Summer 2019 Teacher Seminars Follow American History around Country and Beyond

June 16–22

Thirty-four K–12 teachers attended New Orleans and the History of the American South at the Historic New Orleans Collection led by Pamela Tyler, Associate Professor of History (retired), University of Southern Mississippi, with Master Teacher Ron Nash. In addition to participating in Professor Tyler’s lectures and discussions, the group visited the New Orleans Jazz Museum.    

Thirty-four K–12 teachers participated in Everyday Life in Colonial America led by John Demos, Samuel Knight Professor of History Emeritus, Yale University, with Master Teacher John McNamara at Yale University. In addition to participating in Professor Demos’s lectures, the group visited Historic Deerfield, the Hempsted Houses in New London, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery, took a tour of historical Yale, and engaged in a manuscript session at the Beinecke Library. The group concluded the seminar with dinner at Professor Demos’s house in Tyringham, Massachusetts. 

Thirty-five K–12 teachers participated in Thomas Jefferson and the Enlightenment led by Frank Cogliano, Professor of American History, University of Edinburgh, with Master Teacher Carl Ackerman at the University of Edinburgh. In addition to participating in Professor Cogliano’s lectures, the group took a walking tour of Edinburgh geared toward the Enlightenment and its literary heritage and visited St. Andrews and the National Museum of Scotland.

June 23–29

Twenty-nine K–12 teachers participated in The American Civil War: Origins and Consequences led by Gary Gallagher, the John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia, with Master Teacher Lois MacMillan at the University of Virginia. In addition to participating in Dr. Gallagher’s lecture sessions and discussions, the group visited Petersburg National Battlefield. 

Thirty-four K–12 teachers participated in Lincoln Speaks: Words That Transformed a Nation led by Michael Burlingame, the Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies, at University of Illinois, Springfield, with Master Teacher Josh Bill at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. In addition to participating in Professor Burlingame’s lectures and discussion, the group visited  Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site, the Old State Capitol, and Lincoln’s Tomb. The seminar was held in partnership with the Lincoln Presidential Library. 

Thirty-one K–12 teachers participated in America in the Age of Discovery: 1492–1625 led by Peter Mancall, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History and Anthropology at the University of Southern California, and Roy Ritchie, Former Director of Research at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, with Master Teacher Anthony DiBattista at the University of Southern California. In addition to participating in Professor Mancall’s and Professor Ritchie’s lectures, the group enjoyed visits to the Huntington Library and Mission San Gabriel. The seminar was held in partnership with USC’s Early Modern Studies Institute.

Thirty-four K–12 teachers participated in Presidents at War: McKinley to Obama led by Jeffrey Engel, Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, with Master Teacher Mary Kate Blaine at Southern Methodist University. In addition to participating in Professor Engel's lectures and discussion, the group visited the George W. Bush Presidential Center. The seminar was held in partnership with SMU’s Center for Presidential History.

Twenty-five university professors participated in The Civil War in American Memory, offered in partnership with the Council of Independent Colleges, held at Yale University and led by David Blight, Class of 1954 Professor of American History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. In addition to participating in Professor Blight’s lectures and discussion, the group examined documents at Yale’s Beinecke Library and visited local New Haven monuments to shape the discussion of historical memory. 

June 30–July 6

Thirty-five K–8 teachers participated in The Making of America: From the Founding Era through the Civil War led by Denver Brunsman, Associate Professor of History at George Washington University, with Master Teacher Mary Huffman at the George Washington University. In addition to participating in Professor Brunsman’s lectures and discussion, the group visited the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Archives, and George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

Thirty-four K–12 teachers participated in American Protest Literature: Thomas Paine to the Present led by John Stauffer, Sumner R. and Marshall S. Kates Professor of English and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, with Master Teacher E’bow Morgan at Boston University. In addition to participating in Professor Stauffer’s lectures and discussion, the group examined documents at the Houghton Library at Harvard, took a tour of Abolitionist Boston, and watched films in the evening related to American protests.