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 died in 1853. To settle the estate, Judge J. N. Lea had ordered the sale of 127 slaves from the Waverly plantation and 51 from the Meredith plantation, both in Avoyelles Parish.
The catalog from this auction includes the business aspects of the slave trade, listing the purchase terms as "one-third cash, and the remainder at 12 months’ credit, for approved city
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 of papers, documents, and playing cards. Colonists’ anger over the new tax was heightened by the fact that it had been passed by Parliament without the approval of colonial legislatures. Reactions ranged from boycotts of British goods to more violent protests, including riots and attacks on tax collectors. In an August 19, 1765, letter, Archibald Hinshelwood of
Each year, ten Gilder Lehrman Fellowships are awarded to outstanding scholars of American history to conduct research at archives in New York City. In 2009, City College professor Hidetaka Hirota, then a doctoral candidate at Boston College, received a Gilder Lehrman Fellowship to do research at the New York Public Library for his dissertation on nativism, citizenship, and the deportation of the destitute in nineteenth-century New York.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute is happy to announce that Professor Hirota’s groundbreaking dissertation is now a book, just published by Oxford University
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 Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History. The award recognizes the best book on the subject of military history published in the last year.
Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of the New-York Historical Society, and James Basker, president of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, praised the book for "[shedding] light on an important period in our nation’s
In celebration of National Poetry Month, we’ll be highlighting some of the intriguing, eloquent, and historically significant poems in the Gilder Lehrman Collection. These poems shed a personal light on momentous events in American history, from the American Revolution to World War I.
In October 1772, Thomas Woolridge, a British businessman and supporter of William Legge, the Earl of Dartmouth, asked Phillis Wheatley to write a poem for Legge, who had just been appointed secretary of state for the colonies. Entitled "To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth," the poem reflects the
In the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, Virginia, on October 21, 1861, the 1st Minnesota Volunteers unit 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. Nonetheless, his death is given a sense of honor and sacrifice in a touching poem by his friend Hanford L. Gordon. Written several weeks after the battle, Gordon’s poem recounts the "literally true" circumstances of Lewis Mitchell’s death, from a gory description of Mitchell’s last moments to Gordon’s horrified discovery of his friend’s body.
We’ve
Midori Kawaue 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 Midori describes highlights from the program.
Brought up in Japan, I was inspired by how Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series created a three-dimensional world for me to experience the physical forces that framed her 19th-century American pioneer life. Eventually, my affection for these novels evolved into a passion for US history.
For a history nerd, my experience with
Eric Foner, the eminent historian of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, retires this year as DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University, a position he has held since 1988. Foner has taught at Columbia, Oxford, Cambridge, and Moscow State, has written more than 25 acclaimed books, and is the recipient of numerous awards for scholarship and excellent teaching. In 2011, he received the Pulitzer Prize, Bancroft Prize, and the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize for his book The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, which he discusses in this video interview
Between 1836 and 1865, approximately 55,000 Norwegians sailed to the United States. Like most immigrants, they sought opportunities that didn’t exist at home—religious freedom, economic security, land ownership, and educational and social advancement. The 1853 poem "A Farewell Ode to Emigrants on Their Journey to America" is written (in Danish) from the perspective of someone who stayed in Norway, speaking to someone who has left for America. In eleven verses, the anonymous poet reveals the reasons some left Norway, and praises the wonders of America—the natural resources, fertile soil, and
At this evening’s Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize Ceremony, at the Union League Club in New York City, we will honor James B. Conroy and Douglas R. Egerton for their outstanding scholarly works on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. The Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize, sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute and Gettysburg College, is a $50,000 prize awarded annually for the finest scholarly work in English on Abraham Lincoln, the American Civil War soldier, or the American Civil War era.
James B. Conroy’s winning work, Lincoln’s White House: The People’s House in Wartime (Rowman and Littlefield
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 friend, Miss Anna McKnight, vividly and cheekily describes his admiration for her. Adams was 63 when he penned this poem, and married to Louisa Catherine Adams—two factors that kept him from offering "thee my heart." After contemplating the various types of love he could feel for Miss McKnight, he proclaims his affection comes from a mix of all—that of "lover -
On April 24, 1800, John Adams signed a Congressional Act authorizing the transfer of the nation’s capital from Philadelphia to Washington, DC. Tucked into this bill was a provision of funds "for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress . . . and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them."
Thus, the Library of Congress was born. The library’s first collection was destroyed when British troops burned the Capitol on August 24, 1814. Thomas Jefferson offered his vast personal library as a replacement, and several months later, Congress approved the
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 by Lt. J.A. Armstrong of Wisconsin.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields the poppies growBetween the crosses, row on row,That mark our place. While in the SkyThe larks still bravely singing, flyUnheard, amid the guns below.We are the dead, Short days agoWe lived, felt dawns, saw sunsets glow;Loved and were loved – but now we lie In Flanders Field
Take up
At the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize ceremony, at the Union League Club in New York City, on April 19, we honored James B. Conroy and Douglas R. Egerton for their outstanding scholarly works on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Read more about the prize and the prize winners on the GLI blog for April 19.
In addition to the winners of the prize, we also celebrated the work of the students from Gilder Lehrman Affiliate Schools who won the 2017 Civil War Essay Prize. On the morning of April 19, the students, along with their parents and teachers, visited the Gilder Lehrman Collection to view
In October 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on a Caribbean island he called San Salvador and claimed it for the king and queen of Spain. A few months later, on May 4, 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued a papal bull known as "Inter Caetera," which played a central role in establishing and protecting Spanish domination over land on the west side of the Atlantic. The bull demarcated a line 350 miles west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands and assigned Spain the exclusive right to acquire territorial possessions and to trade west of that line. All others were forbidden to approach these lands
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, civics-minded citizens. In recognition of these efforts, we’ve highlighted some of our most popular teaching resources. Explore them by era below:
The Americas to 1620
Primary Source: Columbus Reports on His First Voyage
Infographic: Major European Explorers
Colonization and Settlement, 1585-1763
Primary Source: Jamestown Settler Describes Life in Virginia
Lesson
On May 8, 1945, one day after Germany’s unconditional surrender ended World War II in Europe, Commander of the Expeditionary Armed Forces Dwight D. Eisenhower issued a Victory Order of the Day to commend the victorious Allied forces for their "valiant performance of duty."
You have taken in stride military tasks so difficult as to be classed by many doubters as impossible. You have confused, defeated and destroyed your savagely fighting foe. On the road to victory you have endured every discomfort and privation and have surmounted every obstacle ingenuity and desperation could throw in your
On May 19, 1735, the New-York Weekly Journal republished an article from England’s The Guardian on the reasons to educate women. Most notably, the author (most likely Joseph Addison) states that women, though they have different roles than men, have "the same improvable Minds" by virtue of their status as human beings. "Learning and Knowledge are Perfections in us, not as we are Men, but as we are reasonable Creatures, in which Order, of Beings the Female World is upon the same Level with the Male." The author even argues that women have certain advantages over men in obtaining an education:
Summer is a great time for teachers to take a Self-Paced Course and earn professional development credit while picking up content knowledge and pedagogical skills. Each Self-Paced Course is equivalent to 15 PD credit hours and can be taken at any time or place, with no deadlines or expiration dates. Click here to browse all 16 courses, or discover the two newest offerings below:
Revolutionary America, led by Professor Denver Brunsman of George Washington University, explores the American Revolutionary era, including insight into new scholarly approaches to traditional subjects, including
Since the introduction of the Hamilton Education Program more than a year ago, there have been a staggering 22 student matinees in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Before attending a Hamilton matinee and enjoying a day of student performances and a production of Hamilton, #Eduham participants learn about the historical context behind the musical with an interactive Founding Era curriculum created by the Gilder Lehrman Institute. The most recent highlight was on April 26, when, thanks to Google.com, 5000 students from Title I schools attended matinees in all three cities.
Through the
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, raising over $1.1 million in recognition of these individuals who have made an enormous impact on American history education and historic preservation.
President of the Gilder Lehrman Institute James G. Basker praised the honorees for having "risen to the very top of their respective businesses while also making transformative contributions to American history, to
Fifteen college juniors and seniors were chosen for the Gilder Lehrman History Scholar Award based on their exemplary leadership skills, commitment to public service, academic excellence, and demonstrated passion for American history. This summer, the scholars will spend a week New York City, where they’ll have the opportunity to explore the field of American history through archival visits, special presentations, and meetings with eminent historians. They will also be honored at a celebratory dinner.
Learn about our newest scholars below:
Michael Antosiewicz attends Rutgers University School
Lin-Manuel Miranda received the 2017 US Capitol Historical Society Freedom Award on September 12 for his efforts in creating the musical Hamilton and the Hamilton Education Program, a program developed in partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute and The Rockefeller Foundation.
"We are very honored to present this award to Mr. Miranda," said Donald Carlson, chair of the US Capitol Historical Society. "We give him this award because of his unique ability to engage new audiences with our history and his dedication to inspiring informed civic participation."
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi,
For the end of the school year, from June 1 to June 30, all products in the Gilder Lehrman History Shop are 40% off. Use the summer to earn professional development hours with self-paced courses, stock up on classroom posters, and develop dynamic, interactive lesson plans with our teaching resources, books, and multimedia!
Click here to view special sales sets.
Yesterday, the Hamilton Education Program wrapped up its first full school year of matinees. From October 2016 to June 2017, the program held 24 matinees in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, giving students from more than 430 Title I schools across the country the opportunity to tap into their own creativity, discover the Founding Era through dynamic lessons, and attend a special student matinee of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton.
However, this is just the beginning for #EduHam—the program will continue this fall in New York, Chicago, and, starting with Los Angeles, in select
