High School History Teacher Headed to Virginia This Summer

Editor's Note: The following is a Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History press release.

This summer, history teacher Chris Peterson will travel to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA, to attend a week-long seminar entitled “The American Civil War: Origins and Consequences.”

Led by renowned historian Gary W. Gallagher of the University of Virginia, seminar participants will include K–12 teachers, library educators, and National Park Service interpreters who were selected by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in a competitive process.

Headed by Professor Gallagher, and sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, this seminar will examine the era of the American Civil War, with emphasis on its origins, scope, and consequences. Through lectures, class discussion, examination of historical texts, and visits to historic sites, the instructors and participants will examine the central role of slavery, the ways in which military and civilian affairs intersected and influenced one another, the question of what the war left unresolved, and how Americans have remembered the conflict. The seminar will seek to bring relevance to these issues while at the same time helping teachers to develop pedagogies that they can bring back to their own classrooms.

In 2012, the Gilder Lehrman Institute will offer more than 1,000 educators the chance to study American history with leading historians at top institutions throughout the United States and United Kingdom. Each participant will work with primary source documents provided by professors and the Gilder Lehrman Collection, and in addition will receive reading materials, room and board, transportation for tours, and a travel stipend. Since the program’s inception, more than 7,000 educators have participated in Gilder Lehrman Teacher Seminars, and most attendees rate the program as their best professional development experience.

More information about this seminar and the complete list of 2012 Gilder Lehrman Teacher Seminars is available at gilderlehrman.org/teacherseminars.