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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

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Special Topics

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...

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...

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