Back in 2019, I spent a week traveling up and down the eastern seaboard with with a film crew from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History as part of the Institute’s “History Essentials” series, online lectures for the professional...
Gilder-Lehrman Institute
George Washington Book Prize Finalists Announced
Here is the press release from Mount Vernon: MOUNT VERNON, VA – Seven books published in 2019 by the country’s most prominent historians have been named finalists for the George Washington Prize. The annual award recognizes the past year’s best works...
Coronavirus Diary: June 2, 2020
When I published my last diary entry on May 23, 2020, my Pennsylvania county had 584 coronavirus cases and 46 deaths. Eleven days later, we have 644 cases and 52 deaths. The first day of summer (June 20) is still...
Richard Gilder, RIP
Here is a tribute from the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History: The Gilder Lehrman Institute is proud to publish this short biography of our Co-Founder Richard Gilder, written by Charles Sahm, a journalist and member of our President’s Council. Originally...
The Hamilton Education Program (EduHam) is Now Free Online
Teachers: EduHam at Home was created in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 outbreak that forced school closures throughout the country. It is an extension of the Hamilton Education Program (EduHam), which has served more than 200,000 students across...
2010 National History Teacher of the Year on the Closing of Schools: “But most of all I like working with and learning with students”
Here is Nate McAlister, a history teacher and my former partner-in-crime in the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History “Princeton Seminar,” upon learning that Kansas public schools are closed: Confession: I am a huge history nerd. I know, I know this...
Teaching Reading Through Historical Sources
Do you want to teach your students how to think historically? Do you want to teach them to read in a deeper way? Do you want to teach them about the past? If your answer to all these questions is...
The Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History 2019 Summer Seminar Season Comes to End
1003 K-12 teachers participated in thirty different seminars, including the “Colonial Era” seminar at Princeton University. Click here for a recap of another great Gilder-Lehrman summer!...
From Princeton to Williamsburg!
In 1773, a recent graduate of the College of New Jersey at Princeton from the southern New Jersey town of Greenwich went to Virginia to teach the children of a wealthy plantation owner. The tutor was Philip Vickers Fithian. The...
2019 Princeton Seminar: Day 6
The sixth and final day of the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History summer seminar on colonial America is in the books. What a week! We had an amazing group of inspiring teachers in the seminar this year. I am so...
2019 Princeton Seminar: Day 4
Day 4 of the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History summer seminar on colonial America is in the books. We spent the entire day in colonial Philadelphia with George Boudreau, author of Independence: A Guide to Historical Philadelphia. George took us on...
On the Road in Late July
I am in the at the midpoint of two weeks of work with the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History. As some of you know, this last week I was in Mount Vernon, Virginia and Boston filming a 12-week lecture course...
Finalists for George Washington Book Prize Announced
Congrats to the nominees! MOUNT VERNON, VA – Seven books published in 2018 by the country’s most prominent historians have been named finalists for the George Washington Prize. The annual award recognizes the past year’s best works on the nation’s founding...
Loyalism in the Age of Revolutions (#AHA19)
Matt Lakemacher of Woodland Middle School on Gurnee, IL is doing yeoman’s work from the floor of the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Chicago. Here is latest. Enjoy! (Read all of Matt’s posts here). –JF I wrote...
The Gilder-Lehrman “Princeton Seminar” on the Colonial Era is Back! Apply Now!
We are entering Year 6 of the seminar. Join us in Princeton this summer! Read posts from the last six years here. Here are details from the Gilder-Lehrman website: DIRECTORS John Fea, Professor of History, Messiah College OVERVIEW Rather than thinking...
2018 Princeton Seminar: Day 6
And that’s a wrap. Yesterday was the final day of the 2018 Gilder-Lehrman seminar on colonial America at Princeton University. It was another great week with 34 teachers from around the country. The last day of the seminar is my...
Princeton Seminar: Day 5
Read all of our Princeton Seminar 2018 posts here. It was another busy day yesterday at the Gilder-Lehrman Summer Seminar for teachers on the “colonial era.” The teachers heard lectures on women and dissent in Puritan New England, slave culture...
2017 Princeton Seminar: Day 2
Monday was a long and busy day at the Princeton Seminar. We began with a morning of lecture and discussion about how we should think about “colonial America.” I tried to get the teachers to think historically about the colonies...
2017 Princeton Seminar: Day 1
The Gilder-Lehrman 2017 Princeton Seminar on colonial America is underway! Last night we held our opening dinner with the teachers. A few teachers had some difficulties with flights, but everyone is now here and settled into their rooms on the...
Princeton Seminar Is About To Kick-Off Its Fourth Year
Next week I will be at Princeton University to lead a Gilder-Lehrman Institute seminar of the “Colonial Era” for history teachers. This is the fourth year that I have joined my partner in crime, 2010 National Teacher of the Year...