Rethinking the Gilded Age and Progressivisms:
​Race, Capitalism, and Democracy,
​1877 to 1920

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"Rethinking the Gilded Age and Progressivisms" has been renewed for Summer 2025! We are excited to run our program from July 6-25, 2025 and to work with teachers on the rich history of these eras. 
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Some say we live in a second “Gilded Age" full of "populist" politicians and "progressive" activists. Why does this history—the issues, events, and personalities of more than a century ago—still matter so much?

We invite K-12 teachers to come to Chicago to attend an NEH Summer Institute for school teachers.  Participants engage in intimate seminar-style sessions with leading historians as well as take guided excursions around Chicago each week during the institute. There are also "Applications to Teaching" sessions where Scholars work with master teachers to develop classroom materials. Participants earn a $2,850 stipend to help defray expenses such as travel, lodging, and meals.

Teachers will explore new ways to look at the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. We will investigate a wide variety of historical—and historiographical—matters. Our focus will be on three important themes of American history—race, capitalism, and democracy— because, arguably, the most important economic and political institutions of modern America originated and took shape during the period from 1877 to 1920. New imaginings and definitions of race and its role in society played out in profound ways on the local and national stage. Our  institute is rich in the humanities generally, with significant exploration of art, architecture, music, film, and literature.

Organized by the Chicago History Museum, Loyola University Chicago, and the University of Illinois Chicago, K-12 teachers can apply for “Rethinking the Gilded Age and Progressivisms: Race, Capitalism, and Democracy, 1877 to 1920.” Our NEH Summer Scholars will spend three weeks in Chicago, a center of Progressive Era reform, engaging in vigorous discussions about this critical time period in American history and creating materials to use in their classrooms. We are committed to building a diverse team of participants, reflecting a range of disciplines, grade levels, and regions of the country.

Award-winning historian Robert Johnston (University of Illinois Chicago) will guide the institute’s academic content, with the help of renowned experts in history, art, and architecture. Crystal Johnson (Chicago History Museum) and Charles Tocci (Loyola University Chicago) will co-direct the institute. Mike Biondo (Maine South High School) and Johanna Heppeler (East Leyden High School) will serve as the director of teacher supports and the master teacher, respectively, to help Summer Scholars craft classroom materials out of their institute experiences.

For a sense of our program's content and the curriculum materials teachers develop through it, please see the Calendar & Syllabus and Teacher Resources links, respectively from the left sidebar menu.

​Applications for 2025 NEH Summer Institutes will open on December 13, 2024. Applications are due March 5, 2025, by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. Applicants will be notified of their status on April 2, 2025. 

We will hold an applicant webinar Q&A at 6:30 p.m. Central on January 14, 2025. Please add your name to the sign-up form in the sidebar to be added to the distribution list for announcements about this event and the application process.

If you use screen reading software, have trouble with reliable Internet access, or prefer reading about the Institute in letter format, you may learn more about the Institute's content and application procedures in our Letter from the Directors. 

Applications closed on
​March 5, 2025.

We will notify applicants on April 2, 2025.

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