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News

2019 George Washington Prize Winner Colin G. Calloway on Book Breaks this Sunday

2019 George Washington Prize Winner and National Book Award for Nonfiction Finalist Colin G. Calloway discusses his book The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation on...

News

Teaching Resources for Teacher Appreciation Week

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! The Gilder Lehrman Institute is honored to work with K–12 teachers across the globe and provide support for their invaluable work in not only bringing history to life for their students, but educating...

News

Happy Birthday, Mark Twain: On This Day, November 30

Mark Twain famously said that he had come in with Halley’s Comet in 1835 and expected to go out with it on its return journey. Indeed, Twain did die in 1910 as the comet was making its return pass. In the intervening years Twain...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Frederick Douglass’s tribute to Abraham Lincoln, 1880

Literature

Despite initial differences, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln forged a relationship over the course of the Civil War based on a shared vision. Fifteen years after Lincoln’s death, Douglass described him as "one of the noblest...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

A Civil War soldier’s satirical take on the news, 1863

Art, Government and Civics

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

Between battles, marches, and military exercises, Civil War soldiers spent their free time in camp playing music, writing and reading letters, and, for those with the skill, sketching scenes from the day. This unknown soldier’s...

News

Peter Cozzens Wins Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize

On March 27, the Gilder Lehrman Institute and the New-York Historical Society partnered to recognize the work of Peter Cozzens, whose book The Earth is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West received the...

News

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today we commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s immense contributions to civil rights and social justice. One of the most enduring images of the civil rights movement is Dr. King delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech at the March...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Harry S. Truman responds to McCarthy, 1950

Government and Civics

In February 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy alleged in a speech in West Virginia that more than 200 staff members at the Department of State were known to be members of the Communist Party. During Harry Truman’s press conference on...

News

Counting Down to Hamilton: Week 3

There are only three short weeks until the first student matinee of Hamilton on April 13! This week, discover a letter written by Alexander Hamilton. When the hotly contested election of 1800 ended in a tie between the two Democratic...

News

Stamp Act Passed: On This Day, March 22, 1765

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. The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms...

News

A Poem by John Quincy Adams on Love and Friendship

The Gilder Lehrman Collection has a multitude of personal letters and writings by prominent politicians, which often reveal a lighter side to their austere public personas. This poem written in 1829 by John Quincy Adams to a female...

News

Pure Food and Drug Act Passed: On This Day, 1906

On June 30, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act, marking an achievement in federal regulation of the food industry. The catalyst for these acts was Upton Sinclair’s best-selling...

Video: Read Along

"A Fist for Joe Louis and Me"

World History

Gordy and his family live in Detroit, Michigan, the heart of the United States automobile industry. Every night after coming home from work at one of the plants, Gordy’s father teaches him how to box. Their hero is the famous...

News

Robert E. Lee’s condolence letter to his son Rooney, 1864

In this beautifully written letter, Confederate general Robert E. Lee attempts to console his son William Fitzhugh "Rooney" Lee on the loss of his wife. The letter demonstrates the emotion that Lee felt for his family and offers a...

News

JFK Assassinated: On This Day, 1963

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas. The Dow Jones News Service ticker tape shown here provides a testimony of the day’s harrowing events as they unfolded, and gives...

News

New Orleans Slave Auction: On This Day, March 13, 1855

On March 13 and 14, 1855, the firm of J. A. Beard & May placed on the auction block 178 enslaved men, women, and children at the Banks Arcade in New Orleans, Louisiana . They were part of the estate of William M. Lambeth, who had...

News

Lewis E. Lehrman's Lincoln and Churchill: Statesmen at War

We are pleased to announce the latest publication by Lewis E. Lehrman, the co-founder of the Gilder Lehrman Institute, a renowned historian, and a National Humanities Medal winner. Lincoln & Churchill: Statesmen at War , provides...

Lesson Plan

Nineteenth-Century Technology in Twenty-First-Century America

Economics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

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

Introduction The nineteenth century was marked by a period of innovation, invention, and a huge spurt of growth known as the industrial revolution. Many inventions from the nineteenth century never caught on or have become obsolete,...

Lesson Plan

Framing Soo Hoo Lem Kong

6, 7, 8

Overview Students will examine immigration documents and interviews in order to describe the experience of Chinese immigrants entering California in the 1900s. Students will use depth and complexity icons as tools to develop higher...

News

Get to Know the 2017 History Scholars: Melanie Sheehan

Melanie Sheehan is a 2017 Gilder Lehrman History Scholar . These 15 exceptional college students were in New York City, June 4 – 9, learning from eminent historians and exploring New York City through a historical lens. Here Melanie...

About page

Mark Shafir

Mark Shafir is the co-head of global mergers & acquisitions at Citi. He has thirty-four years of experience advising clients and leading top M&A teams. Prior to joining Citi in 2008, Mark was head of global M&A at Lehman...

Program/Event

Traveling Exhibitions | Immigration: An American Story

The United States has often been called “a nation of immigrants”—an oversimplification, to be sure. American Indians were present before the nation’s founding and hundreds of thousands of Africans were brought to these shores in...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

The duel: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, 1804

Government and Civics

5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Alexander Hamilton, former secretary of the treasury, and Aaron Burr, sitting vice president of the United States, had feuded publicly for years. Their long-standing enmity came to a head in the spring of 1804. After an exchange of...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

The United Nations and the international community, 1967

Government and Civics, Religion and Philosophy, World History

In this 1967 letter, Dr. Israel Goldstein, a prominent American rabbi and Zionist, comments on the United Nations as a peacekeeping organization. After World War II, Goldstein, with other rabbis, had lobbied members of the newly...

Video: Read Along

"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...

About page

Valerie Rockefeller

Valerie Rockefeller chairs the board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a private foundation advancing social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. Valerie has an MEd in Special Education from Bank...

News

Explore John F. Kennedy Documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection

Explore documents and resources related to John F. Kennedy from the Gilder Lehrman Collection: The Path to the White House Primary Source: Kennedy on the Containment of Communism, 1952 Primary Source: Kennedy Compares US and Soviet...

News

Happy Birthday, Alexander Hamilton!

Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11—in 1755 or 1757—in Nevis, a small island in the Caribbean. Hamilton left an immense legacy as the first secretary of the treasury and architect of the American financial system. But what of...

News

Rarely Seen Hamilton Letters from the Gilder Lehrman Collection at the Morgan Library

Head over to the Morgan Library & Museum to view Treasures from the Vault , a selection of the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s recently acquired letters by Alexander Hamilton, his family, and friends. The exhibition includes the only...

Video: Inside The Vault

Inside the Vault: The Emancipation Proclamation & FDR’s Advice to Students

Government and Civics

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Gilder Lehrman curators were joined by Hamilton ’s Tyler Belo on September 3, 2020, in this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection where they celebrated the start of the school year with three...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

World War I poems: “In Flanders Fields” and “The Answer,” 1918

Literature, World History

Ella Osborn’s 1918 diary provides insight into the experiences of an American nurse serving in France at the end of World War I. In addition to her notes about the men under her care and events in France, Osborn jotted down two...

News

Online Treasure: Photogrammar

Many Americans are familiar with at least a few of the haunting images taken at the behest of the federal government during the Great Depression and World War II. Dorothea Lange’s haunting " Migrant Mother " is among the most...

News

The WWI and America Initiative in Action at the Hoboken Historical Museum

The city of Hoboken, New Jersey, has a special connection to World War I. It was the port of embarkation for almost two million American soldiers heading overseas. To commemorate the 100-year anniversary of America’s entry into WWI,...

About page

Dorothy (Debbie) Stapleton

Debbie Stapleton graduated from the American University in Washington DC, majoring in communications with a minor in international relations. After college, Stapleton worked for the MITRE Corporation (MIT Research & Engineering)...

News

Washington Writes from Valley Forge: A Museum Mystery

On December 19, 1777, the Continental Army set up its winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The 9,000-strong army was in a desperate state—many soldiers were ill or wounded, and, by Washington's estimation, at least one...

Program/Event

Hamilton Education Program Online | Hamilton Education Program Online FAQ

What is the Hamilton Education Program Online? The goal of the Hamilton Education Program Online (EduHam Online) is to help students in grades 6–12 recognize the relevance of the Founding Era today by using primary sources to develop...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

George Washington on attending church, 1762

Economics, Religion and Philosophy, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In 1762, Virginia planter and future president George Washington, just thirty years old, had reason for optimism. He had inherited Mount Vernon a decade earlier, and it had prospered under his management; plus he had married Martha...

News

Did They Eat Pumpkin Pie at the First Thanksgiving?

These days, Thanksgiving is all about the food—from the classic turkey to delicious pumpkin pie, Americans look forward to overindulging on favorite foods that we associate with the harvest bounty of 17th-century Massachusetts. But...

Classroom Resources

Historical Context: Life on the Trail

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Each spring, pioneers gathered at Independence and St. Joseph, Missouri, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, to begin a 2,000 mile journey westward. For many families, the great spur for emigration was economic: the financial depression of the...

Lesson Plan

A Lesson on Détente

World History

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Materials "Memorandums of Conversation," National Security Archive, George Washington University Notes and Excerpts from Nixon’s Meeting with Mao, February 1972 , National Security Archive, George Washington University "Nixon and...

Classroom Resources

Breaking from Great Britain, 1776

World History

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Sid Lapidus Collection: Liberty and the American Revolution By 1776, Thomas Paine had become the most influential writer defending the break from Great Britain. Born in England, Paine arrived in the colonies in 1774, at age 34. His...

About page

Gladstone N. Jones, III

Gladstone N. Jones, III, is the founding member and business manager of Jones, Swanson, Huddell & Garrison, LLC. He has served as lead counsel in litigation pending in New York, Florida, California, Mississippi, and Louisiana. In...

Program/Event

Gilder Lehrman Institute Annual Gala

On Monday, May 8 the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History held its 2017 Gala, bringing together more than 300 supporters at the Mandarin Oriental in New York City. This year we honored John L. Nau, III, and Jeffrey Seller,...

Lesson Plan

Sports and Politics: Making Statements

World History

3, 4, 5

Introduction In this lesson, elementary school students will debate whether or not prominent athletes should promote political and social issues. The debate will be informed by the activism of Muhammad Ali, who resisted the drafted...

Lesson Plan

Mass Production, Suburbia & Conformity in the 1950s

Economics

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

Essential Question How did conformity apply as a value to the living choices of Americans during the 1950’s? Materials Postwar Society Data and Questions (PDF) Little Boxes , written by Malvina Reynolds (1962) (Lyrics) Two Photos &amp...

Video: Inside The Vault

Inside the Vault: Frederick Douglass: Advocate for Equality

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

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...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Abstinence pledge card, 1842

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

Mathew Theobald, a Catholic priest in Dublin, Ireland, founded the Cork Total Abstinence Society on April 10, 1838. About sixty followers joined Theobald in swearing off alcohol completely and signed his abstinence pledge book....

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Verses on Norwegian emigration to America, 1853

Foreign Languages, Literature, World History

Between 1836 and 1865, approximately 55,000 Norwegians sailed to the United States. [1] Like most immigrants, they sought opportunities that didn’t exist at home—religious freedom, economic security, land ownership, and educational...

News

National Poetry Month, Part 3: Poem on a Civil War Death

In the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, Virginia, on October 21, 1861, the 1st Minnesota Volunteers had just one casualty: a man named Lewis Mitchell. Mitchell was “only a private,” one of the approximately 750,000 casualties in the Civil War....

Video: Read Along

"Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation"

Almost ten years before Brown v. Board of Education , Sylvia Mendez and her parents helped end school segregation in California. An American citizen of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage who spoke and wrote perfect English, Mendez was...

Program/Event

Affiliate School FAQs

General What is the Affiliate School Program? How much does it cost? The Affiliate School Program is a special gateway to education resources, events, and tools designed to bring American history to life in the classroom. Initially...

Program/Event

Revisiting the Founding Era

July 13

Beginning in Spring 2018, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History presents Revisiting the Founding Era, a public programming initiative to promote community conversations in public libraries. Funded by the National Endowment...

Video

Guns, Horses, and the Grass Revolution

Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

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

In this lecture Elliott West, a professor of history at the University of Arkansas, describes how the introduction of Old World phenomena such as guns, horses, and new diseases affected the Native peoples of the New World. Those who...

News

Patriotic Verse in a Schoolboy’s Math Book during the Revolutionary War

Between the pages of his math exercise book John Barstow jotted down a patriotic tune called "The Amaricans Challing" on January 2, 1777. Carefully written in a youth’s unsteady hand, the text appears to be a transcript of a popular...

Classroom Resources

Infographic: Differences between Federalists and Antifederalists

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

The differences between the Federalists and the Antifederalists are vast and at times complex. Federalists’ beliefs could be better described as nationalist. The Federalists were instrumental in 1787 in shaping the new US Constitution...

News

Mondale Chooses Ferraro: On This Day, July 12

Thirty-two years ago today Walter Mondale made the unprecedented move of selecting a woman as his running mate on the Democratic ticket for the presidency. He chose Geraldine Ferraro, a member of Congress from Queens, New York, and a...

News

Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation: On This Day, October 3, 1863

On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling on all Americans "in every part of the United States . . . to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to...

News

New York Stock Exchange Opens First Headquarters: On This Day, January 4, 1865

On January 4, 1865, the New York Stock Exchange opened for business in its first permanent headquarters on Broad Street. The Exchange had formally existed since 1792, but had operated out of a series of packed Wall Street coffee...

Interactive

Alexander Hamilton: Witness to the Founding Era

Economics, Government and Civics

This series of online exhibitions explores the importance of Alexander Hamilton to the founding of the United States. Each mini-exhibition features locations where Alexander Hamilton made history and documents written by or about him...

News

"Big Three" Meet at Potsdam: On This Day, July 17

The Potsdam Conference, which began on July 17, 1945, was the third meeting of the " Big Three, " after Tehran and Yalta, to address the waging of WWII. But this time the cast was different, FDR’s death thrusting Harry Truman into the...

News

First All-Black Regiment Authorized: On This Day, 1863

African Americans have served in every conflict in United States history, beginning with the American Revolution. However, it was not until the Civil War, and the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, that free African American...

News

How Sideburns Got Their Name

Either you love ’em or you hate ’em. Everyone has an opinion on sideburns, and few fashion choices provoke quite so much controversy. Yet sideburns have a rich history that can be appreciated by supporters and detractors alike....

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Christmas in Kuwait, 1990

Geography, World History

Cpl. Brett G. Coughlin arrived with Delta Company in Saudi Arabia at the port of Al Jubail on September 13, 1990. For the next three months the company trained in the northern desert of Saudi Arabia. By Christmas, its headquarters...

Lesson Plan

Surveying Land

Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

K, 1, 2, 3

Introduction During the time of the American Revolution, much of the land in the colonies was not mapped. In his early years, George Washington was a surveyor and measured land to figure out the location of property. Materials Rope or...

Video

America before Columbus

Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

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

Charles Mann’s book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus (Knopf, 2005) won the US National Academy of Sciences’ 2006 Keck Award for the best book of the year. In this lecture he looks at new research on pre-Columbian...

News

Respected General turns traitor, 1780

Benedict Arnold, whose name is now synonymous with the word "traitor," was once a well-respected American officer responsible for key victories at Fort Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Fort Stanwix, and Saratoga. Arnold’s contemporaries were...

News

National Poetry Month, Part 4: WWI Poems

In 1918, Ella Osborn, an American nurse serving in France at the close of WWI, copied two poems into her personal diary : "In Flanders Fields," written in 1915 by Canadian surgeon Lt. Col. John D. McCrae, and "The Answer," a response...

News

Hamilton’s Love Letter: On This Day, December 14

On December 14, 1780, Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, the second daughter of wealthy patriot Philip Schuyler. One of our favorite documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection is a love letter from Hamilton to Elizabeth ,...

News

First Fridays at the Gilder Lehrman Collection

Once a month, the Gilder Lehrman Institute offers teachers the opportunity to visit the Gilder Lehrman Collection for a behind-the-scenes show-and-tell with our curatorial staff. Last Friday, July 7, the curators were joined by Megan...

News

Teacher Seminar Livestreams in Partnership with the Eisenhower Memorial Commission

As part of a special partnership with the Eisenhower Memorial Commission , the Gilder Lehrman Institute is pleased to present a special livestream of our Gilder Lehrman Teacher Seminar on Eisenhower and the Art of Presidential...

Classroom Resources

Historical Context: The Confederacy Begins to Collapse

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

By early 1863, the Civil War had begun to cause severe hardship on the southern home front. Not only was most of the fighting taking place in the South, but also as the Union blockade grew more effective and the South's railroad...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Eleanor Roosevelt’s four basic rights, 1944

Government and Civics

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a lifelong advocate of equal rights, used her position as First Lady to advocate against discrimination in the United States. However, Mrs. Roosevelt’s ideas were not embraced by everyone in the pre-civil...

News

Civil War soldiers: Thomas Burpee and his sons

The Gilder Lehrman Collection has more than 10,000 letters written by soldiers during the American Civil War, and when you read dozens or even hundreds of letters by the same person, it is very much like reality television. You become...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Cadet Ulysses S. Grant at West Point, 1839

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

8, 9, 10, 11, 12

In 1839, seventeen-year-old Hiram Ulysses Grant received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. It changed the course of his life—and his name. Grant always disliked his first name and was commonly known...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Jefferson on the French and Haitian Revolutions, 1792

Geography, Government and Civics, World History

When Thomas Jefferson wrote this letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, three revolutions—the American, French, and Haitian—occupied the minds of these two renowned leaders. While the American Revolution had been won nearly a decade...

News

Playing ball for the troops: Yankees/Dodgers/Giants exhibition benefit game, 1943

There’s no denying the important role that baseball has played in America’s past. It has always been considered more than a game, whether played by professional athletes or kids at the sandlot. This was never more obvious than during...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

A perspective on the San Francisco earthquake, 1906

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a great earthquake broke loose, with an epicenter near San Francisco. Violent shocks punctuated the shaking, which lasted some 45 to 60 seconds. The earthquake was felt from southern Oregon to south of...

Program/Event

Library Programs

Library Affiliate Program The Library Affiliate Program , free to all public and university academic libraries, is a unique gateway to education resources, events, and tools designed to help librarians bring American history to life...

Lesson Plan

Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority

Religion and Philosophy

9, 10, 11, 12

Essential Questions What impact did "the Moral Majority" have on American culture and politics in the 1980s? What are the differences between primary and secondary sources? Materials Excerpt from Listen America by Jerry Falwell (1980)...

Program/Event

Civil War Essay Contest Winners 2018

High School Division Click on the title to read a winning essay. First Prize Lena Cohen , Chapel Hill High School, Chapel Hill, North Carolina “One Hundred Years Later: The Failure of the Civil War Centennial” Second Prize Joseph Wang...

News

Things to Ponder on Columbus Day: The Columbian Exchange

On Monday, October 12, many Americans had the day off and stores hosted sales under the name of that 15th-century Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus. But Columbus’s impact on our world reaches past a 3-day weekend and great deals...

News

Free Subscription to History Now: The Journal for Teachers

This month we are pleased to offer Affiliate School teachers a free subscription to History Now: The Journal . Each issue of History Now features original essays by renowned historians on key topics, eras, and themes in American...

News

New York Ratifies Constitution: On This Day, July 26

After the Constitutional Convention adopted the US Constitution in September 1787, the long and contentious road to its ratification began. Each state formed a special convention to vote on ratification. The pressure was on: at a...

News

Attack on Pearl Harbor: On This Day, 1941

Seventy-five years ago, shortly before 8 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack against US armed forces in Hawaii . Japanese pilots targeted Army, Navy, and Marine airfields, followed by naval ships at...

News

Abraham Lincoln, Mary Owens, and the accidental engagement

In 1836, Abraham Lincoln found himself in a tenuous situation. He was engaged to a woman he barely knew and didn’t want to marry. Mrs. Elizabeth Abell had been pushing for a romance between Lincoln and her sister, Mary Owens, whom...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Patriotic Postal Covers: "Lincoln & Davis in 5 Rounds," 1861

Art

Patriotic postal covers are an important part of the material culture of the Civil War era. People often collected these covers in special keepsake albums. Such decorative envelopes were used as advertisements and to promote various...

Collection Landing Page

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...

About page

Russell P. Pennoyer

Russell Pennoyer is a senior advisor to Brittany Capital Group, joining in 2014 after twenty years with Benedetto, Gartland & Company, a leading private equity placement agent, where he was a partner and ultimately president. He...

News

Theodore Roosevelt Travels to Panama: On This Day, November 9

In 1904, the US took over a massive overseas building project—a ship canal in Panama that would connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This wasn’t a new idea. In his first message to Congress as president in 1869, Ulysses S....

News

Presidential Assassin Charles J. Guiteau Executed: On This Day, June 30

Desire for a civil service job might seem like an odd reason to commit a capital crime—but it was one of the reasons given by the man who assassinate President James A. Garfield , Charles J. Guiteau. He shot the President on July 2,...

Program/Event

Hamilton Education Program | Frequently Asked Questions

Eligibility How can my school participate in the program? To participate in the program, schools can submit their information here . The Gilder Lehrman Institute will contact eligible schools as tickets to Hamilton are made available...

News

Remembering The Somme: World War I and America Reminder

Over the past week those nations involved in World War I have been commemorating the devastating Battle of the Somme , which raged over 141 days starting on July 1, 1916, and resulted in more than a million casualties. On the first...

Classroom Resources

Historical Context: Go West ... and Grow Up with the Country

Geography

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In 1854 Horace Greeley, a New York newspaper editor, gave Josiah B. Grinnell a famous piece of advice. "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country," said Greeley. Grinnell took Greeley's advice, moved west, and later founded...

Video

Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1863: Document in a Minute

Gilder Lehrman curator Beth Huffer explores Thomas Nast's celebratory illustration of Abraham Lincoln's 1863 proclaimation of a day of Thanksgiving. On December 5, Harper’s published a two-page engraving by renowned artist Thomas...

Program/Event

About the Hamilton Education Program

In October 2015, Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller and Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, The Rockefeller Foundation, NYC Department of Education, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute announced an educational partnership that will...

Collection Landing Page

Preparing for Your Field Trip

Preparing for Your Field Trip Review these guidelines before booking your field trip to the Gilder Lehrman Collection. Make a reservation: Fill out the form on the Book Your Field Trip page of our website. We will contact you by email...

Collection Landing Page

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...

Video: Read Along

"Let the Children March"

Government and Civics

Told from a child’s point of view, this moving historical picture book focuses on a monumental moment in the civil rights movement: the Children’s Crusade of 1963. Thousands of African American children and teens marched through the...

News

US Decides to Send Troops to Korean War: On This Day, June 27

On June 27, 1950, President Truman announced that the US would be sending air and naval troops to Korea . The conflict on the other side of the world had begun two days before when North Korea invaded South Korea in an effort to unify...

News

Happy Birthday, Aaron Burr!

Aaron Burr was born in Newark, New Jersey, on February 6, 1756. In many ways his career paralleled that of his rival Alexander Hamilton. They both served in the Continental Army, became lawyers and practiced in Albany and New York...

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