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.
January 2020
Lunch Bite – British Military Wall Gun
Join History and Education Associate Evan Phifer for a discussion of a Revolutionary War-period British military wall gun and its unique role in eighteenth-century warfare. With an overall length of more than six feet, a weight exceeding thirty-five pounds and a .98-caliber bore that fired a lead ball up to a mile, the wall gun was intended as a fixed weapon in the defense of fortifications during siege warfare. In America, where they were imported beginning before the French and…
Find out more »February 2020
Lunch Bite – A Map of the Province of New York, with Part of Pensilvania, and New England
Join Library Assistant Kieran O'Keefe for a discussion of a hand-colored map of New York published in 1775 and of mapmaking in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world. The map was based on a survey conducted by John Montresor, a British military engineer and cartographer. Montresor came to America at the beginning of the French and Indian War and served in the British army throughout the conflict. He continued in America during the first few years of the Revolution. The map primarily…
Find out more »March 2020
EVENT CANCELLED: Lunch Bite – The Badge of Military Merit
Due to the current public health emergency, this event has been cancelled. Join Deputy Director and Curator Emily Schulz Parsons for a discussion of the Badge of Military Merit, the first military decoration for enlisted men and the precursor to the modern Purple Heart. Declaring that “the road to glory in a patriot army and a free country is … open to all,” George Washington established the badge in August 1782 to recognize distinguished conduct and to encourage “virtuous ambition” and…
Find out more »April 2020
EVENT CANCELLED: Lunch Bite – The Female Review: or Memoirs of an American Young Lady
Due to the current public health emergency, this event has been cancelled. Join Research Services Librarian Rachel Nellis for a discussion of The Female Review: or Memoirs of an American Young Lady by Herman Mann. In this 1797 biography, Mann explored the life of Deborah Sampson, a soldier in the Massachusetts Line and one of the first female pensioners of the American Revolution. Mixing fact with romantic inventions, this imaginative account of Sampson’s wartime service was published to support her case for a…
Find out more »August 2020
Video Lunch Bite – Mapping Revolutionary New York
Join historian Kieran O’Keefe for a discussion of eighteenth-century mapmaking, focusing on a 1775 map of New York. Based on a survey by British military engineer John Montresor, the map depicts New York and parts of neighboring colonies, and includes the topography of the Hudson highlands and the Hudson-Lake Champlain corridor, a region heavily contested during the Revolutionary War. https://youtu.be/0x7MgukEDmQ
Find out more »