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.
April 2019
Lunch Bite – The Loyalist Prisoner Experience
Library Assistant Kieran O’Keefe discusses the loyalist prisoner experience during the Revolutionary War featuring an engraving of the notorious underground prison at Simsbury Mines in Connecticut, published in 1781 in a London periodical. While revolutionaries in New York contended with British forces based in New York City and Canada, they also faced an internal threat from the state's loyalist inhabitants. Fearing that loyalists might undermine the Revolution through insurrection or by aiding the British army, patriot leaders chose to arrest…
Find out more »May 2019
Lunch Bite – The First Society of the Cincinnati Eagle Insignias
The first examples of the iconic Society of the Cincinnati insignia, known as the Eagle, were made in Paris in January 1784 for French members of the Society, who had served the American cause as either soldiers of their king or volunteers commissioned in the Continental forces. Popular among French officers and admired by their countrymen, the Society Eagle symbolized their service to their king and association with the American war and its revered leader, George Washington, who was the…
Find out more »June 2019
Lunch Bite – Tarleton’s Second Battle of Cowpens
Join History and Education Associate Evan Phifer for a discussion of Tarleton’s Second Battle of Cowpens. The presentation will focus on the published first edition of Banastre Tarleton’s 1787 memoirs and his very public debate with critics over responsibility for the dramatic British defeat at the 1781 Battle of Cowpens. The presentation will last approximately 30 minutes with time afterwards for up-close viewing of the memoirs.
Find out more »July 2019
Lunch Bite – The 1786 Published Edition of the Marquis de Chastellux’s Account of His Travels
Join Executive Director Jack Warren for a discussion of a treasure from our library — the 1786 published edition of the marquis de Chastellux’s account of his travels in America, which offers remarkable insights into how European intellectuals imagined the natural world at the end of the eighteenth century and how they related those ideas to the American Revolution. Chastellux was a major general in the French army and the liaison between George Washington and General Rochambeau. The presentation…
Find out more »August 2019
Lunch Bite – A Collection of Images Illustrating the Art of War in the 18th Century
Bénédicte Miyamoto, associate professor at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and a fellow in the Institute's library, will present highlights of manuscript maps, fortification drawings and artillery diagrams in the Institute's collections that illustrate the art of the war in the eighteenth century. Military engineers, draftsmen and topographers received artistic training that was used to produce these documents, which were vital tools in eighteenth-century warfare. Artistic skills were not only needed for in-situ sketching, but were also required to produce a wealth of…
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