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.
March 2022
Virtual Lunch Bite – Mercy Otis Warren’s Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous
Join Research Services Librarian Rachel Nellis for a discussion of Mercy Otis Warren's Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous, published in 1790, that contains two plays and several allegorical or satirical poems on the Revolution that were dedicated to George Washington and praised by Alexander Hamilton. The presentation will last approximately 30 minutes on Zoom. Registration is required to access the Lunch Bite.
Find out more »April 2022
Lecture – Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Joseph Warren, the American Revolution’s Lost Hero
Dr. Joseph Warren, a respected physician and architect of the Revolutionary movement, was one of the most important figures in early American history—and might have gone on to lead the country had he not been killed at Bunker Hill in 1775. Warren was involved in almost every major protest against British policies in the Boston area for a decade, from the Stamp Act protests to the Boston Massacre to the Boston Tea Party, and his incendiary writings included the famous…
Find out more »Lunch Bite – Benjamin Rush’s Directions for Preserving the Health of Soldiers
Join Library Director Ellen McCallister Clark for a discussion of this 1778 publication that reflected the ambition of physicians as well as American leaders to apply the insights of contemporary science to the conduct of war. This Lunch Bite accompanies the exhibition Saving Soldiers: Medical Practice in the Revolutionary War (April 1-November 27, 2022). The presentation will last approximately 30 minutes with time afterwards for up-close viewing of the manuscript. Reservations are requested. All visitors to Anderson House age 5…
Find out more »Lecture – America’s Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution
Join us for a special lecture at the Charleston Museum in Charleston, S.C., given by Professor C. Bradley Thompson of Clemson University, one of the most thoughtful historians of the American Revolution working today. The American Revolution was a watershed in the principles of government between centuries of monarchical and aristocratic rule and free societies based on moral principles that shaped the Revolutionary ideal of universal equality. Professor Thompson, author of America’s Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American…
Find out more »May 2022
Dinner & Lecture – “Left Newport … Before Daylight and March’d to Chads Ford”: The Landscape of Conflict and the Battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777
Prior to the Battle of Brandywine, the American and British armies maneuvered across a suburban landscape familiar to many residents of Delaware and Pennsylvania. Throughout the days before the battle, however, New Castle County, Delaware, and neighboring Chester County, Pennsylvania, were militarized landscapes. During this period, General George Washington seized the strategic initiative and marched his army from a defensive position along Red Clay Creek in Delaware to the Brandywine River in Pennsylvania. In response to this American shift, General…
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