Preeminent scholars Serena Zabin, Carleton College, and Robert A. Gross, University of Connecticut Emeritus, convene in Concord where 250 years ago, the "shot heard round the world" ignited the American Revolution. They discuss New England society's challenges and the epochal day of April 19, 1775, when an outbreak of fighting led to the formation of a republic. HERE.

In 1775, Concord was not a quiet rural town waiting for history to arrive. It was an important Massachusetts community already under strain—shaped by class divisions, religious tensions, and an eighteenth-century “affordability crisis” that had been building for years before "the shot heard 'round the world". Dr. Robert A. Gross is Professor Emeritus of American History at the University of Connecticut (UConn). He joins us from Concord, Massachusetts—the central setting of this interview—which examines the town’s social and political tensions before the Revolution, as well as events in Lexington and western Massachusetts on the eve of April 19, 1775 HERE.

The Transcendentalists and Their World is both an intimate journey into the life of a community and a searching cultural study of major American writers as they plumbed the depths of the universe for spiritual truths and surveyed the rapidly changing contours of their own neighborhoods. No American community of the nineteenth century has been recovered so richly and with so acute an awareness of its place in the larger American story. Robert Gross is joined in conversation by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gordon Wood.

The Center for Constitutional Studies hosts Gordon Wood, Pulitzer Prize Winner and Professor at Brown University, during its event celebrating the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. Gordon Wood stresses the central idea of Magna Carta and the origins of the American constitution HERE.

After slavery ended, freedom beckoned to those who had been enslaved at Monticello. But what freedom meant, and how it was pursued varied from person to person, and over time. Join us for a live Q&A with Senior Fellow of African American History, Niya Bates, and Public Historian and Manager of the Getting Word African American Oral History Project, Andrew Davenport. They will share stories about Monticello’s descendant community, the generations of descendants who fought to expand the definitions of freedom, and how the Getting Word project has indelibly shaped Monticello’s scholarship and interpretation HERE.

Coopers make containers comprised of wooden staves held together by hoops. Barrels, buckets, tubs and butter churns are examples of the cooper's work. This livestream will look at the techniques and processes involved in making and assembling the component parts of a bucket HERE.

Spiritual faith has long been shaped by the lettering on a religion’s sacred texts. This is particularly the case with Judaism, so Craftsmanship Quarterly visited three Hebrew scribes — in Jerusalem, New York City, and the liberal enclave of Berkeley, California — to understand why such laborious traditions of handcraft continue in a digitalage. Please read the article here, and hear the associated podcast here.

The documentary ATHOS unveils one of Europe’s last remaining secrets: more than 2.000 monks live on the Holy Mountain Athos in Greece, constituting an independent republic devoted entirely to life-as-prayer. For the first time, a film team has gained access to this monastic republic, where they accompanied several monks in their daily struggle for divinity: their everyday lives in the secluded world are composed of praying, singing and working, but also of cooking and celebrating. The monks take the audience with them on their journey to divinity and give insight into their world of prayer and thought HERE.

Please join this week’s Online Reading of Greek Tragedy with Aeschylus’ dramatic work, “Prometheus,” an austerely simple play rich with timely associations. The tragedy is based on the myth of Prometheus, a Titan who defies the gods to give the gift of fire to mankind—“that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends”—for which he is bound in perpetual punishment. Hosted by Joel Christensen, with special guest Joshua Billings. Presented by the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies, the Kosmos Society, and the Out of Chaos Theatre. Stream this live and archived video here.

In 1775, a ragtag army of farmers and tradesmen went to war against the most powerful army in the world, ultimately winning American independence. What military technologies did the American colonies use in their fight for freedom, and how did they help propel them to one of history’s most unlikely victories? Archaeologists and historians uncover the real stories of innovation, skill, and strategy that determined the outcome of important battles. Join Eastern Woodlands weapons expert Russell Reed and other authorities for this closeup look at the powerful and sometimes ingenious weapons that helped the colonies win the war. View Program and Transcript HERE.

Tu Weiming is the most famous Chinese Confucian thinker of the 20th and 21st centuries. Through his decades of study and teaching at Princeton University, the University of California, Harvard University, and the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University, Tu aims to renovate and enhance Confucianism through an encounter with Western social theory and Christian theology. From Tu’s perspective, the Confucian ideas of ren (“humaneness” or “benevolence”) and what he calls “anthropocosmic unity” can make powerful contributions to the resolution of issues facing the contemporary world. Please join us in viewing this modest testament of conviction and wisdom.

The 23rd Annual James Madison Lecture, presented by Gordon S. Wood, the Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor Emeritus of History at Brown University. The Pulitzer Prize-winning professor speaks on the Revolutionary roots of the Civil War HERE.

Please join this week’s Online Reading of Greek Tragedy with Euripides’ dramatic work, “Andromache.” Achilles has killed Andromache's husband, Hector, and the Greeks have murdered her child. Andromache is made a slave of Achilles' son Neoptolemus, and she bears him a child. Years pass, and Neoptolemus weds Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen. Now fearing again for the life of her child, Andromache seeks refuge in the temple of Thetis, and plots revenge. Hosted by Joel Christensen, with special guest Katerina Ladianou. View this live and archived drama here.

This beautiful film features moving wilderness footage from around the world, accompanied by the haunting music of the early-modern French master, Erik Satie. The melodies of these atmospheric pieces use deliberate, mild dissonances against the harmony to produce a piquant, melancholy effect. The compositions are accompanied by the composer’s performance notes to render each piece "painfully" (douloureux), "sadly" (triste), or "gravely" (grave), communicating an affect of pathos and nostalgia for lost origins. The three Gymnopédies and six Gnossiennes are presently available online HERE.

Thanks to Thomas Jefferson’s fastidious record keeping, we know a great deal about the objects inside the house at Monticello during his lifetime, how they were used, and in some instances, even the exact spot they were placed. Since the creation of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in 1923, curators have worked to return original objects to the house to better interpret the history of Monticello. Some items remain a mystery to this day. Join us for a special livestream to discuss how our curatorial team locates Jefferson-era objects centuries later, and some of their still “unsolved mysteries” HERE.

Join the silversmiths of the James Craig shop as they make mourning rings! We'll be discussing the meaning of these very specific pieces of jewelry, and the motivation behind production and ownership HERE.

Wooden rowboats like the Whitehalls of San Francisco Bay are still constructed with the traditional “lapstrake” design that allowed the chandlers of old to traffic goods to and from 17th-century sailing ships. Today, the pretty woodens that you can see pulling around the Bay are distant cousins of those first workhorses,preserving in their beautiful utility the spirit of a past age. Read the article and see the short film about these wonderful watercraft HERE.

Please join this week’s Online Reading of Greek drama with Aristophanes’ comic masterpiece, “The Clouds.” The play is famous and even infamous for its lampooning of intellectual fashions in classical Athens, and in particular for its treatment of Socrates. It can be considered the world's first extant "comedy of ideas" and is considered by literary critics to be among the finest examples of the genre. Hosted by Joel Christensen, with special guest Joel Schlosser. Presented by the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies, the Kosmos Society, and the Out of Chaos Theatre. Stream this live and archived video HERE.

Who really built our nation? that is a great question, and the answer may surprise you. Meet those that physically built the nation and those that built the nation with enlightened ideas, and examine their combined and lasting legacy HERE.

In 2005, when Dr. Khaled Azzam, a British-trained architect, took a trip back to his native Egypt, he had little idea of the profound experience that awaited him. Six years earlier, Azzam had been appointed to lead The Prince of Wales’ School of Traditional Arts, based in London. What he discovered in his homeland was an ancient tradition of craft founded upon geometrical principles that transcended time and place, principles that would open a window on the origins of art. Read this inspiring and provocative article HERE.

Join us on for an encore presentation of our popular livestream, “Monticello Voices.” Guides discuss Monticello’s history as a plantation, and share stories about the enslaved men, women, and children whose labor kept Thomas Jefferson’s 5,000-acre enterprise running HERE.

Historian Christine DeLucia offers a major reconsideration of the violent seventeenth-century conflict in northeastern America known as King Philip’s War, providing an alternative to conventional narratives that have dominated the histories of colonial New England. Join Professor DeLucia as she discusses her work, Memory Lands, drawing from oral traditions, archival traces, material and visual culture, archaeology, literature, and environmental studies to reassess the nature and enduring legacies of a watershed historical event HERE.

As we mark the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment, historian Laura Dassow Walls will discuss Henry David Thoreau’s mother, sisters, and aunts based on her book, Thoreau: A Life which the late Robert Richardson described as “the best all-around biography of Thoreau ever written.” Henry David Thoreau: A Life (2017) is the first full-length, comprehensive biography of Thoreau in a generation, and presents Thoreau as vigorously alive in all his quirks and contradictions—fully embedded in his place and time, yet speaking powerfully to the problems and perils of today. Please join us HERE.

Join us for a look inside the newly opened Engraver's Shop as they illustrate the steps in creating a monogram. Explore how colonial Virginians chose to mark their valuable items and why HERE.

This evocative collection by internationally acclaimed photographer Sally Mann is a masterful reinvention of the art of landscape photography. Sally Mann is among the most innovative and daring artists working with a camera today. DEEP SOUTH is a collection of her exquisite, ethereal landscape photographs, taken in the years since she rose to international fame with her groundbreaking book Immediate Family. Masterfully adapting technical methods employed by early masters of landscape photography, the photographs in DEEP SOUTH capture what Mann calls the radical light of the American South. Watch this short film of her startlingly powerful images here.

Please join this week’s Online Reading of Greek Tragedy with Sophocles’ classic and timely drama, “Antigone.” To the philosopher Hegel, the tragedy of Antigone exposed the tragic chasm between the "Divine Law," personified by Antigone, and the "Human Law," represented by Creon. In like manner, philosopher Jacques Maritain considered Antigone as the very "heroine of the natural law:" Hosted by Joel Christensen, with special guest James Collins. Presented by the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies, the Kosmos Society, and the Out of Chaos Theatre. Stream this live and archived video HERE.

The Raleigh Tavern is an analogy for the story of Colonial Williamsburg: the politics, the passion, and the people. In this livestream, we'll discuss how the Historic Trades, the curators, and our millwork shop came together to reinterpret the Raleigh Tavern's Public Dining Room HERE.

In 1931, Major Frederick Russell Burnham commissioned a survey near Bull Flat Creek in Humboldt County, a spot where Save the Redwoods League founder Madison Grant believed the world's tallest tree might be found. When the tree, a 364-foot redwood, was indeed found, the California State Park Commission dedicated the tree to the founders of the Save the Redwoods League on September 13, 1931: "As a living monument symbolizing eternal life and duration of our gratitude." Please view this short, silent video of archival footing, memorializing the struggle to save the redwoods HERE.

Shoes last longer when the wearer takes care of them. Maintenance for leather shoes included the use of Black Ball, which acted as a two-in-one polish and conditioner. The shoemakers will demonstrate the production and application of Black Ball HERE.

There were 27 enslaved people listed in Peyton Randolph's inventory when he died in 1775. One of the names was Eve's. Learn about Eve's story on a recent podcast episode of What'sHerName here: whatshernamepodcast.com/eve/

Then be sure to take our virtual tour "Our Lives, Our Stories: Legacy of the Randolph Site," where you can meet Eve, interpreted by Hope Wright in the covered walk, all in 360 degrees: https://virtualtours.colonialwilliamsburg.org/randolph/...

The social, cultural, and spiritual movement we remember as New England Transcendentalism was a complex phenomenon. Commonly associated with the individualism of Walden, it had also a powerful social and political aspect exemplified by Thoreau himself and by the too-little-known crusading daughters of Concord and Boston. Please join Distinguished Professor Sandra Petrulionis, author of To Set This World Right: The Antislavery Movement in Thoreau’s Concord, in this timely discussion of the New England activists who fought for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery HERE.

This is the story of Ed Dwight Jr., who was invited by his country to train to be the first African-American astronaut. Back in 1963, it was hot news. But the United States never sent Dwight to space. He was discriminated against during his time at the Aerospace Research Pilot School, a prerequisite to NASA run by the legendary pilot Chuck Yeager. Dwight is now a prolific artist, building memorials and creating public art honoring African-American history. His footprints cannot be found on the moon. But his fingerprints can be found on sculptures across the country. See this beautiful short film by Ben Proudfoot HERE.

Join the Historic Trade bookbinders of Colonial Williamsburg as they demonstrate the 18th-century art of making paste paper, an essential aspect of the art of fine books. At the same time, learn steps in the process and try it at home HERE.

Please join this week’s Online Reading of Greek Tragedy with Euripides’ drama, “Iphigenia in Tauris.” Years before the time period covered by the play, the young princess Iphigeneia escapes death by sacrifice at the hands of her father, Agamemnon. At the last moment, the girl is swept off by a goddess to the land of the Taurians. Now Iphigeneia longs to return to her family and tell them she survived. Hosted by Joel Christensen, with special guest Niall Slater. Presented by the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies, the Kosmos Society, and the Out of Chaos Theatre. Stream this video HERE.

As environmental challenges mount — from devastating wildfires to hurricanes and floods — one solution, largely ignored thus far, may lie in using an unlikely-sounding material for home-building: straw. Straw houses have been built on the African plains since the Paleolithic Era. Straw bales were used in construction 400 years ago in Germany; and straw-thatched roofs have long been used in northern Europe and Asia. When European Settlers came to North America, teepees were insulated in winter with loose straw between the inner lining and outer cover. Read this article HERE.

Strong in the American identity is the ability to change and improve. How did businesspeople in Williamsburg adapt to find resources, labor, and a market? How did they respond to political action that threatened their way of life? Join in this timely conversation HERE.

“If it is love that binds people to places in this nation of rivers, and in this river of nations, then one enduring expression of that simple truth is surely the canoe.” This beautiful short film by Canadian filmmaker Goh Iromoto captures the powerful human bond created by North America’s well-known watercraft and symbol, the canoe. Through the stories of five paddlers across the province of Ontario, Canada - a majestic background both in its landscape and its history - the film underscores the strength of the human spirit and how the canoe can be a vessel for creating deep and meaningful connections. Watch this beautiful, evocative film HERE.

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) was the most photographed American of the 19th century. Born into slavery, Douglass escaped to become a leading abolitionist, writer, and orator whose fiery speeches transformed him into one of the most renowned and admired figures of his age. Here on the 175th anniversary of Douglass’s debut as an anti-slavery orator at the Nantucket Atheneum, Harvard professor and Innermost House Advisor John Stauffer presents his brilliant book, Picturing Frederick Douglass HERE.

Sir David Attenborough has probably seen more of wild nature across the planet Earth than anyone living. In the course of his 94 years, he has visited every continent on the globe many times, documenting the living world in all its variety and wonder. Now, for the first time in public, he reflects upon the defining moments of his life as a naturalist and on the devastating changes he has seen. “A Life On Our Planet” is a much beloved naturalist’s statement of witness. It has been called the most important documentary of the year. Watch it HERE on Netflix.

Please join our founders and engravers for a “timely” exploration of sundials - how they were cast and engraved, and how they were used HERE.