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Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
> Cullman Center for Scholars
and Writers The Cullman Center Institute for TeachersThe Cullman Center Institute for Teachers is located in The New York Public Library's landmark building on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street. The Institute offers two distinct programs for professional development that give teachers an opportunity to enrich their understanding of history and literature and to learn about doing research in one of the world's great libraries. The Center’s Summer Seminars for Middle and High School Teachers offers three week-long courses led by outstanding creative writers and scholars. During each seminar week teachers learn about the extraordinary resources of the Library, and are given time to do their own writing and research. Teachers throughout the New York metropolitan area have praised the seminars; many have said it was the best professional development experience they have ever had. The Center’s Teacher Workshops, a new program begun in November 2009, provides one-day workshops during the school year that are modeled on the Summer Seminars. Like the Seminars, the Workshops give teachers the opportunity to work closely with scholars and writers on materials they teach, access to Library resources and Special Collections, and the chance to discuss teaching strategies with a diverse group of colleagues.
Teacher Workshops, Spring 2010 Teaching Shakespeare’s Macbeth James Shapiro, a former Cullman Center Fellow and a Professor of English at Columbia University, writes reviews, articles, and books, including the biography 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare. Writing New York: Research Strategies for the Non-fiction Writer Writer Ian Frazier will discuss his research process for a 2006 New Yorker article on Co-op City in the Bronx. Participants will write on the spot, and share, a first draft of a non-fiction essay about a New York City locale. After Frazier makes suggestions for research to augment the draft, participants will begin that research, using the Library’s resources. Ian Frazier, a current Cullman Center Fellow, is a writer and humorist for The New Yorker and the author of many books, including Great Plains and On the Rez. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave This seminar will examine Douglass’s Narrative as both a literary text and a historical document. Participants will assess various ways of reading this classic slave narrative, discuss what it reveals or hides about Douglass's early life, and analyze how the book can be used as a window into the experience of slavery – from both the slave’s and the slave owner's perspective. David Blight is a former Cullman Center Fellow and a Professor of American History at Yale University . His books include Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, and A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom. The Harlem Renaissance: A Look at its Art, Jazz, and the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God will be the prism through which this seminar studies the Harlem Renaissance. Participants will look closely at the structure and development of Hurston’s novel, and will also examine the music and art of the period, with particular attention paid to Duke Ellington and Aaron Douglas. Robert G. O’Meally is a former Cullman Center Fellow and the Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he founded The Center for Jazz Studies. His books include The Craft of Ralph Ellison, Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday, and The Jazz Singers. Reaching into the Past: Historical Research and Creative Writing How do writers sift through vast resources to find the books, newspapers, photographs, and maps that provide inspiration and lend accuracy and depth to historical fiction? This creative writing workshop will examine short fiction by Andrea Barrett and Chris Adrian, and will explore research techniques as workshop participants try their hands at writing fiction that draws on primary-source documents. Julie Orringer, a former Cullman Center Fellow, is the author of the short story collection How to Breathe Underwater, and of The Invisible Bridge, a novel to be published by Knopf in May. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn This seminar will look at Twain’s novel from three perspectives: its literary characteristics; its plot and characters in relation to historical contexts; and critical debates over the work – particularly its racial politics – from the time of publication to the present day. Ezra Tawil is a former Cullman Center Fellow and a professor of American literature at Columbia University. He is the author of The Making of Racial Sentiment: Slavery and the Birth of the Frontier Romance . Creating Imaginary Worlds Using Primary-Source Documents Fiction writers transport readers to wonderlands and alien planets, as well as to the darkest labyrinths of their characters' interiors. Participants in this writing workshop will examine how authors transform an invented landscape into a vibrant, real place on the page. They will compose imaginary worlds of their own by responding to writing prompts based on materials such as maps, photographs, postcards, and diary entries. Karen Russell’s stories have appeared in The New Yorker and Granta. A current Cullman Center Fellow, Russell is the author of the short-story collection St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. Her novel, Swamplandia!, will be published by Knopf. The Haitian and American Revolutions This seminar will begin with a talk on the Haitian Revolution (1781-1804) that examines its impact on the U.S. and relates it to the questions of race, citizenship, and colonialism that bedeviled the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Atlantic world. Readings in primary sources will provide the background for the discussion to follow. François Furstenberg, a current Cullman Center Fellow, is an Assistant Professor of History at the Université de Montréal and the author of In the Name of the Father: Washington’s Legacy, Slavery, and the Making of a Nation. The View from the Kitchen: A History of American Women through Food The study of food opens up an extraordinary range of issues, including economics, psychology, domestic tradition, gender relations, education, and social class. This seminar will examine the history of American women in the 20th century by examining three immensely influential cooks – Fannie Farmer, Betty Crocker and Julia Child. Participants will study these women’s careers and the effects they had on American culture through cookbooks, magazines, ads, TV programs, and other primary source materials. Laura Shapiro, a current Cullman Center Fellow, is the author of Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century; Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America; and a biography, Julia Child. The Teacher Workshop application will be available online only, soon. Please email csw@nypl.org if you would like to be notified when the application is posted. Information on the 2010 Summer Seminars will be available in December 2009. |