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Academy of American Studies
Gilder Lehrman Research Center Ribbon-Cutting/Tenth
Anniversary Celebration, October 12, 2006.
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NEW YORK, NY (OCTOBER 12, 2006) –
On Thursday, October 12, at the Academy of American
Studies, a public high school in Long Island City, students,
educators, and elected officials participated in a ribbon-cutting
ceremony for the new Gilder Lehrman Research Center,
a student-run history research center. The Academy of
American Studies, the flagship school of the Gilder
Lehrman Institute of American History, is the first
history high school in the U.S.
The center, located in a renovated classroom in the
school, will serve students at the Academy of American
Studies, as well as students at Long Island City High
School, Frank Sinatra High School of the Arts, and Newcomers
High School. It houses books, DVDs, CD-ROMs, and reproductions
of primary source materials. Six seniors enrolled in
AP U.S. History at the Academy of American Studies will
spend time working in the center on weekday afternoons
and Saturdays. These students will field questions via
phone and email and provide direction for other students
working on papers and research projects in their history
courses. Students from all four schools also will be
able to check out materials from the research center.
Over the summer, the six students received instruction
at the Gilder Lehrman Collection in Manhattan on how
to conduct online research of the Collection and other
archives. They also learned how to use document transcriptions
and indexes and prepared two primary document binders
– one on slavery and one on Thomas Jefferson.
“I think that this opportunity will help me
to work with other students in a mentorship role,”
said Robert Wohner, a senior at the school who will
work in the center. “Looking at the wide array
of primary sources available can open their eyes to
the tangibility of history, and enhance their own ability
to use these documents in an educational way.”
Social Studies teacher John Maggio added: “The
research center provides an educational oasis where
students will have a first-hand opportunity to link
themselves to the past through the use of primary documents
and to assist other students in their pursuit of the
study of American history.”
“This research center will be a model for similar
endeavors in our other history schools across the country,”
said Lesley S. Herrmann, Executive Director of the Gilder
Lehrman Institute of American History.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was followed by the school’s
tenth anniversary celebration which included remarks
by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and New York
State Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute currently sponsors 45
history schools nationwide. These schools are rigorous,
college-preparatory schools centered on American history.
They have a track record of raising test scores and
sending more than 90 percent of graduating seniors to
college. At the core of these schools is a four-year
sequence of courses in American history. In many of
these schools, including the Academy of American Studies,
the entire student body participates in the Gilder Lehrman
program. In other schools, a select portion of the student
body participates.
Founded in 1994, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American
History promotes the study and love of American history.
Increasingly national and international in scope, the
Institute targets audiences ranging from students to
scholars to the general public. It creates history-centered
schools and academic research centers, organizes seminars
and enrichment programs for educators, partners with
school districts to implement Teaching American History
grants, produces print and electronic publications and
traveling exhibitions, and sponsors lectures by eminent
historians. The Institute also funds awards including
the Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and George Washington
Book Prizes and offers fellowships for scholars to work
in history archives. The Gilder Lehrman Collection contains
more than 60,000 documents detailing the political and
social history of the United States. The collection's
holdings include manuscript letters, diaries, maps,
photographs, printed books and pamphlets ranging from
1493 through the Twentieth Century.
# # #
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
19 West 44th Street, Suite 500
New York, NY 10036
www.gilderlehrman.org
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