This workshop offers academic content about place-based western history and women's suffrage on the western frontier, juxtaposed with myths of the West and contemporary women's issues in the West. It affords opportunities to engage in study and conversation with leading scholars; an introduction to four forms of primary historical sources—the built environment, artifacts, government records, and private papers—all of which have application in all history classrooms; and networking with other social studies, history, English, and other subject matter teachers, librarians, and media specialists, from grades K–12, representing a variety of states.

At this workshop, educators will be joined by immigration scholars and public health historians, visit related historic sites in New York City that vividly tell the story of immigration in the early part of the 20th century, and investigate Ellis Island's unrestored hospital buildings with an architectural historian to uncover their significance. This workshop will specifically address the impact of the 1891 immigration legislation mandating health as a criterion for admission to the U.S., precipitating construction of the U.S. Public Health Service hospital on Ellis Island to screen and treat arriving immigrants.

At this workshop, educators will be joined by immigration scholars and public health historians, visit related historic sites in New York City that vividly tell the story of immigration in the early part of the 20th century, and investigate Ellis Island's unrestored hospital buildings with an architectural historian to uncover their significance. This workshop will specifically address the impact of the 1891 immigration legislation mandating health as a criterion for admission to the U.S., precipitating construction of the U.S. Public Health Service hospital on Ellis Island to screen and treat arriving immigrants.

The America's Industrial Revolution workshop at the Henry Ford will draw together K–12 educators with leading humanities scholars and museum staff for unique enrichment exercises centered on the impact of industrialization. The workshop is designed to encourage participant curiosity and deepen knowledge on the subject, engage participants with innovative methods of transmitting enthusiasm and content to students, and empower participants to use cultural resources to enliven the teaching and learning of history. Participants will explore the diverse ways that Americans experienced social change between the 1760s and the 1920s through lecture/discussions and by visiting with museum curators at 12 of the 80 historic sites interpreted in Greenfield Village, including Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory, Hermitage Plantation Slave Quarters, 1760s Daggett Farm, 1880s Firestone Farm, a railroad roundhouse, and a 19th-century grist mill. In addition, time is set aside each day for exploration of archival sources in the Benson Ford Research Center and to work on individual lesson plans for implementation back home. The week's activities will culminate with a visit to a related National Historic Landmark, the Ford Motor Company's Rouge Industrial Complex.

During this workshop, participants will consider three major topics. First, they will examine Dickinson the writer. Emily Dickinson is now considered one of the greatest poets in the English language, yet her work was not known outside of a small circle of family and friends until after her death. Because Dickinson herself gave few explicit clues about her attitude toward publication, scholars debate reasons that she did not share her poetry with a wider audience. Ongoing discussion about the authenticity of Dickinson's manuscripts versus the printed poems, which were edited by others, lies at the heart of that debate. Second, they will consider Dickinson, a woman in 19th-century America. Because Dickinson's poems resonate in style and content with the 21st-century reader, her work is often described as "ahead of its time." Critics are often tempted to read her work out of its historical context, to focus on its universal connections to the exclusion of its 19th-century origins. Yet, as recent scholarship asserts, Dickinson's poetry is inseparable from the times in which it was written. Several new essay collections about the poet are devoted to questions of Dickinson's experience of the Civil War, her political opinions, her response to religious movements, and her interest in and connections to her literary contemporaries. Finally, participants will consdier Dickinson, resident of rural New England. Dickinson ended a poem with "I see New Englandly." Dickinson's ancestors settled in western New England in the 1600s. Her world was defined by its character and landscape, and the imagery and diction of her poetry reveal her deep connections to place. This aspect of Dickinson's poetry has long attracted the attention of readers and scholars, yet it has sometimes limited their appreciation for her artistic achievements, marking her as a quaint New England poetess. By modeling different approaches to inquiry-based and object-based learning, the workshop will equip educators with new pedagogical tools and will help them address national standards in English and social studies. They will explore their own interests in Dickinson's life and work through a series of meetings with mentor teachers that will culminate in an outline for a new or revised curriculum unit or a plan for new classroom resources.

There is virtually no area of study that cannot shed light on the textile culture of North Carolina. Literature, music, science, economics, history, sociology, religion, and art help define and explain the rich history and changing culture of North Carolina textiles. Beginning in the 1880s, the textile industry built the "new south." Today, changes in this industry are helping to create another "new south." In this interdisciplinary seminar, participants will explore not only textile history but will also think about the role and importance of textiles. What the “product” was/is, how it is made and by whom, and where it is made have implications for the rapidly changing nature of textiles in North Carolina and the South.

This workshop combines scholarly presentations with on-site investigations of the canals, mills, worker housing, and exhibits of Lowell National Historical Park and of other sites in Lowell's historic district. Sessions draw on scholarly monographs, primary sources (such as "mill girl" letters), and works of literature and historical fiction. The workshop intersperses hands-on activities with lecture-discussions and field investigations. In addition to Lowell's landmark resources, the workshop takes full advantage of Old Sturbridge Village exhibits and scholars to explore pre-industrial rural life and draw on the expertise of scholars and presenters at Walden Pond and Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts, to explore how prominent authors addressed the question of industrialization's effect on American life, values, and the environment.

This workshop combines scholarly presentations with on-site investigations of the canals, mills, worker housing, and exhibits of Lowell National Historical Park and of other sites in Lowell's historic district. Sessions draw on scholarly monographs, primary sources (such as "mill girl" letters), and works of literature and historical fiction. The workshop intersperses hands-on activities with lecture-discussions and field investigations. In addition to Lowell's landmark resources, the workshop takes full advantage of Old Sturbridge Village exhibits and scholars to explore pre-industrial rural life and draw on the expertise of scholars and presenters at Walden Pond and Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts, to explore how prominent authors addressed the question of industrialization's effect on American life, values, and the environment.

This workshop combines scholarly presentations with on-site investigations of the canals, mills, worker housing, and exhibits of Lowell National Historical Park and of other sites in Lowell's historic district. Sessions draw on scholarly monographs, primary sources (such as "mill girl" letters), and works of literature and historical fiction. The workshop intersperses hands-on activities with lecture-discussions and field investigations. In addition to Lowell's landmark resources, the workshop takes full advantage of Old Sturbridge Village exhibits and scholars to explore pre-industrial rural life and draw on the expertise of scholars and presenters at Walden Pond and Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts, to explore how prominent authors addressed the question of industrialization's effect on American life, values, and the environment.