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Back in 2001 the Hamilton Alumni Association under President George Baker '74 brainstormed the idea of coast-to-coast gatherings held in conjunction with Alexander Hamilton’s January 11 birthday.  In January 2002, eight alumni regions hosted celebrations for GOLD Group members.  By 2007 the number of gatherings had more than tripled and expanded to include Hamilton alumni, parents and friends. Now in 2014 a record 40 parties were held and the celebrations have gone global, with gatherings in London, Tokyo and Beijing, in addition to U.S. cities from Albany, N.Y., to L.A. and points in between.

While every book in Burke Library features treasures of its own, the holdings in Special Collections and Archives are the library’s gems. Three major collections anchor the department: the Beinecke Collection on the Lesser Antilles; the works and papers of poet Ezra Pound, Class of 1905; and imprints by and about American communal societies.

The Hamilton Alumni Association is honoring the College’s namesake with the annual Alexander Hamilton Birthday Parties, beginning on Jan. 11, Hamilton’s actual birth date in 1755. Parties will be held across the globe, from New York and Boston to Seattle and Honolulu, as well as London, Tokyo and China.

Caroline Winterer, professor of history and classics at Stanford University, will present a lecture, “The Classical World of Alexander Hamilton,” on Monday, April 16, at 4:10 p.m., in the Taylor Science Center Kennedy Auditorium. The lecture is sponsored by the Classics Department and is free and open to the public.

On Saturday, April 7, a group of students enrolled in "The Classical Tradition in American Political Life: Cicero, Jefferson, and Hamilton," a course taught by Frank Anechiarico '71, Maynard Knox Professor of Government and Law, and Carl Rubino, Winslow Professor of Classics, traveled to New York City to visit the New York Historical Society and the Grange, the home that Alexander Hamilton built for himself and his family.

Alexander Hamilton left an incredible legacy as a political and economic thinker. Centuries after his death, three Hamilton professors founded the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization, an organization dedicated to providing innovative, educational programming about a wide range of topics. Marta Johnson ’13 was a summer intern for the institute, supported by Hamilton’s Eckman Fund through the Career Center.

Scott Blosser ’12, a 2011 Levitt Fellow, is spending the summer with Professor of History Douglas Ambrose, researching “Federalism and the Problem of State Debt: The Debate Over and Lessons of the Federal Assumption of State Debt.”

Biopic documentary Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton premieres on Monday, April 11, on local PBS stations. It will air in the Clinton – Utica area on Monday at 10 p.m. on WCNYHD (853), Tuesday, April 12 at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on 853, and Wednesday, April 13, on WCNY (13) at 3 a.m. Check local listings for other areas.

A rapid-fire-rapped history lesson about Hamilton College’s namesake was one of the most popular presentations at the White House’s first-ever poetry slam. Assuming the role of Aaron Burr, Lin-Manuel Miranda offered a review Alexander Hamilton’s life as part of this event titled “Poetry, Music and Spoken Word.”

Associate Professor of Government Robert Martin presented “Secret Plodders: Anti-Federalism, Anonymity, and the Struggle for Democratic Dissent” at the annual Association for Political Theory Conference on Saturday, Oct. 24. The three-day event conference was held at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at Texas A&M University.