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Disasters are now a permanent feature of American life—no longer confined to predictable seasons or geographies—in the era of hyperglobalization and its related climate change, a disaster in one part of the world affects all of us....
Get to Know Sergio de Alba, 2020 National History Teacher of the Year
Sergio de Alba, a teacher at R. M. Miano Elementary School in Los Baños, California, was named the 2020 National History Teacher of the Year and will be honored in a recorded ceremony on October 7, 2020. Register here for A Tribute to...
Excerpt from Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, "Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, in the Year 1793" (1794), with an introduction by James G. Basker
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The Importance of Studying Disasters: Ideas and Advice for the Classroom
I was sitting in Algebra when I heard the news that an incident had occurred in New York City. My history teacher, Mr. Turner, appeared suddenly at the door—interrupting the Pythagorean theorem lesson—to say that something was...
From the Editor
A disaster often reveals as much about the society wrestling with it as it does about its origins and its physical effects. If scientists focus on the source of the danger—a virus, bacteria, climatic shifts, or disease-carrying...
Black Volunteers in the Nation’s First Epidemic, 1793
The new republic was only four years old, its capital recently established in Philadelphia, when the country suffered its first catastrophic epidemic. Yellow fever broke out in August 1793 and ravaged the city for three months, only...
The Map Proves It, ca. 1919
Supporters of women’s rights used maps such as the one shown here to demonstrate where women were allowed to vote, when they won that right, and which elections they could vote in. The source of this map is unknown. Originally printed...
An appeal for suffrage support, 1871
The National Woman Suffrage and Educational Committee was formed in the spring of 1871. The Washington DC-based committee pledged to act as the “centre of all action upon Congress and the country.” The group was also dedicated to the...
Voting restrictions for African Americans, 1944
In 1944 a group of southern editors and writers documented cases of voter suppression in southern states. They took this step because, in the presidential election of 1944, only 28 percent of potential voters in the South participated...
Thomas Rowe and Joshua Hooper: Sedition charges, 1815
Even though the Sedition Act of 1798 had expired in 1801, individuals could still be charged with sedition. On January 20, 1815, Thomas Rowe and Joshua Hooper, publishers of the Massachusetts newspaper The Yankee , printed an article...
The Sedition Act, 1798
On August 14, 1798, the Columbian Centinel , a Boston newspaper aligned with the Federalist Party, printed this copy of the Sedition Act. It was the last in a series of legislation known as the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by the...
John C. McManus Wins the Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize
Winner of the Seventh Annual Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History Announced Award Program Available Online Thursday, November 5, 2020 New York, NY, September 30, 2020 – The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History announced...
American Revolution, 1763-1783
American Revolution, 1763-1783 The Gilder Lehrman Collection contains materials written by over 2,000 individuals who fought in and lived through the American Revolution. These firsthand accounts were written by leaders, soldiers, and...
The New Nation, 1784-1800
The New Nation, 1784–1800 These materials address the creation of the US Constitution from the failure of the Articles of Confederation through the controversial election of 1800 in both official records and personal correspondence....
Expansion & Reform, 1800-1860
Expansion & Reform, 1800-1860 The conflict over slavery, the growth of federal power, and the territorial expansion of the United States figure prominently in the Collection. Thousands of letters, documents, broadsides, and...
The Civil War, 1861-1865
The Civil War, 1861-1865 Letters and documents recount the secession crisis and the American Civil War through general orders, orderly books, recruitment broadsides, maps, photographs, newspapers, and the journals, official dispatches...
Post-Civil War America, 1865-1900
Post-Civil War America, 1865-1900 A variety of materials demonstrates the rise and fall of civil rights for African Americans during the latter half of the nineteenth century, including constitutional amendments, sharecropper...
Twentieth Century
Twentieth Century A select group of materials highlights the major events of the twentieth century including World War I, World War II, women’s suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Cold War. Selected searches in the Collection...
The Gilder Lehrman Institute Book Shop Is Open
The Gilder Lehrman Institute Book Shop is the history lovers’ online book store. In addition to general new and notable history titles, the Book Shop offers books featured on Gilder Lehrman Institute’s popular Book Breaks , Inside the...
The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation Grant Funds Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens, and Greater New York State Gilder Lehrman Affiliate Schools
NEW YORK CITY, January 2021 — The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History (GLI) received a grant for a $1 million endowment gift, to be given over four years, from The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. The grant will support...
Announcing the Winners of the Hamilton Education Program Online Fall 2020 Competition
We are pleased to announce the Outstanding Performance Winners and Lottery Winners of the Fall 2020 Hamilton Education Program Online National Competition. The Outstanding Performance Winners are All Saints Academy in Winter Haven,...
"Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills"
Born to parents who were both former slaves, Florence Mills knew at an early age that she loved to sing and that her sweet, bird-like voice, resonated with those who heard her. Performing catapulted her all the way to the stages of...
"Locomotive"
It is the summer of 1869, and trains, crews, and family are traveling together, riding America’s brand-new transcontinental railroad. These pages come alive with the details of the trip and the sounds, speed, and strength of the...
"Grandfather's Journey"
When he was a young man, Allen Say’s grandfather left his home in Japan to explore the world. He began his journey by crossing the Pacific Ocean on a steamship, then wandered the deserts, farmlands, and cities of North America. Allen...
"Goin' Someplace Special"
Through moving prose and beautiful watercolors, an award-winning author-illustrator duo collaborates to tell the poignant tale of a spirited young girl who comes face to face with segregation in her southern town. Read by Morgan Wood...
"Ticktock Banneker's Clock"
Throughout his life, Benjamin Banneker was known and admired for his work in science, mathematics, and astronomy, just to name a few pursuits. But even when he was born in Maryland in 1731, he was already an extraordinary person for...
"The Bell Rang"
A young enslaved girl witnesses the heartbreak and hopefulness of her family and their plantation community when her brother escapes for freedom in this brilliantly conceived picture book by Coretta Scott King Award–winner James E....
"Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons"
Soon after American colonists had won independence from Great Britain, Ona Judge was fighting for her own freedom from one of America’s most famous founding fathers, George Washington. George and Martha Washington valued Ona as one...
Hamilton Education Program Online February Newsletter
FEBRUARY 2021: BLACK LIVES IN THE FOUNDING ERA Welcome to the first official newsletter for the Hamilton Education Program Online , the program whose goal is to help students in grades 6–12 see the relevance of the Founding Era by...
2021 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize Recipient Announced
February 12, 2021 — Gettysburg College and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History announced today that David S. Reynolds , author of Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times (Penguin Press), is the recipient of the 2021 Gilder...
Invitation to the 22nd Frederick Douglass Book Prize Ceremony on February 23
The 22nd annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize ceremony takes place online this Tuesday, February 23, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. ET. It is hosted jointly by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale...
Black Lives in the Founding Era
The “Black Lives in the Founding Era” project restores to view the lives and works of a wide array of African Americans in the period 1760 to 1800. Drawing on our archive of historic documents and our network of scholars and master...
Open House for the Pace–Gilder Lehrman MA in American History, February 25
Learn everything you need to know about getting a master’s degree in American history through the Pace–Gilder Lehrman MA in American History , a highly affordable, fully online, fully accredited, 30-credit degree program. Please join...
Inside the Vault: Frederick Douglass: Advocate for Equality
Most people know Frederick Douglass as an abolitionist, but his fight for equality did not end after the Thirteenth Amendment. In the February 18, 2021 session of Inside the Vault, educator Mandel Holland and Hamilton cast member...
Interview with Black Lives in the Founding Era History School Teacher Jason Butler
Black Lives in the Founding Era is one of six Gilder Lehrman History School courses being offered this spring. It will be taught by Jason Butler , a professional learning specialist supporting K–12 social studies instruction in a...
How to Tag It!
The tags you create will shine a light on lives and events from the past and make the stories and topics easier to find in our catalog. With your help, students, teachers, and researchers will have increased digital access to these...
"Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story"
Gittel and her mother were supposed to immigrate to America together, but when her mother is stopped by the health inspector, Gittel must make the journey alone. Her mother writes her cousin’s address in New York on a piece of paper....
Young Women of the Revolutionary and Civil War Eras Featured in March Inside the Vault
This March Inside the Vault , the online program that highlights unique primary sources from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, celebrates Women's History Month with explorations of two fascinating teenagers caught in the 1775 siege of...
Gena Oppenheim Helps You Tell Your EduHam Story in Spring History School Course
The Hamilton Education Program Online (EduHam Online) has proven a creative outlet for many students in 2020 and 2021. EduHam Online helps students in grades 6–12 see the relevance of the Founding Era by using primary sources to...
2021 Teacher Seminar Registration Now Open
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History’s Teacher Seminars offer K–12 educators the opportunity to work with the nation’s top American history professors and work in-depth with primary sources. This summer, we’re pleased to...
Book Prize Winners and Finalists Featured on Book Breaks in March
Since the summer of 2020, Gilder Lehrman Book Breaks has featured the most exciting history scholars in America discussing their books live with host William Roka followed by a Q&A with home audiences. This March, discussions...
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