Historic Research

National Park Service

Scholarship is critical to the work that is accomplished at Martin Van Buren National Historic Site. The need for current, factual, balanced historical research is, of course, essential to the preservation of the physical resources of the site.  It is even more important to the understanding and interpretion of President Van Buren and the ante bellum period of American history.  National Park Service professionals and noted national scholars have conducted many of the studies. Much of the research is arranged through the National Park Service's agreement with the Organization of American Historians. Some of the more recent studies can be accessed below:

Irish Immigrant Workers in Antebellum New York: The Experience of Domestic Servants at Van Buren's Lindenwald

The Little Magician after the Show: Martin Van Buren, Country Gentleman and Progressive Farmer, 1841-1863

Return to His Native Town, Martin Van Buren's Life at Lindenwald 1839-1862

From Homeland to New Land: A History of the Mahican Indians, 1600-1830

Plant Yourself in My Neighborhood: An Ethnographic Study of Farming and Farmers in Columbia County, New York