This institute will focus "on abolitionism and the Underground Railroad, using upstate New York as a case study."

This seminar will focus on "close study of key scholarly readings and primary documents on the abolitionist movement, examining the evolution of the abolitionist movement from its beginnings during the Revolutionary era in Philadelphia through its radicalization in the years leading to the Civil War." The seminar will include examination of primary teaching resources, visits to historical sites, readings, discussion, journal writing, lesson planning, and lectures.

This seminar will "enhance participants' knowledge of Africa, the Middle Passage, and the people who arrived here in North America in slavery. They will do so by developing projects of their own choosing involving early Atlantic history, literature, or culture up to and including the early nineteenth century." Topics, week by week, will include "Organization: African Understandings," "More African Meanings," "Embarkation, Exile," "Remembering Africa in America," and "Research Results and Teaching Applications."

This seminar will "focuses on learning as much as possible about the events of 1989, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the massacre in Tiananmen Square, and the conflicting interpretations of those events, and on developing learning activities that will make it possible for educators to bring these events to life for their students. In addition to learning a great deal about 1989 and its aftermath, the participants who join us for the seminar will create Primary Source Activities that they can take home, use in their classrooms, share with colleagues and potentially publish on the website 'Making the History of 1989: The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.'"

"The seminar will explore several key works by the political theorist, Hannah Arendt: 'Eichmann in Jerusalem,' 'The Origins of Totalitarianism,' and 'The Human Condition.' These works shed light on the problem of evil and the use of terror in the contemporary age, and provide a philosophical perspective on current debates about the use of violence to settle political conflicts, about the conditions of democracy, and about the scope and importance of human rights."

This workshop will offer "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, opportunities to engage in study and conversation with leading scholars, and 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." The workshop will include lectures, discussions, visits to historic sites, readings, examination of primary teaching resources, and lesson plan creation.

This workshop will offer "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, opportunities to engage in study and conversation with leading scholars, and 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." The workshop will include lectures, discussions, visits to historic sites, readings, examination of primary teaching resources, and lesson plan creation.

This workshop will "explore the clash of cultures and differing definitions of liberty that played out on the Missouri-Kansas border in the decade before the firing on Fort Sumter and throughout the Civil War. Workshop presenters and participants will consider the forces and events that precipitated “Bleeding Kansas” and led to the abandonment of the understandings reached in the Missouri Compromise, the rejection of popular sovereignty in the Kansas Territory, and the establishment of the shadow “Free State” government. They will also examine the nature and intensity of the struggles between the Kansas Jayhawkers and Missouri Bushwhackers during the Civil War and the general mayhem these vicious disputes and guerrilla activities engendered. Perspectives of gender, race, class and ideology will be examined and analyzed." The workshop will include examination of teaching resources, visits to historic sites, discussions, lectures, readings, and lesson planning; specific topics will include "Contested Visions of Freedom," "Fault Lines of Freedom: Slavery and Freedom on the Border," "Commerce at the Crossroads: The Conflict of Transition," "Conflicting Visions of Freedom: The Failure of Popular Sovereignty," "From Contention to Warfare: The Uncivil Society," and "The Border Wars in History and Memory."

This workshop will "explore the clash of cultures and differing definitions of liberty that played out on the Missouri-Kansas border in the decade before the firing on Fort Sumter and throughout the Civil War. Workshop presenters and participants will consider the forces and events that precipitated “Bleeding Kansas” and led to the abandonment of the understandings reached in the Missouri Compromise, the rejection of popular sovereignty in the Kansas Territory, and the establishment of the shadow “Free State” government. They will also examine the nature and intensity of the struggles between the Kansas Jayhawkers and Missouri Bushwhackers during the Civil War and the general mayhem these vicious disputes and guerrilla activities engendered. Perspectives of gender, race, class and ideology will be examined and analyzed." The workshop will include examination of teaching resources, visits to historic sites, discussions, lectures, readings, and lesson planning; specific topics will include "Contested Visions of Freedom," "Fault Lines of Freedom: Slavery and Freedom on the Border," "Commerce at the Crossroads: The Conflict of Transition," "Conflicting Visions of Freedom: The Failure of Popular Sovereignty," "From Contention to Warfare: The Uncivil Society," and "The Border Wars in History and Memory."

This workshop will "combine 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, and works of literature and historical fiction. It will intersperse lecture-discussions, hands-on activities, and field investigations. In addition to Lowell’s landmark resources, it will take 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 the Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, to explore how prominent authors addressed the question of industrialization’s effect on American life, values, and the environment." Specific topics will include "American Industrialization: Lowell, Massachusetts, in International Context," "Comparing Farm and Factory Life, and Cash and Market Economies," "Market Volatility, Competition, and Worker Responses to the New Industrial Order," "Industrialization and Nature: A Comparison of Lowell and Concord," and "Immigration and Industrialization: Poverty or Upward Mobility?."