MEDIA CONTACT: Terri Berns
561-297-1164, tberns@fau.edu or
Carol Lewis
561-297-0245, clewis36@fau.edu
BOCA RATON, FL (December 21, 2007) – Alexander Hamilton, one of the most influential figures in U.S. history, is the focus of a travelling exhibition at Florida Atlantic University Libraries from Friday, January 4, through Friday, February 15, 2008, at the S.E. Wimberly Library on FAU’s Boca Raton campus, 777 Glades Road.
The exhibition, “Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America,” traces Hamilton’s astonishing rise in five short years from an orphaned, 15-year-old West Indies immigrant to George Washington’s wartime aide, and at, 32, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. He was born January 11, 1757 and died at age 47 on July 12, 1804, from wounds suffered in a duel with Aaron Burr, the country’s third vice president.
The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, will be in FAU Libraries’ first floor gallery. The library will offer free programs in conjunction with the exhibition.
“We are delighted to have been selected as a site for this exhibition,’’ said Dr. William Miller, dean of University Libraries at FAU. “Alexander Hamilton was a fascinating figure in the early history of the United States, but most of us know too little about his contributions. Looking again at the debate that took place when this country was founded should help 21st century Americans better understand why the government, the courts, our banking system and our economy are organized the way they are. Hamilton’s pivotal role in providing a foundation for the complex society we live in today will be a revelation for many who view this exhibit.”
Among the items in the exhibition are photos of Hamilton and Burr, Hamilton’s personal letters and other ephemera, photos of a silver sugar bowl, wrought iron slave shackles, Hamilton-Burr dueling pistols, coins and a mourning ring, which is a gold ring set with a lock of Hamilton’s hair.
This is FAU Libraries’ first major event in conjunction with the unveiling of its “The Spirit of America Collection of Colonial Imprints,” a major collection that will help scholars explore the details of the period after the Revolution, which were so crucial to the creation of our current system of government, said Miller.
Hamilton was a complex and controversial figure, a Revolutionary War patriot and soldier, financial and legal genius, and an ardent opponent of slavery. He was the chief architect of many of the financial, political and legal institutions familiar to Americans today.
“More than any of his peers, Hamilton shaped and prefigured the America we now live in,” said Richard Brookhiser, historian and Hamilton biographer. “When you cash a paycheck or vote for President, follow the war against terrorism or criticize the government, read a newspaper or sit next to someone of a different race on the subway, you are doing something that he foresaw and helped to make happen.”
Hamilton’s journalistic campaign, through the Federalist Papers, to convince the American people to ratify the Constitution, equals in importance his creation of the Bank of the United States and the New York Stock Exchange, and his pioneering efforts in the area of constitutional law. The young treasury secretary’s economic strategies saved the country from staggering Revolutionary war debts. By the time Hamilton retired in 1795, the United States was fiscally sound and poised to become a major world economic and political leader. In the opinion of many historians, Hamilton made the early republic work and set the agenda for its future.
“Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America” is a national travelling exhibition organized by the New York Historical Society, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the American Library Association. The exhibition has been made possible in part through a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, dedicated to expanding American understanding of human experience and cultural heritage. The exhibition is based on the New York Historical Society’s exhibition commemorating the 200th anniversary of the founding of the society in 1804.
For more information, call the FAU Libraries at 561-297- 2116, visit its web site at www.library.fau.edu/news/news.htm or e-mail librariespr@fau.edu.
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