untold story of the Black Boys, a band of rebels on the American frontier in 1765 whose protests helped to spark the American Revolution. In 1765, as the Stamp Act riled eastern seaports, frontiersmen clashed with the British Empire over another issue: Indian relations. When British officials launched a risky diplomatic expedition into the American interior to open trade with the Indian warrior…
Find out more »January 2019
Author’s Talk – Unlikely General: “Mad” Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America
President George Washington was determined to secure the Old Northwest—the region extending from the Ohio to the Mississippi—for American settlers, but a powerful Indian confederacy barred the way. Two successive military expeditions to take control of the region had ended in expensive and bloody disasters. Congressmen, reluctant to authorize a third, insisted that it was foolish “to send forth armies to be butchered in the forests.” Washington ignored them, and chose Anthony Wayne—a headstrong Continental Army veteran with a reputation…
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