2019 Teacher Seminars Conclude for the Summer

The 2019 Teacher Seminars have come to a close. Held at colleges and historic sites across the US and abroad, Gilder Lehrman Teacher Seminars of 2019 offered teachers daily programs with leading historians, visits to local historic sites, and hands-on work with primary sources.

From June 16 through August 3 

• 1,003 K–12 teachers participated in 30 Teacher Seminars.
• 25 university professors participated in a Teacher Seminar offered in partnership with the Council of Independent Colleges.

The following seminars took place during the last two weeks of the program.

July 21–27

33 K–12 teachers participated in Westward Expansion led by Patricia Limerick, Faculty Director and Chair of the Board of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado, with Master Teacher Fred Raphael at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In addition to participating in Professor Limerick’s lecture sessions, the group visited Rocky Mountain National Park and heard guest lectures from Professors Thomas Andrews, University of Colorado, Boulder, and Elliott West, University of Arkansas.

33 K–12 teachers participated in The Colonial Era, led by John Fea, Professor of American History and Chair of the History Department, Messiah College, with Master Teacher Nate McAlister at Princeton University. Along with participating in Professor Fea’s lecture sessions, the group examined rare books and manuscripts at Princeton’s Firestone Library, took a walking tour of early American Princeton, and made a field trip to Philadelphia to visit colonial-era historical sites.

34 K–12 teachers participated in The Age of Lincoln led by Richard Carwardine, Emeritus Rhodes Professor of American History, Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, with Master Teacher David Riesenfeld at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University. In addition to participating in Professor Carwardine’s lecture sessions, the group took part in a tour of Oxford (with Gilder Lehrman Institute president Jim Basker) and Corpus Christi College as well as guest lectures.

32 K–12 teachers participated in The Global Cold War led by Daniel Sargent, Associate Professor of History, UC Berkeley, with Carl Ackerman serving as master teacher at the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. In addition to participating in Dr. Sargent’s lectures, the group enjoyed sessions led by the USS Midway Museum staff.

36 K–12 teachers participated in The Kennedy Presidency led by Barbara Perry, Gerald L. Baliles Professor and Director of Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, with Master Teacher Ron Adkisson at Boston University. Along with participating in Professor Perry’s lecture sessions, the group visited JFK’s birthplace in Brookline and the JFK Library, and also enjoyed a screening of the film Thirteen Days.

30 K–12 teachers participated in The Story of World War II led by Donald Miller, John Henry MacCracken Professor of History, Lafayette College, with Master Teacher and 2018 Gilder Lehrman History Teacher of the Year Joseph Welch. This seminar was held in partnership with the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. In addition to participating in lectures and discussions, the group enjoyed private tours of the museum and a panel discussion with WWII veterans.

33 K–12 teachers participated in Slavery and Abolition led by Manisha Sinha, Draper Chair in American History, University of Connecticut, with Master Teacher Georgette Hackman at Pace University. This seminar was held in partnership with the Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery. In addition to participating in Professor Sinha’s lectures and Ms. Hackman’s pedagogy sessions, the group examined documents at the Lapidus Center and the Gilder Lehrman Collection and visited the African Burial Ground National Monument.

34 K–12 teachers participated in The United States and Korea in the Twentieth Century led by Gregg Brazinsky, Professor of History and International Affairs, The George Washington University, with Senior Education Fellow Ron Nash at the University of Washington in Seattle. This seminar was in held partnership with the World History Digital Education Foundation. In addition to participating in lecture sessions with Professor Brazinsky, the group heard remarks from the cultural attache to the South Korean embassy in Washington, DC.

July 28–August 3

33 K–12 teachers participated in The Gilded Age and Its Modern Parallels led by Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Emeritus, Stanford University, with Melissa Seideman serving as master teacher at Stanford. In addition to participating in Dr. White’s lectures, the group enjoyed a guest lecture by Stanford’s Allyson Hobbs, Associate Professor of United States History and Director of African and African American Studies.

33 K–12 teachers participated in Alexander Hamilton and the Founding Era, led by Richard Brookhiser, historical biographer and senior editor of the National Review, with Master Teacher Lois MacMillan at Pace University. Along with participating in Mr. Brookhiser’s lecture sessions, the group took a tour of St. Paul’s Chapel and historic Lower Manhattan, visited Hamilton Grange, and paid a visit to the Gilder Lehrman Collection to prepare their lesson plan activities. The week concluded with several teachers attending First Fridays at the Collection.

33 K–12 teachers participated in Native Peoples, Settlers, and European Empires in North America, 1600–1840 led by Daniel Richter, Richard S. Dunn Director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies and Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History, University of Pennsylvania, with Master Teacher Justin Emrich. This seminar was held in partnership with the Library Company of Philadelphia as part of their Pew Center for Arts & Heritage grant-funded project, Redrawing History: Indigenous Perspectives on Colonial America. Along with participating in Professor Richter’s lectures and Mr. Emrich’s pedagogy sessions, participants examined documents in the Library Company’s holdings and engaged in an evening forum at the McNeil Center with Lee Francis IV, founder of Native Realities Press and author of the upcoming educational graphic novel Ghost River: The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga.