Celebrating the Partnership of the Council of Independent Colleges and the Gilder Lehrman Institute

Since 2002, Gilder Lehrman has offered seminars for teachers and college faculty members in partnership with the Council of Independent College, lately with the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Over the years, leading historians such as Joyce Appleby, Thomas Bender, Henry Binford, David Blight, Robert Dallek, David Brion Davis, James Oliver Horton, Ernest May, Carl Smith, and Richard White have led seminars. Participants enjoy working with a leading historian and colleagues on curriculum design and teaching.

Most recently, in 2021, Professor Gary W. Gallagher, John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War Emeritus at the University of Virginia, led The American Civil War: Origins and Consequences in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Past Teacher Seminars that were collaborations between the Gilder Lehrman Institute and the Council of Independent College include

The Civil War in American Memory at Yale University in June 2018 and June 2019, led by David Blight, Sterling Professor of American History and Director, The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, Yale University

The 20th-Century Presidency at Stanford University’s Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Center in Washington, DC, in July 2017, led by Robert Dallek, Professor of History Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles

Slave Narratives at Yale University in June 2016, led by Edward Rugemer, Associate Professor of African American Studies and History, Yale University, and John Stauffer, Sumner R. and Marshall S. Kates Professor of English and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University

Slave Narratives at Yale University in June 2015, led by David Blight, Class of 1954 Professor of American History, Yale University

The Creation of the Modern American City: Chicago from 1830 to 1910 at the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois, in June 2014, led by Henry Binford, Associate Professor of History and Urban Affairs, Northwestern University, and Carl Smith, Franklyn Bliss Snyder Professor of English and American Studies and Professor of History, Northwestern University

The Gilded Age at Stanford University in July 2013, led by Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Stanford University

Slave Narratives at Yale University every year from 2008 to 2012, co-sponsored by the United Negro College Fund and the Council of Independent Colleges, led by David Blight, Class of 1954 Professor of American History and Director, The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, Yale University

The Civil War in Global Context at New York University in 2007, led by Thomas Bender, University Professor of the Humanities, New York University

Interpreting the History of Recent and Controversial Events at Stanford University in 2005, led by Ernest May, Historian Emeritus, Harvard University

Slavery: Scholarship and Public History at Columbia University in 2004 and 2006, led by David Blight, Class of 1954 Professor of American History, Yale University, and James Oliver Horton, Benjamin Banneker Professor Emeritus of American Studies and History, The George Washington University

Political History of the Early Republic: New Challenges, Old Strengths at Columbia University in 2003, led by Joyce Appleby, Professor Emerita, University of California, Los Angeles

The Slavery Debates: Problems in Slavery Studies Today at Yale University in 2002, led by David Brion Davis, Professor of American History Emeritus and Founding Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, Yale University

More than 500 faculty members from mostly small and medium-sized colleges and universities that make up CIC’s membership have benefited from participation in our seminars over the years. Scholars who have attended GLI/CIC seminars and have gone on to work with the Gilder Lehrman Institute as lead scholars include Charles McKinney, Kenya Davis-Hayes, and Benjamin Montoya. Barton Myers became a GLI fellow following his participation in a GLI/CIC seminar.

The Council of Independent Colleges’ former President Richard Ekman, who serves on the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s President’s Advisory Council, facilitated these collaborations and led the development of history scholarships with member colleges and the Institute. Learn more about the Gilder Lehrman Affiliate School History Scholarships here.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute looks forward to many more years and many more seminars with the Council of Independent Colleges.