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.
May 2023
Lunch Bite – Society of the Cincinnati Eagles of the Twentieth Century
Join the Institute’s deputy director and curator, Emily Parsons, for a Lunch Bite object talk focusing on Society of the Cincinnati Eagles of the twentieth century. The Eagle insignia of the Society of the Cincinnati is one of the most historic American medals and has been worn by members at meetings, dinners, ceremonies, and other events for more than two hundred years. Designed in 1783 by Pierre-Charles L’Enfant—a French-born artist, Continental Army officer, and original member of the Society—the Society’s…
Find out more »June 2023
Lunch Bite – A Short-Barreled Blunderbuss From the Period of the American Revolution
Historical Programs Manager Andrew Outten discusses a British blunderbuss that was made commercially in London, ca. 1770-1780. A precursor to the shotgun, this weapon was often issued to cavalry or naval troops for use in close-quarter combat. This Lunch Bite will offer not only a detailed examination of a blunderbuss from the Institute’s museum collections, but also a discussion pertaining to the history of blunderbusses, their technical components and attributes and their various potential uses throughout the American Revolution. Registration…
Find out more »July 2023
Lunch Bite – An Orderly Book Kept by British General Robert Cuninghame
Museum Collections and Operations Manager Paul Newman discusses a manuscript orderly book kept by British General Robert Cuninghame from his time in command of an army camp near Clonmel, Ireland, 1778. An important historical record, this book records the daily orders disseminated at the camp and includes court martial proceedings, unit movements and the rotation of soldiers to be placed on guard duty. This Lunch Bite will examine the orderly book and its significance in offering a better understanding of…
Find out more »August 2023
Lunch Bite – Catharine Macaulay’s An Address to the people of England, Scotland, and Ireland, on the Present Important Crisis of Affairs
Research Services Librarian Rachel Nellis discusses Catharine Macaulay, a radical English writer and historian sympathetic to the American cause, and her 1775 pamphlet, An Address to the people of England, Scotland, and Ireland, on the Present Important Crisis of Affairs. Using events such as Parliament’s passing of the Stamp Act and the Boston Massacre, Macaulay’s pamphlet was written as an appeal to Great Britain to change its policies towards the colonies. This Lunch Bite will not only examine the contents within…
Find out more »September 2023
Lunch Bite – Statues of Nathan Hale
“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” The words Nathan Hale is said to have uttered just before being hanged as a spy by the British are among the best remembered of the Revolution. The young schoolteacher-turned-officer-turned-spy was a hero to nineteenth-century Americans, but they didn’t know what he looked like, as no contemporary likeness survived. Then two American sculptors working at the turn of the twentieth century imagined Nathan Hale in bronze…
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