Site Search

The phrase "’Twas the night before Christmas," from Clement Moore’s "A Visit from St. Nicholas" is familiar to most of us, but less familiar is the poem, "The Night after Christmas," written by Dr. Robert Archer. Archer, born in 1794...

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! At Gilder Lehrman, we’re celebrating social studies/history teachers for their invaluable work in not only bringing history to life for their students, but educating future generations of knowledgable,...

The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts has released a video about the Hamilton Education Program at work in Hartford, Connecticut. Filmed in the days leading up to and including the December 13, 2018, performance, the video...

Many American presidents are remembered for the landmark laws, amendments, or executive acts they passed while in office. We remember President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, or President Franklin D. Roosevelt...

On this day in 1842, Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd in her sister’s front parlor in Springfield, Illinois. The wedding came after a two- year courtship and engagement. A mysterious break in the engagement came in 1841, which some...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...