Teaching with Primary Sources
Innovative Approaches to Archives
The Lunder Institute for American Art, the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Art are partnering on a series of unique workshops that will result in innovative, adaptable models for teaching the history of American art with primary sources.
Ten art history professors were selected through a competitive application process to participate in all three of the workshops, which will take place over the course of two years. The cohort includes: Katie Anania (University of Nebraska, Lincoln); Melody Deusner (Indiana University); Tess Korobkin (University of Maryland, College Park); Annie Ronan (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University); Allison Stagg (Mark Twain Center for Transatlantic Relations, Kurpfälzisches Museum, Heidelberg, Germany); Sarah Archino (Furman University); Melanee Harvey (Howard University); Austin Porter (Kenyon College); Emma Silverman (Smith College); and Bernida Webb-Binder (Spelman College).
The first workshop, generously supported by the Hon. Max N. Berry, was held at the Archives of American Art in Washington, D.C., in September 2019. It included presentations by a number of invited scholars: Janice Simon (Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia); Richard J. Powell (Duke University); Hannah W. Wong (independent scholar); Michael Leja (University of Pennsylvania); Ellery Foutch (Middlebury College); and Avis Berman (author and independent scholar). The Lunder Institute will host a second workshop in Maine in April 2020. The culminating session will take place at the Cleveland Museum of Art in March 2021.
Each workshop offers an intensive three-day program of presentations, discussions, and hands-on archival encounters for its ten core participants, invited scholars, and guests. The workshops aim to build lasting relationships among the participants, who will serve as advocates for teaching with primary sources in the field of American art for years to come. Tied to specific topics and engaging with local expertise, each workshop will incorporate time for peer-to-peer discussion, interaction with invited presenters, reflection on models shared, and experimentation with teaching strategies. The outcome will be a set of distinct and adaptable models for incorporating primary sources into the teaching of American art history.
Photos by Ben Wheeler.
