Summer Conferences: So Much Going On

Wow, just thinking about my next couple of weeks makes me tired. Tomorrow, we at the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) host the Kentucky History Education Conference. We have about 50 5th grade through college undergraduate educators coming for a series of concurrent sessions that focus on our theme, "Debate and Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures and Consequences," which is also this year's upcoming National History Day theme. We have lined up five of Kentucky's premier historians for the historical content sessions and there are other sessions on using primary sources and practical teaching strategies.

After our conference is over I will drive to Cincinnati to catch a direct flight to D.C. and then tomorrow morning drive up to Hagerstown, Maryland for the Civil War Preservation Trust's Teacher Institute. This will make my third CWPT institute in a row and I have always come away with some great ideas to share with our teachers in Kentucky. Then, I fly back to Cincinnati on Sunday. Monday morning I head to Berea College for a five day summer seminar for the Teaching American History grant we administer at KHS.

I have the following weekend free to tighten up the paper I have been researching, then I work on Monday, and then drive out to Kansas that evening (I will probably only make it Illinois) to attend the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Conference. This year's theme is "Battleground for Freedom - The Underground Railroad on the Western Frontier." I will be presenting my paper, "Principles Opposed to the Public Peace: Kentuckians' Reactions to John Brown's Raid on Friday. As I understand it I will be on a panel with two other presenters for the session, "Remembering John Brown: The Man, the Myth, the Legend."

While on my way out to the Midwest I am hoping to get to get to see visit some historic sights I have been wanting to see for a while. I would like to go to both the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum and the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield. And then, when I go through Kansas City, I would like to see the Steamboat Arabia Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. When in Kansas I hope to go to the Kansas State Historical Society Museum and visit the Black Jack Battlefield, where John Brown's and Henry Clay Pate's forces clashed in 1856.

So, as you can see I have many miles before me and so much to learn and experience. I guess, that's one of the many reasons I love history. Plus, it should supply me with any number of blog posts.

If you are interested in learning more about the National Underground Railroad Conference you can check out the following link: http://www.lanetrail.com/ugr/index.html