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.
January 2026
Virtual Author’s Talk—Money and the Making of the American Revolution
Historian Andrew Edwards, lecturer at the University of St. Andrews, discusses his new book that offers a fascinating story of power and economic ideas during America’s founding era. Everyone knows that the founders waged a revolt against taxation without representation, though the dispute over taxes was really a dispute over money: what it was, who could make it, and how to keep it from being used at the expense of the colonists in North America. Drawing from his narrative that…
Find out more »Author’s Talk—The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence
Historian Lauren Duval of the University of Oklahoma discusses her new book that vividly captures daily life during the American Revolution through the eyes and ears of those who intimately experienced it. Prior to the conflict, the urban centers of colonial North America had little direct experience of war. With the outbreak of violence, British forces occupied every major city, invading the most private of spaces: the home. Drawing from the new book, this talk considers the dynamics of the…
Find out more »February 2026
Author’s Talk— Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters
Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Edward Larson discusses his new book that explores the ideas and battlefield sacrifices of 1776 to remind us why the year matters to all of us. At the beginning of 1776, virtually no one in the colonies was advocating independence. By the end of 1776, independence was on every patriot’s lips. The many tyrannies of a king had made an independent republic necessary. In this talk, Larson gives us a compact, insightful history of that pivotal year…
Find out more »Virtual Lunch Bite— British Officer Thomas Musgraves’ Account of the American Revolution
Join the Institute’s museum collections and operations manager, Paul Newman, for a discussion of a 1780s manuscript account of the American Revolution by Lt. Col. (later made a General and Baronet) Thomas Musgrave, a British officer who served extensively throughout the war. At the battle of Germantown, he commanded the British 40th Regiment of Foot that famously defended the Chew House against attacking American forces. Subsequently, he was restationed in the West Indies in 1778, before returning to New York…
Find out more »From the Vault—Henry Knox and the Artillery of the American Revolution
Join us for a special program honoring Maj. Gen. Henry Knox, chief of artillery of the Continental Army and one of George Washington’s most trusted officers. This intimate evening event offers a rare opportunity to explore treasures from our library collections that illuminate Knox’s extraordinary wartime service and enduring legacy. Featured manuscripts, maps, prints and rare publications reveal his remarkable rise from Boston bookseller to indispensable military leader. Guests will learn how Knox transformed the Continental Army’s artillery, forged critical…
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