The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History


The Lost World of Early America

  • July 18-31, 2010
  • Director: John Demos, Samuel Knight Professor of History Emeritus
  • Yale University
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Is the world of early America truly lost? For many Americans, perhaps most, it does seem that way. Our history is divided in half by the War of Independence—or, as we more typically call it, the Revolution. Only the second half seems real and tangible now. There is a second reason for the “lost-ness” of early America. Between now and then lies a crucial fault-line that includes far more than political change. Industrial growth and development—another kind of revolution—transformed much of the American people's experience, beginning around the start of the 19th century. The effects have been massively consequential for the shape and structures of work, for community life, for human demography, for values, manners, and taste. The Lost World of Early America will attempt a form of time travel back to the era before these twin revolutions. Participants will feel the element of remoteness, the sense of all that has been lost; yet they will also come to feel the threads of human connection between our own lives and those of our distant forebears.

To apply to this NEH Summer Institute, you must register directly with the NEH on their website. After registration, the remainder of your application material (cover letter, resume, essay, and reference letters) will be sent to the Gilder Lehrman Institute. For information on how to submit your application please read the Dear Colleague Letter (PDF). The deadline for this seminar is March 2nd (all others are February 15).

You may apply to (and attend) this NEH Summer Institute in addition to our other seminars. 2009 Summer Seminar attendees are also eligible to apply to the NEH Summer Institute.

— Register with the NEH at https://securegrants.neh.gov/education/participants/

Please find below important information regarding the NEH Summer Institute.

Participants in Professor John Demos's summer seminar on the Colonial Era visit an eighteenth-century graveyard in New London, Connecticut.

Week One At-A-Glance
The first week of the institute will focus on the structures and institutions of colonial society. Sessions will cover the following:

* Racial, demographic, and environmental history: the demographic catastrophe for Native Americans; experiences of inter-racial contact; the evolution of racial attitudes and behaviors; and the development of race-based slavery.
* The colonial social system: the values underpinning all sorts of social arrangements, as well as the workings of deference as manifest in legal codes, educational experience, costume, and everyday manners.
* Colonial politics: the ideology of governance versus actual practice; the evolution of various local government institutions, including New England’s town meeting and the Chesapeake’s county court; the practices of deference and egalitarianism; and the roots of our modern democracy.
* Economic history: the transition from the moral economy to a nascent market economy; responses to the problem of labor scarcity; economic growth; stratification; and the nature and meanings of colonialism.
* The Cultural System: Education and the transfer of knowledge; literacy and print culture; hand-written and oral forms of communication; the power, and importance, of speech.

Week Two At-A-Glance
Participants will explore the everyday lives of ordinary Americans, particularly New Englanders, in the second week. Sessions will cover the following:

* The colonial life cycle: birth, death, and the intervening stages; childbirth and its biological, medical, and social dimensions, including the role of midwives and doctors; life stages—the relative indulgence of infancy and then the crisis of weaning; childhood and youth as preparation for adulthood; the long and slow coming-of-age process; marriage and inheritance; midlife as a personal culmination of a life’s ambitions; and the ambivalent status of the elderly.
* The early American idea of the self: individual and group characters; the management of emotion; what made a good person; and shame, guilt, and personal agency.
* Interpersonal relationships at the family, neighborhood, and village levels.
* Religion, magic, and witchcraft: the nearness and importance of the supernatural; death and dying, signs and “providences”; witchcraft and witch-hunts; and religion and science.

seminar forms and documents
readings

Readings are sent by the Institute to participants of the seminar. Readings MAY include:

  • John Demos, Circles and Lines: The Shape of Life in Early America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004.
  • John Demos, Remarkable Providences: Readings on Early American History. Northeastern University Press, 1991.
  • Course Reader.
travel & accomodations

There are several options for traveling to and from New Haven. The Tweed-New Haven Airport is located about fifteen minutes from the Yale Campus. Additionally, Bradley Airport is located an hour north of New Haven and is served by many major airlines. Connecticut Limo shuttles leave once an hour and cost $84 round trip. Amtrak and MetroNorth both provide frequent commuter service from New York City into New Haven. The University website provides directions to visitors.

If participants opt to use their stipend to stay on campus (more below), they will be housed in the Swing Residence Hall, sharing air-conditioned suites that contain two single bedrooms, a furnished living room, shared bath, and a kitchenette, as well as in-suite internet and phone access. Computer clusters and study lounges are available in the residence hall, and Yale’s IT department will be available to help participants set up printing accounts and resolve any technology issues that arise throughout the course of the institute. Most meals will take place in Morse College Dining Hall, and lectures will most likely be held in Rosenfeld Hall. Participants may use the Beinecke Library research during evening hours, and visit the Yale Art Gallery and Sterling Memorial Library in their free time. We are sorry but we are unable to accommodate family and friends in on-campus accommodations at the institute, and no guests may sit in on any lectures or go on trips.

New Haven is a pleasant place in the summer, with numerous musical festivals and cultural activities. A public beach (Lighthouse Point) is a short bus ride away, and hiking trails (at West Rock Park) are within walking distance of campus. New York City is two hours away via Metro North; Boston is less than three hours away on Amtrak.

In July the temperatures in New Haven range from the 60s in the evening to the 80s and 90s during the day. Since it is difficult to predict the weather, pack articles of clothing that may be layered to accommodate a range of temperatures. In case of rain, be sure to pack an umbrella. Dress is casual during the day. Participants will be doing some walking, so be sure to pack a pair of comfortable walking shoes and a hat or other head covering.

stipend

Participants are awarded a $2,100 stipend at the end of the two weeks to cover travel, room and board for the two-week institute (no stipends will be handed out in advance). We strongly suggest that participants opt for the on-campus option and waive a portion of their stipends to the Gilder Lehrman Institute to cover room and board at Yale. If participants choose this option, Gilder Lehrman will pay Yale’s bill in advance; no participant will be required to pay for their accommodations before receiving their stipend. Yale estimates that room and board for the two-week stay will be approximately $1,650; more details will follow. Additionally, Gilder Lehrman staff and Professor Demos will be staying on campus.

Comparable quality off-campus options include the Courtyard Marriott on Whalley Avenue and the Omni Hotel on Temple Street, which range from $1,800 to $2,100 for the two-week stay, not including meals, parking and internet.

graduate credit

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is proud to announce its agreement with Adams State College to offer three hours of graduate credit in American History to participating seminar teachers. Teachers are required to submit a reflection paper and a copy of one primary source activity completed during or immediately after the seminar. Teachers will also be given an opportunity to take additional online and distance coursework that counts toward an MA in History from Adams State College.

Enroll and learn more about the course description
For more details, please contact: Edward R. Crowther, Ph.D.

To ensure that your credit appears on your transcript as summer term class work, you must enroll by August 1, 2010.

additional resources

The National Endowment for the Humanities

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT: Endowment programs do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age. For further information, write to NEH Equal Opportunity Officer, 1100 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20506. TDD: 202/606 8282 (this is a special telephone device for the Deaf).

questions?

E-mail seminars@gilderlehrman.org or call 646-366-9666.