164 items
Chat with the Curator: Amelia Earhart and Neta Snook
Curator of the Gilder Lehrman Collection, Sandra Trenholm, describes documents in the Neta Snook Collection, including letters and photographs of Amelia Earhart. Biographer Susan Butler (East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart)...
Frederick Douglass on Lincoln and Reconstruction
Dickinson College historian Matthew Pinsker describes changes in Frederick Douglass’s opinion of Abraham Lincoln between Lincoln’s assassination in 1865 and the unveiling of the Freedmen’s Monument in Lincoln Park, Washington, DC, in...
Living and Dying in the Civil War
West Virginia University historian Aaron Sheehan-Dean offers thoughts on the Library of America series The Civil War Told by Those Who Lived It at a Gilder Lehrman webinar on the Civil War 150 traveling exhibition. The exhibition is...
Inside the Vault: Frederick Douglass: Advocate for Equality
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...
Inside the Vault: The March on Washington
On August 28, 1963, 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The event was covered by approximately 3,000 members of the press. The documents discussed illustrate the...
Inside the Vault: Fighting for the Rights of Black Lives in the Founding Era
Prince Hall and James Forten protested the treatment of Black Americans during the Founding Era. In 1788 in Boston, Hall wrote a petition demanding the Massachusetts government protect Black sailors from being kidnapped and sold into...
Inside the Vault: Declaration of Independence
In the July 1, 2021 session of Inside the Vault, 2020 Idaho Teacher of the Year Stacie Christensen and Hamilton ’s Simon Longnight join us as we learn the history behind the William J. Stone printing of the Declaration of...
Inside the Vault: Massachusetts 54th
On July 18, 1863, the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry led an assault against Battery Wagner on Morris Island, South Carolina. The battle demonstrated the bravery and fierce determination of African American soldiers even though...
Inside the Vault: Chinese Exclusion Act
In 1882, the US government passed legislation that prohibited Chinese immigration for ten years and declared Chinese immigrants ineligible for naturalization. It was the first act in American history to place broad restrictions on...
Inside the Vault: Robert F. Kennedy's Report on Civil Rights
At the end of 1962, President John F. Kennedy asked his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, to compile a report on the civil rights enforcement activities of the Justice Department over the previous year. In this report,...
Using Historical Content to Ground Difficult Conversations
A follow-up conversation to a 2021 Teacher Seminar program on Using Historical Content to Ground Difficult Conversations led by 2016 Ohio History Teacher of the Year Justin Emrich and 2020 Illinois History Teacher of the Year Corey...
Inside the Vault: Maps of Colonial America
While colonial era maps of North America are often inaccurate representations of the geography, they do give us insight into how Europeans viewed the Western Hemisphere. Early Dutch, French, and Spanish maps record waterways, land...
Inside the Vault: Treason in the American Revolution: Benedict Arnold and John André
In September 1780, the discovery of General Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British was a deeply shocking revelation. Arnold, whose name is now synonymous with the word “traitor,” was once a well-respected...
Inside the Vault: World War II Propaganda
On the October 7, 2021 session of Inside the Vault, Professor Michael Neiberg from the United States Army War College and Stacie Christensen, 2020 Idaho History Teacher of the Year, join us as we discuss World War II propaganda...
Inside the Vault: Civil War Diaries of William Woodlin, 8th USCT, & Cyrena Hammond
During the Civil War, 22-year-old William Woodlin, a musician in the 8th United States Colored Troops, and 18-year-old Cyrena Hammond, from Clarendon, New York, kept diaries about their experiences and observations. They recorded the...
Inside the Vault: Lucy Knox
During the siege of Boston in 1775, 19-year-old Lucy Knox gave up everything she knew and left Boston with her husband’s sword hidden in her clothes. She would never see her parents or siblings again. Lucy’s letters to her husband,...
National History Teacher of the Year Award
Since 2004, the Gilder Lehrman Institute has presented awards to the best history teachers in the United States. Together with our partners Preserve America and HISTORY, we award 53 winners from US states and territories and one...
Emancipation and the Question of Agency: The Power of the Enslaved, the Power of Policy
Historian James Oakes (The Graduate Center, City University of New York) addresses the timeless question of agency in emancipation—who freed the slaves?—by suggesting that the query demands greater nuance. The agency of slaves and...
American Antislavery Writings: Colonial Beginnings to Emancipation
James G. Basker (Barnard College, Columbia University) discusses his latest book, American Antislavery Writings: Colonial Beginnings to Emancipation (The Library of America, 2012). Basker, who is also the president of the Gilder...
The Haitian Revolution: A New Vision of Freedom in the Atlantic World
Duke University historian Laurent Dubois discusses slavery, culture, and ideology in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which upon the triumph of its revolution in 1804 became the nation of Haiti—the first and only nation...
Reason and Emotion in Revolutionary America
New York University historian Nicole Eustace discusses the "tempest of emotion" that swept through the Age of Reason, epitomized by the earliest call for a full break between the American colonies and Great Britain, Thomas Paine’s...
Taxation and Representation: The Imperial Debate between Britain and the Americans
Brown University historian Gordon Wood describes the British and American conceptions of representation during the eighteenth century, widely diverging points of view that were forged by radically different experiences with...
The Lion’s Pride: Theodore Roosevelt and His Family in Peace and War
Edward J. Renehan Jr. examines Theodore Roosevelt’s view of war and how this affected his children, based on his book The Lion’s Pride: Theodore Roosevelt and His Family in Peace and War.
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War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars
Andrew Carroll, founder of the Legacy Project, recounts his search for letters from America’s wars and reads excerpts from several.
Lincoln at Cooper Union
Author Harold Holzer discusses his book, Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President.
Visions of State in the New Deal Era: International Perspectives
Historian Alan Brinkley looks at the New Deal era with an international perspective, exploring the evolution of global experiments in government occurring around the world, particularly fascism, communism, and liberal democracy.
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Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character
Roger Kennedy, former director of the National Park Service, discusses the "fatal twins," Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, whose military, legal, and political careers intersected for nearly thirty years before they came to duel in...
Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists
Historian Carol Berkin briefly discusses the arguments put forth by Federalists and Anti-Federalists in the state ratification conventions.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life
Lori D. Ginzberg, professor of history and women’s studies at Pennsylvania State University, discusses her 2010 biography, Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life.
The March on Washington: A Virtual Tour
Join Dr. Clayborne Carson, Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, for a virtual tour of the 1963 March on Washington.
Exchanges of Culture and Conflict in the Southwest
Professor DeLay looks at changes in thought, technology, and outlook that prompted early exploration, and Spain’s late entry into colonial pursuits.
Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin
Historian Jill Lepore of Harvard University discusses her book, Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin, a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award, with James G. Basker, president of the Gilder Lehrman Institute.
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A Teacher’s Tour of Ford’s Theatre
Historian Matthew Pinsker (Dickinson College) leads a tour of Ford’s Theatre campus, including the main building, the Petersen House, and the Center for Education and Leadership, to explore how history teachers can use the site’s...
What Would Lincoln Do? How Lincoln’s Legacy is Used and Abused in Today’s Washington
During the partial government shutdown of 2013, an expert panel of historians and policy analysts convened in Washington, DC, to discuss the presence of Abraham Lincoln’s legacy in contemporary politics.
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The Idea of America: Reflections on the Birth of the United States
Bancroft and Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Gordon S. Wood, the Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University, discusses his 2011 essay collection, The Idea of America: Reflections on the...
A Teacher’s Tour of the Battle of Gettysburg
Historian Matthew Pinsker leads a virtual teacher’s tour of the Battle of Gettysburg, highlighting key moments and individuals to illustrate the broad story of the battle, its implications for the Civil War, and its legacy in...
The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery
Columbia University historian Eric Foner discusses his most recent work, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery , with James G. Basker, president of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Professor Foner was...
"Let the Word Go Forth": Symbols and Images in JFK’s Inaugural Address
University of Virginia historian Barbara Perry describes John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, including background information on the President’s life and family, the writing of the speech, and major accomplishments of his...
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