The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History was founded in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

by businessmen-philanthropists

Richard Gilder Richard Gilder Jr. (May 31, 1932 – May 12, 2020), was an American philanthropist and co-founder of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. He also headed the brokerage firm Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co., whose specialty is tradi ...

and Lewis E. Lehrman in 1994 to promote the study and interest in

American history The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...

. The Institute serves teachers, students, scholars, and the general public. Its activities include the following: * creating history-centered schools; * organizing seminars and programs for educators; * producing print and electronic publications and traveling exhibitions; * sponsoring lectures by eminent

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

s; * administering a History Teacher of the Year Award in every state through its partnership with Preserve America; * awarding the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize, Frederick Douglass Book Prize, George Washington Prize, and the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History; * offering fellowships for scholars to work in the Gilder Lehrman Collection and other archives.

Website

The institute maintains a website to offer educational material for teachers, students, historians, and the public, and to provide up-to-the-minute information about the institute's programs and activities. The Web site offers learning modules on major topics in American history, podcasts from noted historians discussing their work, online exhibitions of primary source documents, and information about the institute's programs.

Journal

The institute publishes a quarterly online history journal, ''History Now'', featuring articles by historians, teacher lesson plans, interactive activities, and advice from the archivist.

The Gilder Lehrman Collection

The collection contains more than 60,000 documents on deposit at the

New-York Historical Society The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum ...

detailing the

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

and social history of the United States. The collection's holdings include manuscript letters, diaries, maps, photographs, printed books and pamphlets, ranging from 1493 through modern times. It is particularly rich with materials in the Revolutionary,

Antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ...

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

periods. Highlights of the collection include signed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, a rare printed copy of the first draft of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

, and thousands of unpublished Civil War soldiers' letters. Letters written by

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

et al. vividly record the issues and events of their day. The writings of such notable women as

Lucy Knox Lucy Knox (9 November 1845 – 10 May 1884), styled The Honourable from 1870 until her death, was an Anglo-Irish poet of the Victorian era. Knox was born as Lucy Spring Rice in Hither Green, Lewisham, the second daughter of Stephen Spring Rice ...

Mercy Otis Warren Mercy Otis Warren (September 14, eptember 25, New Style1728 – October 19, 1814) was an American activist poet, playwright, and pamphleteer during the American Revolution. During the years before the Revolution, she had published poems and pla ...

, and

Catharine Macaulay Catharine Macaulay (née Sawbridge, later Graham; 23 March 1731 – 22 June 1791), was an English Whig republican historian. Early life Catharine Macaulay was a daughter of John Sawbridge (1699–1762) and his wife Elizabeth Wanley (died 1733 ...

discuss a variety of military, political, and social issues.

The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition

The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition was established at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

Prizes

In 1990 the $50,000 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize was established by the institute and

Gettysburg College Gettysburg College is a private liberal arts college in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1832, the campus is adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield. Gettysburg College has about 2,600 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women. ...

. In 1999 the $25,000 Frederick Douglass Book Prize was established by the institute. In 2005 the $50,000

George Washington Book Prize The George Washington Book Prize was instituted in 2005 and is awarded annually to the best book on the founding era of the United States; especially ones that have the potential to advance broad public understanding of American history. It is admi ...

was established by the institute,

Washington College Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" name ...

, and George Washington's Mount Vernon.

References

External links

*
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History at Google Cultural Institute
{{Authority control American studies Education in New York City History organizations based in the United States Educational organizations based in the United States 1994 establishments in New York City