Minnesota’s Iron Range supplied late 19th and 20th century America with the iron needed to fuel industrialization, economic expansion, and military might. The history of the Iron Range tells the history of America; it is the story of immigrants, of conflict and assimilation, of people creating lives for themselves, their families, and for others. It is a story about industrial America and U.S. military build-ups in the first and second world wars. And yet, the Iron Range appears as only a footnote in treatments of American histories.

Offered June 22-27 and July 27-Aug. 1, the Minnesota Humanities Center’s Landmarks of American History workshop “Building America: Minnesota’s Iron Range, U.S. Industrialization, and the Creation of World Power” will focus on the history and activities that took place on the Vermilion and the Mesabi Iron Ranges. The weeklong workshop will be organized around three central themes: 1) Natural History of the Landmark: Geography and Geology; 2) The Mines and their Contributions to American History; 3) and the People and the Mines (indigenous peoples, ethnicity, and immigration). The workshop will begin and conclude in St. Paul, Minn., though sessions will be conducted at various sites in Minnesota’s Iron Range, in the northeast part of the state; transportation from site to site will be provided. Applications are due March 18.

Thanks to a generous donation from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), there is no registration fee for this program. Funding from the NEH will cover travel, lodging, and meal expenses for educators from around the nation to attend. For more information, visit http://www.minnesotahumanities.org/Special/ironrange.htm.