Liberty Hall Museum, the home of William LivingstonToday I am in Union, New Jersey working with the History Department at Kean University. The department just received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund MakeHISTORY@Kean: William Livingston’s World. It is a three-year project intended to develop the Kean history curriculum around the concept of a History Lab. The project incorporates the unique and untapped archival and historical resources of Kean University, Liberty Hall Museum, and the Liberty Hall Academic Center. Undergraduates will generate a portfolio of original historical research to be shared with a broad public through talks, exhibits, websites, lesson plans, and other genres.
Initially, students will focus their work on the world of William Livingston, a brigadier general during the Revolutionary War, New Jersey’s first popularly elected governor (1776-1790), and signer of the U.S. Constitution.
The project also teaches history majors to think about how their work in the field of history intersects with a variety of career options in business, digital, and STEM to produce graduates who possess the communications and critical thinking skills employers need.
The “William Livingston World” program is already underway. Students are working on a recreation of the 1772 marriage of Sarah Livingston and John Jay, which occurred in the Great Hall at Liberty Hall (on Kean’s campus). Check out this video:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtpNL_LOpuo&w=560&h=315]
I will be talking with faculty and students today as the project’s “Public Humanities Consultant.” It should be a great day and I am excited to learn more about this project.
