The Lawrence Henry Gipson Institute brings together 18th century scholars from such disciplines as history, English and modern languages. It was created with a generous gift from Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian Lawrence Henry Gipson, who was appointed as a history professor at Lehigh in 1924 and served until his death in 1971. He left his entire estate to Lehigh.

Gipson won the 1950 Bancroft Prize and the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for history for volumes of his magnum opus, The British Empire Before the American Revolution. He was a leader of the “Imperial School” of historians who studied the British Empire from a London perspective and who generally praised the British Empire’s efficiency and political fairness.

The Gipson Institute funds symposia and lectures by visiting scholars, research grants for faculty and students working on projects that deal with the 18th century and a dissertation fellowship for a Lehigh Ph.D. candidate.