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Program/Event

Civil War Essay Contest Winners 2015

High School Division Click on the title to view a pdf of a winning essay. First Prize Anjelica Matcho, Bridgewater Raritan High School, Bridgewater, New Jersey "Dethroning King Cotton: The Failed Diplomacy of the Confederacy" Second...

Lesson Plan

The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

Government and Civics, Literature, World History

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Unit Objective This unit is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based teaching resources. These units were written to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts of historical...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Why Black men fought in World War I, 1919

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

During World War I, approximately 370,000 black men in the US military served in segregated regiments and were often relegated to support duties such as digging trenches, transporting supplies, cleaning latrines, and burying the dead....

History Now Essay

Indigenous Americans in World War II: The Navajo Code Talkers

Laura Tohe

In the summer of 1983, my son and I visited my father, Benson Tohe. He and other Navajo Code Talkers had recently been honored in Washington, DC, with a parade and given a medal for their service in World War II. That was the first...

Appears in:

Issue 59 | Winter 2021 | American Indians in Leadership

History Now Essay

Understanding the Burr-Hamilton Duel

Joanne B. Freeman

Without a doubt, the duel between former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and Vice President Aaron Burr is the most famous duel in American history. On July 11, 1804, the two political rivals met on a dueling ground in...

Appears in:

Issue 44 | Winter 2016 | Alexander Hamilton in the American Imagination

News

Henry Ford Introduces the Minimum Wage: On This Day, January 5

On January 5, 1914, automaker Henry Ford made history by instituting a $5-a-day wage. The move made national news. Five dollars a day constituted double the industry norm—and double the pay of most of Ford’s own employees. At the same...

About page

Annette Gordon-Reed

Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University and a professor of history in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She was formerly the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for...

News

Black Lives in the Founding Era News, Week 12: A Black Patriot's Pay Warrant

The Gilder Lehrman Institute initiative “ Black Lives in the Founding Era” 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 historical documents and our...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

A patriot’s letter to his loyalist father, 1778

In February 1778, Timothy Pickering Jr. received word from Massachusetts that his father was dying. An adjutant general in George Washington’s Continental Army, Pickering wrote his father this moving letter of farewell on February 23,...

Lesson Plan

Introduction to Imperialism

Overview Students will be introduced to the concept of imperialism, and specifically the three justifications US foreign policy leaders used to justify US Imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century. Warm Up Define Imperialism....

Spotlight on: Primary Source

J. Edgar Hoover on campus unrest, 1970

Government and Civics

In September 1970, J. Edgar Hoover composed an open letter to American students detailing his view on civil unrest at the nation’s colleges and universities and warning against the elements he believed responsible. Hoover opened with...

News

World War II Letters about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

The Warsaw ghetto uprising began on April 19, 1943 w hen the Nazis tried to transport the remaining ghetto population to forced-labor centers and concentration camps. By May 16, 1943, the Germans had killed more than 7,000 Jews and...

News

Kevin Cline on GLI History School's "US Constitution: Looking Backward from 2021 to 1787"

Kevin Cline, who taught the Summer 2020 History School course “The United States, 1492–1865,” returns to History School this spring with “ The US Constitution: Looking Backward from 2021 to 1787.” This course focuses on key aspects of...

Lesson Plan

Religion and Literacy in Colonial New England

Religion and Philosophy

5, 6, 7, 8

Historical Background Puritans believed that reading the Bible was important to achieving salvation and, therefore, teaching children to read was a priority in their colonial centers. The New England Primer, first published in Boston...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Arguments for educating women, 1735

On May 19, 1735, John Peter Zenger republished this essay in the New-York Weekly Journal. Originally printed in the Guardian, a British periodical, the two-page essay supports the education of women “of Quality or Fortune.” The author...

News

Scholar’s Blog - Aaron Sheehan-Dean

April 30, 1863: Hooker Reaches Chancellorsville The bloody Union defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in December 1862 and the aborted "Mud March" along the Rappahannock River the following month demoralized the Army of the Potomac and...

Lesson Plan

The Monroe Doctrine

Government and Civics, World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

News

A Black Soldier’s Civil War Diary

Written by Stephanie Townrow and Mary Kate Kwasnik. William Woodlin enlisted in the United States Colored Infantry 8th Regiment in October 1863 and kept a journal during his service. Woodlin’s entries describe camp life, his service...

Lesson Plan

Singing for Freedom

Literature

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Background In the early 1960s, Mississippi was the poorest state in the nation, with most non-white families living well below the poverty line. Although African Americans made up nearly half of the state's population, few were...

Lesson Plan

Dwight D. Eisenhower's Domestic Leadership

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Essential Questions What constitutes great presidential leadership? How did Eisenhower demonstrate great leadership through his support of the Federal-Aid Highway Act (1956) and his warning about the growth of the Military-Industrial...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

The Supreme Court upholds national prohibition, 1920

Economics, Government and Civics

After more than a century of activism, the temperance movement achieved its signal victory with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution in 1919. The amendment abolished "the manufacture, sale, or...

Lesson Plan

Nonviolent Direct Action at Southern Lunch Counters

8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Background On February 1, 1960, four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, North Carolina, walked into a Woolworth’s store and quietly sat down at the lunch counter. This seemingly...

News

Scholar’s Blog - Brooks D. Simpson

MARCH 9, 1864—ULYSSES S. GRANT IS COMMISSIONED AS LIEUTENANT-GENERAL On March 8, 1864, Ulysses S. Grant and his eldest son, Fred, arrived at Washington, DC. It was the general’s first visit to Washington since 1852, when he had been a...

News

Scholar’s Blog - Brooks D. Simpson

Spotlight on: Primary Source

"America the Beautiful," 1893

In a brief essay that appeared ca. 1925, poet Katharine Lee Bates described her inspiration for writing "America the Beautiful," the poem that would evolve into one of the nation’s best-loved patriotic songs, during a trip to Pike’s...

News

The Gilder Lehrman Institute Hosts Henry Louis Gates, Jr., at Pace University

On Friday, May 31, 2019, the Gilder Lehrman Institute and Pace University hosted a book talk and screening with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for...

News

NPS to Establish Manhattan Project Park

What was once the biggest secret in America is being commemorated in public—building the bomb. The National Park Service and the Department of Energy announced last week the establishment of three national historic parks at Manhattan...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Sir Francis Drake’s attack on St. Augustine, 1586

Economics, World History

Five years after leading the first English circumnavigation of the globe in 1577–1580, Sir Francis Drake led a raid against Spanish settlements in the Caribbean including Santiago, Santo Domingo, and Cartagena, as well as St....

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Temperance movement cartoon: The Drunkard’s Progress, 1826

Art

Numerous reform movements to improve society sprang up in the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. The temperance movement attracted reformers who identified excessive drinking as the principal cause of domestic...

About page

David McCullough

David McCullough (1933–2022) was widely acclaimed as a “master of the art of narrative history” and “a matchless writer.” He was twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize and twice winner of the National Book Award, and received the...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Dinner with the nuclear family, 1950

Art

The threat of invasion and subversion in the Cold War era led Americans to seek consensus and conformity, in politics and in culture. The rise of consumer culture in the same period, driven by an economic boom, a population surge, and...

News

EduHam at Home Announced in a Washington Post Feature Article

The Washington Post announced the EduHam at Home program on April 21, 2020, with a feature article by theater critic Peter Marks. Along with exploring the development of EduHam itself, the article highlights Gilder Lehrman Institute...

News

Rosa Parks Refuses to Move: On This Day, December 1

On December 1, 1955, after a long day of work as a seamstress, Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and took a seat. Parks, a black woman, took a seat in the first row of seats in the rear "colored...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

John Kennedy compares US and Soviet military power, 1953

On October 16, 1953, Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy spoke at an executive meeting of the American Legion at the organization’s national headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. Addressing members of the United States’ largest...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

A report on the reaction to the Stamp Act, 1765

Government and Civics, World History

On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the “Stamp Act” to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years’ War. It required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various papers,...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1863

Government and Civics

In 1621, settlers in Massachusetts celebrated what has come to be regarded as the first thanksgiving in the New World. On October 3, 1789, George Washington issued a proclamation creating the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the...

News

Washington Dodge: Titanic Survivor, April 1912

One hundred years ago this weekend, the RMS Titanic sank, claiming the lives over 1,500 passengers and crew. In this account, Dr. Washington Dodge recounts his tale of survival. Written on board the RMS Carpathia during the three-day...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Amelia Earhart to her former flight instructor, Neta Snook, 1929

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

The first decades of the twentieth century brought a golden age of aviation. During this exciting period, many pioneering women defied traditional female roles to become pilots. Amelia Earhart is the most famous of this group of...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

A Jamestown settler describes life in Virginia, 1622

Economics, Geography

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The first English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, who arrived in 1607, were eager to find gold and silver. Instead they found sickness and disease. Eventually, these colonists learned how to survive in their new environment, and by...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Selling World War I: "Buy Liberty Bonds!" 1917-1919

Government and Civics

When the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, it needed funds to support the war effort. The Civil War had demonstrated that simply printing more currency would lead to inflation and economic trouble. During World War...

News

The 54th Massachusetts Regiment in the Gilder Lehrman Collection

The 54th Regiment from Massachusetts, composed of volunteers, was the first African American regiment organized by the Union Army during the American Civil War. It is perhaps best known for leading the charge on Fort Wagner in...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

A frightening mission over Iwo Jima, 1945

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Lieutenant Bob Stone served as a bombardier in the 431st Bomb Squadron (Heavy), 7th United States Army Air Force in the Pacific. This Spotlight is part of a series of documents detailing the experience of airmen in World War II. Click...

News

Explore Alexander Hamilton’s World with New GLI Resources

Since the introduction of the Hamilton Education Program more than a year ago, there have been a staggering 22 student matinees in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Before attending a Hamilton matinee and enjoying a day of student...

News

Washington and Lee University Professor Lucas Morel’s “Race and Rights in America” Available as a Self-Paced Course

The Gilder Lehrman Institute is now offering three new Self-Paced Courses with distinguished professors Carol Berkin, Lucas Morel, and Michael Neiberg, perfect for summer professional development and general interest. Each course,...

News

Homer Plessy’s Groundbreaking Ride: On This Day, June 7

On June 7, 1892, New Orleans native Homer Plessy purposely violated the Louisiana separate car law in order to bring the issue of segregation to the Supreme Court. Plessy was chosen for this action by the Comité des Citoyens—a ...

News

Summer PD: Self-Paced Courses

Summer is a great time for teachers to take a Self-Paced Course and earn professional development credit while picking up content knowledge and pedagogical skills. Each Self-Paced Course is equivalent to 15 PD credit hours and can be...

News

New, Free Family Website Subscription Provides Resources and Guidance for Remote Learning

In these months of remote learning, parents and family members, who are taking on the role of teacher while classroom teachers strive to construct meaningful remote lessons, need resources, advice, and guidance for their kids. We at...

About page

Robert H. Niehaus

Robert H. Niehaus is the chairman and founder of Greenhill Capital Partners LLC. Prior to joining Greenhill, Niehaus spent seventeen years at Morgan Stanley & Co., where he was a managing director. Niehaus is also chairman of...

News

Catching Up on Affiliate Schools with Education Department Coordinator Daniel Pecoraro

The Education Department: Daniel Pecoraro Daniel Pecoraro is an education program coordinator at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. He is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Affiliate School Program, a...

Video

Nature, Culture, and Native Americans

Geography, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Daniel Wildcat is a Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma and Director of the American Indian Studies Program at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. He discusses the importance of distinguishing between...

Classroom Resources

Historical Context: Immigration Policy in World War II

World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt suspended naturalization proceedings for Italian, German, and Japanese immigrants, required them to register, restricted their mobility, and prohibited them from owning...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

On the emigrant trail, 1862

Geography

Samuel Russell, his mother, and his sisters emigrated to the Mormon settlement at Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1861. The next spring, Russell joined a “down-and-back” wagon train to escort new pioneers to the settlement. These caravans...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s advice to high school students, 1922

Government and Civics

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

In 1922, Sharpless Dobson Green, a teacher at Senior High School in Trenton, New Jersey, wrote to influential people around the world to get their advice for his students. In his request, he explained his project: There are about 400...

News

Study the Fight for Women’s Rights with Professor Catherine Clinton

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Pace University are pleased to announce that registration for Fall 2020 courses is open for the online Master of Arts in American History Program. We highlight here one of the five...

Lesson Plan

Immigration in the Gilded Age: Using Photographs as Primary Sources

Geography, Government and Civics

6, 7, 8

Aim / Essential Question How successful were photographs in demonstrating the conditions of immigrants during the Gilded Age? Background The latter portion of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century witnessed the start...

News

Women in the Civil War: Vivandieres

Vivandieres, sometimes known as cantinieres, were women who followed the army to provide support for the troops. Ideally, a vivandiere would have been a young woman—the daughter of an officer or wife of a non-commissioned officer—who...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

George Washington would have supported the New Deal, 1934

During his first term, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to deflect opposition to the New Deal. Speaking at Gettysburg on Memorial Day, 1934, Roosevelt invoked the memory of George Washington by comparing his federal agenda with...

History Now Essay

First Ladies’ Contributions to Political Issues and the National Welfare

Betty Boyd Caroli

Government and Civics

The US Constitution assigns no duties or responsibilities to the president’s spouse. Every woman had to define for herself the role she wanted to play. From the blank slate that Martha Washington encountered in 1789, the job gradually...

Appears in:

Issue 35 | Spring 2013 | America’s First Ladies

Collection Landing Page

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...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Suffragists invoke Lincoln, 1910

Government and Civics

In 1910 Washington State voted to approve full woman suffrage, a vote that was influenced by publications and posters such as this one. This poster, declaring that "Lincoln said women should vote," invoked the words of Abraham Lincoln...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Anti-Communist Trading Cards, 1951

Government and Civics

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

On June 25, 1950, war broke out on the Korean peninsula when the Soviet-backed Communist forces in North Korea invaded the recently founded democratic republic of South Korea. Following a unanimous UN resolution condemning the...

Lesson Plan

How We Elect a President: The Electoral College (Grades 10–12)

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Objective This lesson on the Electoral College is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based teaching resources. These resources were written to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original...

News

The H. L. Hunley Sinks the USS Housatonic

On the night of February 17, 1864, during the Civil War, the Confederacy made naval history off Charleston, South Carolina. The H. L. Hunley became the first submarine to sink an enemy ship, the USS Housatonic, in combat. Captain...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Herbert Hoover on the Great Depression and New Deal, 1931–1933

Foreign Languages

The stock market crashed on Thursday, October 24, 1929, less than eight months into Herbert Hoover’s presidency. Most experts, including Hoover, thought the crash was part of a passing recession. By July 1931, when the President wrote...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Charles Sumner on Reconstruction and the South, 1866

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

By 1865 there were sharp differences of opinion about the rights of freedmen and the governance of the defeated Southern states among political leaders in Congress and the Executive Branch in Washington, DC. Conflict among Republicans...

Program/Event

Grant-Funded Programs

The Gilder Lehrman Institute is currently engaged in two national, library-based programs made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. World War I and America World War I and America marks the 100th...

Program/Event

Teaching Literacy through History

Teaching Literacy through History™ (TLTH) is an interdisciplinary professional development program that uses primary sources to improve K–12 education. TLTH workshops are beneficial for elementary, middle, and high school teachers who...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inauguration, 1933

Economics, Government and Civics, Literature

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his first inaugural address on March 4, 1933, the nation was reeling from the Great Depression and was dissatisfied with the previous administration’s reluctance to fight it. Roosevelt declared that...

News

Kennedy, Nixon, and Eisenhower Write to Jackie Robinson about Civil Rights

Jackie Robinson and the Presidents The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History has acquired a fascinating collection of correspondence from Presidents Nixon, Eisenhower, and Kennedy to baseball legend and prominent civil rights...

Program/Event

National Book Prizes | Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize

The Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize is a $50,000 prize sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The award recognizes the best book on American military history in English distinguished by its scholarship,...

About page

Mary Caslin Ross

Mary Caslin Ross has spent her career in philanthropy, serving the less fortunate and needy by designing solutions in her public policy and foundation executive positions. She lives in Santa Fe with her husband, Alex, and is a...

News

Teacher Meghan Thomas’s Gilder Lehrman Experience

Meghan Thomas is the 2016 Illinois History Teacher of the Year and teaches at Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center in Chicago, Illinois. Last February, she and her students took part in the Hamilton Education Program. Here, she...

News

D-Day: On This Day, June 6

Seventy-two years ago today Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, opening a second front. The secrecy surrounding "Operation Overlord" is legendary. In a letter from the Gilder Lehrman Collection written on June 6, 1944,...

About page

Luz Towns-Miranda

Luz Towns-Miranda has worked her entire professional life as a psychologist with the underserved, largely in the Bronx and Washington Heights in New York City. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from NYU and was...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Aaron Burr, fugitive and traitor, 1804

On July 11, 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr shot former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. Nine days later he wrote this cryptic letter (partially in cipher) to his son-in-law, Joseph...

Lesson Plan

How We Elect a President: The Electoral College (Grades 7–9)

Government and Civics

6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Building Mount Rushmore, 1926

Art

This September 1926 report by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum to the Harney Peak Memorial Association anticipates the construction of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Borglum’s report offers a look...

News

Celebrate the Student Essay!

As the best-books-of-the-year lists proliferate, it’s time to remind ourselves to nurture young writers. Here at the Gilder Lehrman Institute we have a great way for history teachers to highlight their students’ achievements. It’s the...

News

"The Progressive Era" Traveling Exhibition at New Dorp High School

Thinking of hosting a Gilder Lehrman traveling exhibition at your school? Get some tips for incorporating one of our exhibitions into your curriculum from New Dorp High School in Staten Island, New York! New Dorp High School has...

Lesson Plan

Philadelphia and the Constitutional Convention "Heat Up"

Government and Civics

K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Background Little did William Penn know that his plans for a "Great Towne," set up in rectangular form between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, would become the site of some of the most important meetings in our nation’s founding,...

News

September 8 in the Gilder Lehrman Collection: Ford Pardons Nixon

Pardoning a President A month after Richard Nixon became the only US president to resign from his office, incoming President Gerald Ford pardoned him for “all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed...

Video: Read Along

"Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre"

Government and Civics

Celebrated author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Floyd Cooper provide a powerful look at the Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation’s history. The book traces the history of...

Video

Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America since 1940

Literature

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Yale University historian Jonathan Holloway discusses his 2013 work, Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America since 1940, with James Basker, President of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Professor...

Lesson Plan

Our New Country Needs New Money: Colonial Money Simulation

Economics

K, 1, 2, 3

There certainly can’t be a greater Grievance to a Traveler, from one Colony to another than the different values their Paper Money bears. —an English visitor, ca.1742 Introduction Students use different kinds of paper money to...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

D-Day correspondence between a soldier and his wife, 1944

On June 6, 1944, as Allied forces numbering approximately 160,000 troops landed along fifty miles of coastline in Normandy, France, Moe Weiner, a native of Brooklyn, was serving in the US Army Quartermaster Corps in England. He did...

News

Helen Keller Dies: On This Day, June 1

When Helen Keller died on June 1, 1968, the world mourned. The American Federation for the Blind summarized her life: "Her story is, in brief, that of a half-wild creature become a highly intelligent and sensitive citizen with a...

Guided Readings

Guided Readings: The Korean War

Economics, Government and Civics, World History

9, 10, 11, 12

Reading 1 In Korea the Government forces, which were armed to prevent border raids and to preserve internal security, were attacked by invading forces from North Korea. . . . The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

John Adams describes George Washington’s ten talents, 1807

Eight years after George Washington’s death, John Adams penned this letter to Benjamin Rush explaining why George Washington was considered a hero by the American people. He wrote it on November 11, 1807, in response to a letter from...

News

Civil War Essay Contest Winners at the 2018 Lincoln Prize

The 2018 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize will be awarded this evening to Edward L. Ayers for his new book, The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America, at the Union League Club in New York City. A...

News

Gilder Lehrman’s Summer Interns Report In

An internship at the Gilder Lehrman Institute is a meaningful way for any student—studying history or any of a variety of other subjects—to spend the summer. The Institute offers paid internships in all departments and a wide range of...

News

Sherman’s Christmas Present: On This Day, December 22

On December 22, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman sent a message to President Lincoln from Georgia, saying, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Abraham Lincoln, Inventor, 1849

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

On March 10, 1849, Abraham Lincoln filed a patent for a device for "buoying vessels over shoals" with the US Patent Office. Patent No. 6,469 was approved two months later, giving Abraham Lincoln the honor of being the only US...

News

Big News: Gilder Lehrman Partners with Hamilton on Broadway

The Gilder Lehrman Institute is delighted to announce a partnership between the New York City Department of Education and the Broadway musical Hamilton. With support from the Rockefeller Foundation, 20,000 NYC public high school...

Collection Landing Page

Colonization & Settlement, 1493–1763

Reference Guides: Colonization & Settlement, 1493–1763 Beginning with a 1493 Latin printing of Columbus’s letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the Collection contains more than 4000 colonial-era documents that chronicle...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

A soldier on the battle for the Philippines, 1945

Geography

Witnessing the brutality of war and atrocities against civilians could overwhelm the most fair-minded of men. Sidney Diamond, an officer in the 82nd Chemical Battalion, wrote loving, humorous, and hopeful letters to his fiancée almost...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Bob Stone joins the US Army Air Forces, 1943–1944

Lieutenant Bob Stone served as a bombardier in the 431st Bomb Squadron (Heavy), 7th US Army Air Force in the Pacific. This Spotlight is part of a series of documents detailing the experience of airmen in World War II. Click here for...

Lesson Plan

Dust Bowl Stories

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Overview Utilizing video and photos, elementary school students will synthesize some Dust Bowl experiences by creating a children's book in this multi-day activity. Background Beginning in the 1930s, drought wracked Oklahoma, Arkansas...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Sharecropper contract, 1867

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Immediately after the Civil War, many formerly enslaved people established subsistence farms on land that had been abandoned by fleeing White Southerners. President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat and a former slaveholder, soon restored...

Program/Event

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...

News

Happy National Handwriting Day!

Did you have a good National Handwriting Day? What? You didn’t know that penmanship-appreciators across the nation celebrate January 23 as National Handwriting Day? The rising popularity of typewriters and word processors in the 20th...

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