Supporting scholarship and promoting popular understanding of the American Revolution is central to the work of the American Revolution Institute. The Institute welcomes distinguished scholars and authors to share their insights and discuss their latest research with the public at Anderson House through lectures, author's talks and panel discussions. The Institute also hosts a variety of other historical programs throughout the year, including our Lunch Bite object talks, battlefield tours, special Anderson House tour programs and other events. Many of the events we offer are free.
February 2020
Author’s Talk – Captives of Liberty: Prisoners of War and the Politics of Vengeance in the American Revolution
T. Cole Jones, assistant professor of history at Purdue University, discusses and signs copies of his book examining the ways the revolutionary generation dealt with the more than seventeen thousand enemy soldiers captured during the war. The number of enemy prisoners in American custody often exceeded that of American soldiers in the Continental Army. These prisoners proved increasingly burdensome for the new nation as the war progressed, and a series of thorny political issues compounded these logistical difficulties. From the meeting…
Find out more »March 2020
Author’s Talk – 1774: The Long Year of Revolution
Historian Mary Beth Norton of Cornell University, discusses and signs copies of her new book analyzing the revolutionary change that took place between December 1773 and April 1775—from the Boston Tea Party and the first Continental Congress to the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Drawing extensively on pamphlets, newspapers and personal correspondence, Dr. Norton reconstructs colonial political discourse as it happened, showing the vigorous campaign mounted by conservatives criticizing congressional actions. But by then it was too late. In early…
Find out more »EVENT CANCELLED: Lecture – Suffering Soldiers: Moral Sentiment and Veterans’ Pensions
Due to the current public health emergency, this event has been cancelled. John Resch, professor emeritus of history at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester, discusses how the moral sentiment of gratitude, as expressed in the image of the suffering soldier, transformed the memory of the Revolutionary War and its veterans in the early American republic. This popular depiction legitimized the Continental Army as a republican institution, credited it with securing independence and led to the creation of pensions.…
Find out more »April 2020
EVENT CANCELLED: Author’s Talk – The Boston Massacre: A Family History
Due to the current public health emergency, this event has been cancelled. Serena Zabin, professor of history and director of the American studies program at Carleton College, discusses and signs copies of her new book on the personal and political conflicts that erupted in the Boston Massacre. Following the British troops dispatched from Ireland to Boston in 1768 to suppress colonial unrest, Dr. Zabin has uncovered the forgotten stories of the many regimental wives and children who accompanied these armies…
Find out more »EVENT CANCELLED: Author’s Talk and Concert – Hail Columbia! and the Music of the Founding Era
Due to the current public health emergency, this event has been cancelled. From the Revolutionary War through the antebellum era, popular songs reflected different ideas about the meaning of liberty, the future and nature of the republic and Americans’ proper place within it. Laura Lohman, professor of music at Queens University of Charlotte, will discuss and sign copies of her new book Hail Columbia! American Music and Politics in the Early Nation. David Hildebrand, co-founder of the Colonial Music Institute, will…
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