Much has been written about the history of Chicago and the land of the living. This course will provide material about Chicago's Necropoli, the land of the dead. Through lecture and slide presentations, participants will discuss the role of cemeteries in early Chicago history, ethnic cemeteries, and mourning practices. The final session will take place at the home of the instructor for an overview of the paraphernalia of funeral homes and cemeteries.

Viewed as everything from an extension of frontier ideology to the expression of counter culture, the road narrative genre has been an enduring and popular American cultural form. Whether mainstream or marginal, road narratives feature a protagonist (or pair) who embraces the geographical freedom represented by the automobile in order to attain a range of other mobilities—from the psychological and sexual to the social and economic. In this seminar, participants will examine this genre in relation to an American ideology of both spatial and social mobility. Beginning with the first transcontinental road novel, published in 1912, participants will look at a range of texts that feature protagonists whose identities vary in relation to class, gender, and race in order to understand how road narratives illuminate an issue of mobility central to their larger historical and cultural moments. To enhance our discussion of the primary sources, participants will view a selection of maps, advertisements, and photographs from the Newberry collections related to road travel.

Participants in this course will examine African American history in the contexts of United States, North Carolina, and world history. They will begin by connecting the experiences of African Americans in early U.S. history to the histories and cultures of the African communities of their ancestors and will follow those cultural connections between Africa and the United States throughout the course.

Course topics include African Americans in the colonies and the early Republic, the Middle Passage, American slavery and the experiences of free African Americans in the antebellum period, the abolition movement, the Civil War and Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, and the experiences of African Americans during World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. Throughout the course, participants will discuss African American activism through churches, political organizations, and communities and discover African American culture through art, music, and other cultural forms.

What are the goals of hands on learning? How do museum educators come up with activity ideas? How do they test ideas to make sure things work, and what happens when something fails?

Visitors will see prototypes and finished "products" of activities used successfully in Spark!Lab, and then will have the opportunity to prototype and give feedback on a new activity under development.

This month's prototyping activity is on electrical history. This is being developed to allow visitors to explore electrical science via the works of inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla (1856–1943). Tesla is best known for his many revolutionary contributions in the field of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of many modern technologies now taken for granted, including fluorescent and neon lighting, automation, radio-controlled toys and guided missiles, and wireless transmissions that earned him the name "father of radio."

In cooperation with the College of Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is sponsoring a one-day teacher workshop, free of charge, to classroom, pre-service teachers, and community college educators of language arts and social studies, though all disciplines are welcomed.

This forum, designed for secondary, pre-service, and community college educators, explores the content, methodologies, and rationales for teaching the history of the Holocaust; increases teachers' knowledge of the Holocaust; and examines contemporary issues associated with this history.

In cooperation with the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is sponsoring a one-day teacher workshop, free of charge, to classroom, pre-service teachers, and community college educators of language arts and social studies, though all disciplines are welcomed. This workshop will focus on rationale, technology and resources for teaching about the Holocaust.

In cooperation with the Kremen School of Education and Human Development at CSU Fresno, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is sponsoring a one-day teacher workshop, free of charge, to classroom, pre-service teachers, and community college educators of language arts and social studies, though all disciplines are welcomed. This workshop will focus on rationale, technology and resources for teaching about the Holocaust.

This forum, designed for secondary, pre-service, and community college educators, explores the content, methodologies, and rationales for teaching the history of the Holocaust; increases teachers' knowlege of the Holocaust; and examines contemporary issues associated with this history.

This two-day workshop will bring up to 25 teachers from many western states schools to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Social studies and Language Arts teachers of grades 6-12 with five or fewer years of experience in teaching about the Holocaust are encouraged to apply. Educators from suburban and rural schools in these states are eligible: AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, WY.

Teachers will use the Museum's exhibitions as their primary classroom as they learn the history of this tragic human event. Museum staff and scholars will then assist participants in exploring questions of rationale, content, and methodology in teaching the Holocaust.