News Inside the Vault: Davie Jeems Stands Up to the KKK Read an excerpt of the letter to Davie Jeems .
News Holiday Dinner with the Nuclear Family As the winter holidays draw close and Americans everywhere travel to celebrate with their loved ones, it is important to remember how one should act when having dinner with family. The 1950 Encyclopedia Britannica film A Date with...
News Discover Two New Gilder Lehrman Self-Paced Courses The Gilder Lehrman Institute is excited to announce the addition of two new self-paced courses, Emancipation and The Kennedy Presidency , to our Self-Paced Course Series . This series offers graduate-level courses in American history...
News The Lewis and Clark Expedition View a full-screen version of The Lewis and Clark Exhibition . Learn more about the Louisiana Purchase in Elliott West’s essay " America the Newcomer: Claiming the Louisiana Purchase " and a printed copy of the map Meriwether Lewis...
News Congratulations to George Washington Prize Recipient Lin-Manuel Miranda! On Monday, December 14 , Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of Broadway’s hit musical Hamilton, received the George Washington Prize. Miranda became the first playwright to win the literary award in an exciting ceremony that...
News Soldier Spotlight: Diary of a Sailor on the Eve of Pearl Harbor Thomas Barwiss Hagstoz Askin Jr. joined the US Navy in March 1938 at the age of 17. His diary, entitled "Memorys and Incidents of My Last 60 (?) Days in the United States Navy," begins on August 14, 1941, when he was stationed on...
News The Night After Christmas 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...
News The Emancipation Proclamation: On This Day, January 1 As the nation approached the third year of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are...
News Bert the Turtle Ducks and Covers Today’s school children are familiar with fire drills, earthquake drills, tornado drills, and even tsunami drills. Filing out-doors to athletic fields or hiding under desks from imaginary natural disaster debris is expected, scheduled...
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...
News Common Sense Published: On This Day, January 10 Did you know that the most popular written work in American history was published before America was an actual nation of its own? On January 10, 1776, six months before the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the...
News Happy Birthday, Hamilton: On This Day, January 11 Alexander Hamilton was born on this day, either in 1755 or 1757 (historians debate the year). Explore Hamilton’s life and legacy in this interactive digital exhibit.
News Ulysses S. Grant Raises Funds for the Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty has long welcomed newcomers to the United States as a shining beacon of freedom and opportunity in the middle of New York Harbor. Children are taught that the Statue of Liberty was gifted to the United States by...
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....
News Inside the Vault: George Wallace on Segregation, 1964 Read an excerpt of the letter written by George Wallace and explore the online exhibition Freedom Riders , detailing the struggle for civil rights when Wallace was governor.
News Martin Luther King Day This weekend, our country celebrates the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister and activist who became one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Throughout his life, which was cut too short by his tragic...
News Inside the Vault: Long Journey of Civil Rights Read an essay about the abolitionist Grimke sisters and the essay " The Civil Rights Movement: Major Events and Legacies " to explore the long struggle for civil rights.
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...
News Inside the Vault: 19th-Century Photography Read about photography in the 19th century , explore select images from the American Civil War , and create your own Civil War-era portrait .
News Progressive Era Reform Movements at a Glance Are you teaching the Progressive Era this spring? Use the infographic below to provide your students an overview of the reform movements that make the Progressive Era stand out as a time of massive social, political, and economic...
News Frederick Douglass from Slavery to Freeedom As part of a Google Cultural Institute initiative on African American history, the Gilder Lehrman Institute created six digital exhibits featuring Gilder Lehrman’s rich materials relating to African American history. In celebration of...
News African Americans in the US Military: From the Revolution to the World Wars Despite unfair compensation, segregation , and even legal bars on military service, African Americans have served in every conflict in United States history . Take a peek at the next digital exhibition in Gilder Lehrman’s Black...
News Gilder Lehrman Featured on Google Doodle We are thrilled to contribute to today’s Google Doodle honoring Frederick Douglass. Today is the first day of Black History Month, and the approximate date of Frederick Douglass’s 198th birthday. Gilder Lehrman contributed to today’s...
News Congratulations to Ada Ferrer, Winner of the Frederick Douglass Book Prize Ada Ferrer, profess o r of history and Latin American and Caribbean studies at New York University, was awarded the Frederick Douglass Book Prize Thursday night in a ceremony at the Y ale Club in New York City. The award, which...
News Abolitionism The movement to end slavery has existed in various forms throughout American history, but the abolitionist movement slowly gained ground as a political force in our country through the mid-nineteenth century. Take a peek at the next...
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...
News Inside the Vault: Abraham Lincoln, Mary Owens, and the Accidental Engagement Read the full transcript of the letter Lincoln wrote Mary Owens and view the Lincoln Speaks exhibition that explores the power of Lincoln's words.
News Slave Resistance Throughout American history, enslaved people have resisted bondage in a variety of ways: some escaped, rebelled, or sabotaged work tools or work product. They also resisted in more subtle ways, refusing privately to use names given to...
News New Online Exhibitions Page Looking for something interactive to use with your students? Check out Gilder Lehrman’s new Online Exhibitions page to see what resources we can offer your classroom. Our digital exhibitions range from the founding era to the...
News The Dred Scott Decision and Its Bitter Legacy In a rare 1846 freedom suit, Dred and Harriet Scott sued their master for their own freedom as well as their daughters’. The resulting appeals and rulings that pushed the suit to the Supreme Court marked a turning point in the years...
News Half a Century after The Feminine Mystique Today is the anniversary of the publication of the groundbreaking book The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan in 1963. Debunking the idea of the feminine mystique which glorified the role of women as homemakers as a myth, which has "...
News Inside the Vault: Romeo Smith: Slave, Soldier, Freeman Read a transcript of the certificate and examine an African American’s pay warrant from the Revolutionary War .
News Inside the Vault: An African American Protests the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850 Read the transcript of Henry Weeden’s note and read an essay about abolition and antebellum reform .
News Happy Birthday George Washington: On This Day, 1732 George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in Virginia. To celebrate, enjoy a performance of "One Last Time" from the Broadway musical Hamilton , performed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Christopher Jackson, Sydney James Harcourt, and...
News An "Autograph and Something More" from Frederick Douglass Between 1855 and 1886, Franklin E. McNear collected autographs in his leather-bound, red autograph book . Among the eighty-four signatures are notable historic figures like P.T. Barnum, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Frederick Douglass ....
News "Bookending" the Twentieth Century The twentieth century was packed with socio-economic changes in American society. It is often difficult to understand just how different our country was at the beginning of the century. Use the infographic below as you are teaching...
News Counting Down to Hamilton There are only six short weeks until the first student matinee of Hamilton on April 13! To celebrate the launch of the program, we are excited to give you a series of posts that offer insight into the life of Alexander Hamilton. Every...
News Interactive Infographic: Women’s Suffrage through 1920 Looking to celebrate Women’s History Month by teaching women’s suffrage? Take a peek at our new infographic map and explore which states did (and did not) pass women’s suffrage before the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920....
News The Boston Massacre: On This Day, March 5 On March 5, 1770, tensions in the American colonies culminated with an armed skirmish between British troops and American colonists in Boston. Although the American Revolution did not begin in earnest until five years later, the...
News Inside the Vault: The "Long S" Take a closer look at the first draft of the US Constitution to see an example of the "long S" in print.
News Remembering "Princess Alice" Roosevelt 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...
News Counting Down to Hamilton: Week 5 There are now five weeks until the first student matinee of Hamilton ! This week, we’re continuing our blog series on Alexander Hamilton with Amtrak’s Arrive magazine—the March/April 2016 issue features a story on the student ticket...
News Ulto & Inst, 18th-Century Abbreviations: Document in a Minute Take a closer look at George Washington’s letter using 18th-century abbreviations.
News Counting Down to Hamilton: Week 4 There’s less than one month left until the Hamilton student matinee on April 13! This week, discover Alexander Hamilton in the American Imagination , the newest issue of History Now , Gilder Lehrman’s online journal . In five essays,...
News Hamilton at the White House Yesterday, the cast of Hamilton were welcomed to the White House by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for a day of events that honored the musical’s groundbreaking qualities and showcased its ability to inspire...
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 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: On This Day, March 25 On the afternoon of Saturday, March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City caught fire, killing 146 of the 500 employees—mostly young immigrant women and girls . The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory produced women’s...
News Counting Down to Hamilton: Week 2 We’re almost there—only two more weeks until the first student matinee of Hamilton ! This week, watch Ron Chernow, author of Alexander Hamilton — the biography that inspired the musical — discuss the Founding Father ’ s achievements...