LANDMARKS WORKSHOPS

            
 
      
 
        
 
          
 
DID YOU KNOW?
  • 80% of the iron ore that built industrial America, including the Brooklyn Bridge and the skyscrapers in New York, was taken out of the ground on Minnesota’s Iron Range.
  • 188,310,000 tons of ore were extracted from the ground during WWII to supply steel to the U.S. war effort.
  • Since 1882, people from 46 different ethnic groups settled on Minnesota’s Iron Range, an area that stretches only 100 miles long and 10 miles wide.
AN INVITATION
Dear Colleague:

How would you like to spend a week discussing your passion for American history with distinguished university professors, traversing Minnesota’s historic Iron Range, and planning activities for your students? Would you like to experience the geography, geology, the mines and their contributions to American history, as well as the differing ethnic and immigrant populations in order to bring the learning out of the books and into living history?

The story of Minnesota’s Iron Range is rarely, if ever told. It is absent from general treatments of American history, absent from examinations of industrial America, and absent from studies of the U.S. military build-ups in the first and second world wars; the Iron Range appears as only a footnote in historical treatments of the American steel industry. The history of the people who came to work these mines is part of the history of Americans; it is the story of immigrants, of conflict and assimilation, of people creating lives for themselves, their families, and for others.

School teachers, university scholars, and museum curators will explore this story during two, week-long teacher workshops developed by the Minnesota Humanities Center and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Landmarks of American History and Culture; offered June 13-18 or August 1-6, 2010, at numerous historic and cultural sites on the Vermillion and the Mesabi Iron Ranges in northeast Minnesota. For information about the Minnesota Humanities Center, see http://www.minnesotahumanities.org.

This website describes the content and scope of the workshop, the faculty, activities, venue, and local resources. We have included information about stipends, travel allowances, hotels and meals, and professional development credits. The 2010 NEH Applicant Guidelines also are included. If you choose not to complete the application online, completed applications must be postmarked by March 2, 2010. Successful applicants will be notified of their selection by April 1, 2010 and will have until April 5, 2010 to accept or decline the offer.

Mallory@minnesotahumanities.org is your gateway to answers should questions arise, or you may call Mallory Wessel at 651-772-4252. We look forward to receiving your application and welcoming you to the Iron Range for a week of innovative, experiential, and inspirational teaching and learning.

Sincerely,

Casey DeMarais
Project Director, Building America
Director of Programs, Minnesota Humanities Center