Video Category: Lunch Bite Object Talks

Three George Washington Manuscripts from the American Revolution

Rachel Nellis
February 9, 2024

Research Services Librarian Rachel Nellis discusses three manuscripts signed by Gen. George Washington during the American Revolution. The manuscripts, recently donated to the Institute as part of the George Miller Chester Jr. (Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Connecticut) Collection of Historic General Washington Documents, include two wartime letters written by Washington from […]

A Collections of Letters Written from Captivity by William Russell

Andrew Outten
December 15, 2023

Historical Programs Manager Andrew Outten discusses a collection of letters written from captivity by William Russell, an American soldier and privateer who was imprisoned twice during the Revolution. Following his initial capture at sea, Russell was first held prisoner at Mill Prison in England before being released. Shortly after, he was recaptured and incarcerated on […]

A Handkerchief Commemorating the Reign of King George III

Paul Newman
November 17, 2023

Museum Collections and Operations Manager Paul Newman discusses a handkerchief commemorating the reign of British monarch King George III, made ca. 1812. The large printed handkerchief chronicles contemporary events in a lavishly decorated manner and includes several portraits of notable British figures from the period. This Lunch Bite will focus on the various depictions on […]

Visit of the King and Queen of Siam to Anderson House in 1931

Glenn Hennessey
October 20, 2023

Director of Marketing and Communications Glenn Hennessey for a discussion of the 1931 visit to Anderson House by the king and queen of Siam (now Thailand) and the ephemera that documents it. From April 29 to May 1, the royal couple occupied the house—on loan from Larz and Isabel Anderson, who were out of town—for […]

Statues of Nathan Hale

Emily Parsons
September 22, 2023

“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” The words Nathan Hale is said to have uttered just before being hanged as a spy by the British are among the best remembered of the Revolution. The young schoolteacher-turned-officer-turned-spy was a hero to nineteenth-century Americans, but they didn’t know what […]

Catharine Macaulay’s An Address to the people of England, Scotland, and Ireland, on the Present Important Crisis of Affairs

Rachel Nellis
August 18, 2023

Research Services Librarian Rachel Nellis discusses Catharine Macaulay, a radical English writer and historian sympathetic to the American cause, and her 1775 pamphlet, An Address to the people of England, Scotland, and Ireland, on the Present Important Crisis of Affairs. Using events such as Parliament’s passing of the Stamp Act and the Boston Massacre, Macaulay’s pamphlet […]

An Orderly Book Kept by British General Robert Cuninghame

Paul Newman
July 21, 2023

Museum Collections and Operations Manager Paul Newman discusses a manuscript orderly book kept by British General Robert Cuninghame from his time in command of an army camp near Clonmel, Ireland, 1778. An important historical record, this book records the daily orders disseminated at the camp and includes court martial proceedings, unit movements and the rotation […]

Society of the Cincinnati Eagles of the Twentieth Century

Emily Parsons
May 19, 2023

The Institute’s deputy director and curator, Emily Parsons, discusses Society of the Cincinnati Eagles of the twentieth century. The Eagle insignia of the Society of the Cincinnati is one of the most historic American medals and has been worn by members at meetings, dinners, ceremonies, and other events for more than two hundred years. Designed […]

The Diplomatic Uniform of Larz Anderson

Paul Newman
March 10, 2023

Museum Collections and Operations Manager Paul Newman discusses a diplomatic uniform made for Larz Anderson by Davies & Son of London, England, for his appointment as the U.S. minister to Belgium in 1911. At the time, U.S. diplomats were prescribed to wear civilian suits, however as it was normal for diplomats to be presented before […]

Charles Stedman’s History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War

Andrew Outten
February 10, 2023

Historical Programs Manager Andrew Outten discusses Charles Stedman’s History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War that contains detailed annotations made by British general Sir Henry Clinton. Stedman, who served as an officer in the British army for most of the Revolutionary War, wrote a detailed history of the conflict that was published in […]

A Captured British Light Dragoon Carbine

Emily Parsons
January 20, 2023

Deputy Director and Curator Emily Parsons for a discussion of a British Pattern 1756 light dragoon carbine and the winding road it took to seeing action in the American Revolution. In May 1776, just two months after the British had evacuated Boston, a Massachusetts privateer captured an armed British transport ship, the Hope, near Boston Harbor. […]

A Presentation Sword Awarded to Commodore Joshua Barney

Paul Newman
December 16, 2022

Museum Collections and Operations Manager Paul Newman discusses a presentation sword awarded to Commodore Joshua Barney (1759-1818) by the city of Washington, D.C., for his service at the Battle of Bladensburg, fought on August 24, 1814. Barney, who was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, […]

A Series of 1778 Prints Satirizing the Carlisle Peace Commission

Rachel Nellis
November 19, 2022

Research Services Librarian Rachel Nellis discusses the art of satire and Matthew and Mary Darly, the English husband and wife print shop owners and caricaturists. This Lunch Bite explores the Darly’s careers and focuses on their series of four 1778 prints satirizing the British Carlisle Peace Commission—a failed attempt to negotiate a peace with Congress. […]

William Faden’s 1778 and 1784 maps of the Battle of Brandywine

Andrew Outten
September 9, 2022

Historical Programs Manager Andrew Outten discusses two maps produced by British cartographer William Faden depicting the Battle of Brandywine. William Faden is well known for his maps of major battles of the Revolutionary War. Unusually, he produced two maps of the Battle of Brandywine, one in 1778 and the other in 1784. Each map shows […]

Nathanael Greene’s Pistols

Andrew Outten
July 8, 2022

The Institute’s historical programs manager, Andrew Outten, discusses a pair of holster pistols that was owned by Gen. Nathanael Greene and given to his aide-de-camp, Nathaniel Pendleton, who served under Greene during the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War. The brass box-lock pistols were made about 1782 by William Grice and Charles Freeth of Birmingham, […]

Dr. James Tilton’s Society of the Cincinnati Eagle Insignia and Treatise

Emily Parsons
June 17, 2022

The Institute’s deputy director and curator, Emily Parsons, discusses Dr. James Tilton’s Society of the Cincinnati Eagle insignia and 1813 medical treatise. James Tilton served in the Revolutionary War first as a military physician for the Delaware Regiment and later as a Continental Army hospital physician. During the brutal winter encampment at Morristown in 1779-1780, […]

A Portrait of Capt. Francis Lord Rawdon

Paul Newman
May 20, 2022

Museum Collections and Operations Manager Paul Newman discusses a portrait of Capt. Francis Lord Rawdon by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, ca 1777. Lord Rawdon, an Irish-born officer in the British army, saw extensive service in the northern and southern theaters of the Revolutionary War and took part in almost every major battle. This Lunch Bite focuses […]

Benjamin Rush’s Directions for Preserving the Health of Soldiers

Ellen McCallister Clark
April 15, 2022

Library Director Ellen McCallister Clark discusses Benjamin Rush’s Directions for Preserving the Health of Soldiers from our library collections and a feature of our exhibition, Saving Soldiers: Medical Practice in the Revolutionary War. Published in 1778, Directions for Preserving the Health of Soldiers reflected the ambition of physicians as well as American leaders to apply the insights […]

Mercy Otis Warren’s Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous

Rachel Nellis
March 18, 2022

Research Services Librarian Rachel Nellis discusses 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.    

A German Military Jaeger Rifle

Andrew Outten
February 11, 2022

Historical Programs Manager Andrew Outten discusses a German military jaeger rifle. The soldiers who comprised the German auxiliary forces that supported Great Britain during the Revolutionary War were a formidable foe. They were well trained and highly disciplined. Among these German auxiliaries were specialized corps of light infantry soldiers known as jaegers. With backgrounds as […]

A Portrait of Sir William Green

Paul Newman
January 21, 2022

Museum Collections and Operations Manager Paul Newman discusses a portrait of General Sir William Green, Baronet, by George Carter, ca 1784. As the chief engineer for Gibraltar prior to and during the Franco-Spanish siege of the British territory, it was Green who designed, lobbied for and oversaw the construction of greater defenses of the Rock. […]

Title page of the Deborah Sampson biography, "The Female Review."

Deborah Sampson at War

Rachel Nellis
May 15, 2020

Librarian Rachel Nellis discusses Herman Mann’s The Female Review: or, Memoirs of an American Young Lady, a 1797 biography of Deborah Sampson, a soldier in the Massachusetts Line and one of the first female pensioners of the American Revolution. Mixing fact with romantic inventions, the book was published to support Deborah’s application for a pension, […]

Emily Schulz Parsons, deputy director and curator of the American Revolution Institute, discusses a portrait of loyalist James DeLancey.

A Portrait of American Loyalist James DeLancey

Emily Parsons
November 16, 2018

American loyalist Colonel James DeLancey of Westchester County, New York, who led several loyalist cavalry and infantry units during the American Revolution is the subject of this portrait ca. 1778-1782 attributed to itinerant artist John Durand. Portraits of American loyalists depicted in the uniforms they wore when they fought against the patriot cause are rare. Emily […]

Librarian Rachel Jirka discussed two French accounts of the Yorktown campaign.

Two Narratives of the French Army’s March to Yorktown

Rachel Jirka
August 14, 2015

French narratives of the march to Yorktown from the American Revolution Institute’s collection—written by Henri-Dominique de Palys, chevalier de Montrepos, and Robert Guillaume, baron de Dillon—are highlighted in this presentation by Rachel Jirka, an Institute librarian. The narratives detail the French army’s march to Yorktown in 1781 and provide insight into the French experience marching […]