On September 3, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History will present a new edition of its Inside the Vault series exploring Spain’s crucial and often overlooked support for the American Revolution.
The program will feature historian Dr. Larrie D. Ferreiro, Professor of History and Engineering at George Mason University and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute’s America&Spain250 initiative. Ferreiro, author of Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It, will examine a remarkable primary source from 1778 that sheds light on Spain’s covert assistance to the American cause.
Program Details
Inside the Vault: A Letter from Bilbao: Tracing Spain’s Hidden Hand in the American Revolution
- September 3, 2026
- 7:00–8:00 p.m. ET | 4:00–5:00 p.m. PT
- Guest Historian: Dr. Larrie D. Ferreiro
At the center of the program is a handwritten letter sent by the Bilbao-based trading firm Gardoqui e Hijos to American diplomat Arthur Lee on April 4, 1778. The document records shipments and financial transactions connected to military supplies for the Continental Army, offering a direct glimpse into the networks through which Spanish assistance reached the American revolutionaries before Spain formally entered the war against Great Britain in 1779.
The letter is also one of the primary sources featured in Spanish Influence on American History, the educational platform developed by the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and the Royal Academy of History of Spain.
Created as part of the QSSI’s America&Spain250 initiative, the educational platform “Spanish Influence on American History” provides free access to primary sources, lesson plans, scholarly essays, videos, timelines, and other educational resources designed to expand understanding of Spain’s influence on the history of the United States.
Through documents such as the Gardoqui letter, the platform brings students, educators, and the wider public closer to the people and networks behind Spain’s contribution to American independence.
