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.
December 2022
Dinner and Lecture – The Battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens: The American Revolution in the Southern Backcountry
Please note: This event was originally scheduled for September 30, but was postponed due to inclement weather. The southern backcountry was the center of the fight for independence, but backcountry devotion to the patriot cause was slow in coming. Decades of animosity between coastal elites and backcountry settlers who did not enjoy accurate representation in the assemblies meant a complex political and social milieu throughout the turbulent time. While examining the political, social and military history of the southern backcountry,…
Find out more »Battlefield Tour – The Battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens
Please note: This event was originally scheduled for October 1, but was postponed due to inclement weather. Join us in Spartanburg, S.C., to explore the battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens. This is a two-day experience that includes a buffet dinner and lecture at the 1881 Event Hall in Spartanburg, S.C., and a lecture given by Dr. Melissa Walker, professor emerita of history at Converse College, discussing the social, political, and military history of the southern backcountry that led to…
Find out more »Lecture – “As long as I have served, I have not left a battlefield in such deep sorrow”: The Archaeology of a Mass Burial Discovered at Red Bank Battlefield
For nearly a decade, Red Bank Battlefield Park, N.J., has been the focus of a series of archaeological studies investigating the Hessian attack on Fort Mercer on October 22, 1777, during the Philadelphia campaign. During a public archaeology program conducted in the summer of 2022, a mass burial space was discovered and is thought to contain remains of Hessian soldiers who lost their lives in the attack. Wade P. Catts, lead archaeologist for the study, discusses how they made the…
Find out more »Author’s Talk – The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution
With a smallpox epidemic raging during the Revolutionary War, Gen. George Washington was forced to order the mandatory inoculation of the Continental Army. Washington, however, did not have to convince fearful colonists to protect themselves against smallpox—they were the ones demanding it. In his new book, The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution, Andrew Wehrman, professor of history at Central Michigan University, discusses how inoculation became the most sought-after medical procedure of the eighteenth century…
Find out more »Lunch Bite – A Presentation Sword Awarded to Commodore Joshua Barney
Join Museum Collections and Operations Manager Paul Newman as he discusses a presentation sword awarded to Commodore Joshua Barney (1759-1818) by the city of Washington, D.C., for his service at the Battle of Bladensburg, fought on August 24, 1814. Barney, who was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, commanded sailors, marines and militiamen in a spirited fight on that summer’s day north-east of the nation’s capital in the face of…
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