From the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History:

"Professors Kenneth Jackson and Karen Markoe explore one of the most exciting and important periods in American history: the quarter-century between the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of Theodore Roosevelt's presidency. Lectures focus on the rise of machine politics, the transportation revolution, the development of new social elites, the changing role of women, the literary figures who helped define the age, housing for the rich and poor, and an examination of New York City at the center of the Gilded Age."

From the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History:

"During the 1850s, the United States was a nation of foreboding and hope. An irresolvable conflict between North and South seemed to be approaching, along with periodic hopes that the divide could somehow be bridged and conflict forestalled. At the start of the decade, the nation's eloquent orators were led by John C. Calhoun and Daniel Webster; ten years later, a new voice had been added to public discourse: that of Abraham Lincoln. Literary artists—including Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, and Harriet Beecher Stowe—addressed the issues of slavery, regional autonomy, and federal power both directly and obliquely in poetry and prose. In this seminar we will explore this ominous yet hopeful era, with the aim of understanding the political and moral issues that drove Americans apart, and how the literature of the period can help us understand why."

From the National Humanities Center website:

"Reflecting on the Civil War in 1892, Walt Whitman concluded, 'The real war will never get in the books.' But Whitman did try to bring the real war into his poems. An anti-slavery Democrat, who dressed the wounds of both Northern and Southern soldiers, Whitman wrote poems that describe the circumstances of war—from the exuberant optimism of 1861 to the blood-soaked exhaustion of 1865. How did he interpret the slaughter and sacrifice of the Civil War? How can we bring students to the 'the real war' through his poems? This seminar is a collaboration between the National Humanities Center and public television's historical documentary film series American Experience. Participants will view the American Experience film Walt Whitman and explore how to use it in the classroom."

From a Minnesota Historical Society email announcement:

"Join us on Tues., Nov. 24 from 4-7 p.m. for a free Educator's preview of our newest exhibit: "Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World" (limited engagement Nov. 27, 2009 - July 4, 2010).

One of America’s most influential historical figures, Franklin was a scientist, diplomat, and entrepreneur. Our Educator's preview will include samplings from the three Invention History Lessons available through our field trip programs and a History Center Interpreter-guided tour of the exhibit, with helpful hints on how to use the 18th-century artifacts and experiments within the exhibit to get the most enrichment possible for your students.

Participants will receive a goody bag, 10% discount in the museum stores, and prize giveaways."

From the Newberry Library website:

"This course approaches poetry as a force that shapes ideas of citizenship and cultural identity. We will examine the form and content of familiar and less familiar poems from the period of the American Revolution to the present, including works by Longfellow, Whitman, William Carlos Williams, Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, and Joy Harjo."

From the Colorado Rural Partnership website:

"Join your colleagues for this three-day institute to investigate how today's paths meet at the crossroads of life 75 years ago. Using New Deal Arts programs as the context, you will gain new insights into Depression-era America and comparison to today's economic and cultural conditions; in-depth knowledge of primary sources from the Library of Congress website as well as local treasures; plus teaching strategies and resources to add to your toolkit. If you teach arts, humanities or social sciences-related classes at any grade level, or are looking for ways to enhance literacy in any subject area, you'll want to be a part of this institute!"

Note: "As an advanced level Teaching with Primary Sources program, this institute requires completion of the Essentials Exploration foundational workshop."

The first in the Library of Congress's Teaching with Primary Sources self-directed online modules introduces educators to the history and resources of the Library of Congress and explains the concept of primary sources and how they may be used in a classroom.

From 1919 to 1929, Langston Hughes noted, "Harlem was in vogue." Black painters and sculptors joined writers and musicians in an artistic outpouring that established Harlem as the international capital of African American culture. Participants will study the evolution of the Harlem Renaissance through the music of Duke Ellington and Ethel Waters, the art of painter Archibald Motley and sculptor Augusta Savage, and the literary works of Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jean Toomer, among others.

The plays of Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, Clifford Odets, and Arthur Miller defined American theater. In a lecture and discussion-based seminar the works of these playwrights will be examined, concentrating on theme, structure, and social impact. The plays will give insight into the issues confronting what it meant to be an American during the first half of the 20th century, as well as understanding what makes American theater so powerful.

The United States is often described as a "melting pot" of ethnic groups or as a "nation of immigrants." Though most of us could easily find references to this melting pot in popular culture today, few realize that the concept has a long and contested history. In this two-day seminar, participants will explore primary sources from the past two centuries that describe the nation as a melting pot or as a "crucible" where the fusion of different national cultures will occur. Through close readings, they will consider how the meaning of the melting pot has changed over time and how it has informed debates about what it means to be an American. Even as they take a long view of the melting pot in American history, they will pay particular attention to the early 20th century and to debates about restricting the flow of immigrants to the United States.