This summer institute will examine the transformation of the lands between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River from “Indian Country” to “U.S. territory,” from North to South, between 1812 and 1833. The Newberry Library has long been in the forefront of the study of Native America, in both its collections and sponsored scholarship, and it is the perfect place to host an institute that bridges the divide between American Indian history and traditional narratives of U.S. history by exploring the borderlands and backcountry of the trans-Appalachian west.

Participating teachers and education professionals will benefit not only by working with top-flight scholars and the resources available at the Newberry Library, and in other archives and museums in the Chicago area, but also by providing an opportunity to investigate more deeply an all-too-often overlooked topic in American history—the cultural, political, social, and economic interactions among the diverse groups of people who occupied and traveled through Indian Country during the era of the Early Republic.

This institute is supported by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency.