Week 1: Learning about the Archival Turn
The Institute will host an opening presentation on Sunday evening, June 5 at the Visitor’s Center of the Gettysburg Museum. Dr. Jim Downs will give a brief overview of the upcoming two weeks and lead a discussion on the life and legacy of Albert Cashier. This Institute is designed to teach Civil War Era historians about the archival turn and how to apply it to their research and teaching. The first week offers an overview of the “archival turn.” The second week offers opportunities to apply the archival turn to Civil War Era Studies. To that end, the second week provides a range of opportunities for scholars to consider how to share their new knowledge in the future. Visiting faculty will discuss how to submit articles to Civil War History; how to craft curriculum for secondary schools; how to pitch ideas to non-academic publications, journalists, book editors, and documentary and feature film production companies.
| Time | Monday, June 6 | Tuesday, June 7 | Wednesday, June 8 | Thursday, June 9 | Friday, June 10 | Saturday, June 11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00am- 11:00am | Reading, writing, reflection | Reading, writing, reflection | Reading, writing, reflection | Reading, writing, reflection | Reading, writing, reflection | Reading, writing, reflection |
| 11:00am- 12:30pm | Dr. Jim Downs, Project Director. Discussion on Mark Bloch’s The Historian’s Craft and Arlette Farge's The Allure of the Archives. | Ann Stoler, The New School. An interview to reflect on her discipline and its relation to the Civil War. | Stephen Berry, University of Georgia. A lecture of his work to create an archive based on coroner’s reports. | Dr. Peter Carmichael, Gettysburg College. Tour of battlefields. | Dr. Jim Downs. A discussion on Marissa Fuentes Dispossessed Lives. | Reading, writing, reflection |
| 12:30pm- 1:30pm | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch |
| 1:30pm- 4:00pm | Carolyn Sautter . Gettysburg College’s Special Collections & College Archives. | Catherine Clinton, University of Texas San Antonio A discussion of her efforts in making archival history available to the public. |
Stephen Berry . An informal discussion about his research in the archives and his strategies on uncovering new sources. | Jennifer Morgan, New York University. An interview about the meaning of the archival term and how it relates to race and gender and how it is applied to Civil War history. | Dr. Jim Downs . A discussion on Carol Reardon’s Pickett’s Charge. | Andrew Dalton, Adams County Historical Society. A tour of the historical society’s archives. |
| 4:00pm- 5:00pm | Reflection | Reflection | Reflection | Reflection | Reflection | Reflection |
Week 2: Applying the Archival Turn
| Time | Monday, June 13 | Tuesday, June 14 | Wednesday, June 15 | Thursday, June 16 | Friday, June 17 | Saturday, June 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00am- 11:00am | Reading, writing, reflection | Reading, writing, reflection | Reading, writing, reflection | Reading, writing, reflection | Reading, writing, reflection | Reading, writing, reflection |
| 11:00am- 12:30pm | Yael Sternhell, Tel Aviv University A lecture on her upcoming book, War on Record: The Archive and Making of Civil War History. |
Dr. Jim Downs . A discussion of Martha Hodes’s book, Sea Captain’s Wife. | Crystal Feimster, Yale University. A lecture on how to read military records for evidence of race and gender. | Sarah Gardner, Mercer University. A lecture on how novels function as archives. | Library and Archival Research. | Presentations from participants on their research and teaching and how it developed from the Institute. |
| 12:30pm- 1:30pm | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch |
| 1:30pm- 4:00pm | Dr. Jim Downs . Collaborative research using l Musselman Library and Civil War Institute Resources. | Dr. Jim Downs . Presentation by Martha Hodes on the Archival Turn and Sea Captain’s Wife | Dr. Jim Downs and Crystal Feimster. Joint discussion on how to submit proposals and articles to academic journals such as Civil War History (edited by Downs and Feimster). | Joseph Schmidt, New York City Dept. of Education. A workshop on how to turn research into educational videos and lesson plans for high school curricula. | Presentations from participants on their research and teaching and how it developed from the Institute. | Presentations from participants on their research and teaching and how it developed from the Institute. |
| 4:00pm- 5:00pm | Reflection | Reflection | Reflection | Reflection | Reflection | Reflection |
An NEH Institute for Higher Education Faculty at Gettysburg College from June 5–18, 2022. Directed by Jim Downs, Gilder Lehrman-National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Civil War Studies and History.