Additional college and graduate programs available:

Williams-Mystic
Spend a semester at Mystic Seaport studying the history, literature, science and policy of the world's oceans.

Paul Cuffe
Memorial Fellowship
Fellowship for the study of minorities in American maritime history.

The Munson Institute Syllabus

*Draft*
[download syllabus in PDF format]

Participants in this Institute will investigate an array of important considerations in maritime studies, employing a variety of contrasting approaches to the field, with an emphasis on social, cultural and environmental history. In a series of seminars, the institute participants will examine recent work on the maritime experience of the American people, and have the opportunity to integrate their own ongoing research into the discussions. The participants will engage many different kinds of historical sources during the institute sessions and in their own work, including documents from the Mystic Seaport manuscript collection and the material culture of museum artifacts.

FACULTY and GUEST SPEAKERS:
Dr. Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, Associate Professor, University of Connecticut
Dr. James T. Carlton, Professor, Williams College, and Director of the Williams - Mystic Maritime Studies Program
Dr. Jeffrey Bolster, Professor, University of New Hampshire
Dr. John B. Hattendorf, Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History, Naval War College
Dr. John Odin Jensen, Maritime Studies Faculty, Sea Education Association
Dr. I. Roderick Mather, Associate Professor, University of Rhode Island
Dr. Lisa Norling, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota
Dr. Helen Rozwadowski, Associate Professor, University of Connecticut

CLASS MEETINGS: Classroom sessions will take place in the Munson Room of the G.W. Blunt White Library or the James T. Carlton Marine Science Center multi-media classroom. Other sessions will meet at various locations on the grounds of Mystic Seaport. The field seminar excursions will take place in nearby Stonington, Connecticut and Newport, Rhode Island.

READING: The texts for this course take different approaches to research in Maritime History, featuring the areas of specialization of the faculty who conduct the seminar sessions.

Books
Bolster, Keyssar and Roland, The Way of the Ship (Wiley 2008)
Labaree, Hattendorf, et al, America & the Sea (Mystic Seaport Press, 1998)
Norling, Captain Ahab Had a Wife (Univ of North Carolina Press, 2000)
Rediker, The Slave Ship (Viking, 2007)
Vickers, Young Men and the Sea (Yale U. Press, 2007)

Reader Contents
Hattendorf, "Luce's Idea of a Naval War College"
Lemisch, "Jack Tar in the Streets: Merchant Seamen in the Politics of Revolutionary America." William and Mary Quarterly (1966). 371 - 407.
Fayle, "A Glory Departed"
W & M Quarterly articles (1986 #3 pp. 408-59; 1989 #3 pp. 304-14)
United States Statutes at Large dealing with "An Act laying an Embargo. . ."
Rozwadowski, Fathoming the Ocean (Harvard U. Press, 2004) excerpts
Jensen, "Hospitals and Mariners: A Great Lakes Case Study" The American Neptune Vol 57 (1) 1997: 47-63.
Articles on whaling: Ellis, Men and Whales, Chapters 3 and 5; The Log of Mystic Seaport (May, 1975), 8-28; (January, 1978), 119-122.
Albion, Square-Riggers on Schedule, pp. 140-156
Robert Foulke, "Life in the Dying Age of Sail"
Bolster, "Putting the Ocean in Atlantic History: Maritime Communities and Marine Ecology in the Northwest Atlantic, 1500-1800," American Historical Review 113 (Feb, 2008), 19-47.

WEEK I
Readings:
Labaree, et al, America and the Sea, chapters 1-3
Bolster, et al, The Way of the Ship, Part I
Rediker, Slave Ship
W & M Quarterly articles (Reader)

MONDAY, 25 JUNE:
9:30 Introduction, Library Orientation, Tour of Mystic Seaport Co-Directors
1:00 The Global Biological Context of Maritime Studies Carlton
TUESDAY, 26 JUNE:
9:30 European Reactions to the New World Mather
1:00 Patterns of European Colonization
WEDNESDAY, 27 JUNE:
9:30 Shipwreck Research Mather
1:00 Seminar on participants' research
THURSDAY, 28 JUNE:
9:30 Collective Maritime Labor Rediker
1:00 The Slave Trade
FRIDAY, 29 JUNE:
9:30 FORUM Mather, Rediker
Afternoon: Participants' research time

WEEK II
Readings:
America and the Sea, chapters 4-6
Bolster, Black Jacks
Vickers, Farmers and Fishermen and/or Young Men and the Sea
Lemisch, "Jack Tar in the Streets" (Reader)
Embargo documents (Reader)

MONDAY, 2 JULY:
Colonial Maritime Experience: Field Seminar in Stonington Borough
TUESDAY, 3 JULY:
9:30 Neutral Traders Gordinier
1:00 West Indies Traders Roorda
WEDNESDAY, 4 JULY:
9:30 African American Maritime Experience Bolster
1:00 Environmental Historical Research
THURSDAY, 5 JULY:
9:30 Farmers and Fishermen Vickers
1:00 Young Men and the Sea
FRIDAY, 6 JULY:
9:30 FORUM Bolster, Vickers
Afternoon: Participants' research time

WEEK III
Readings:
America and the Sea, Chapters 7-9
Way of the Ship, Part II
Norling, Captain Ahab Had a Wife

MONDAY, 9 JULY:
9:30 The Ante-bellum Merchant Marine Gordinier
Afternoon: Participants' research time
TUESDAY, 10 JULY:
9:30 Gender Dynamics in Maritime America Norling
1:30 Women Passengers in the Age of Sail
WEDNESDAY, 11 JULY:
9:30 Roundtable on American women and the sea Norling
Afternoon: Long Island Sound field seminar Rozwadowski
THURSDAY, 12 JULY:
9:30 Human Exploration of the Deep Sea Rozwadowski
1:00 Extremes in Oceanography
FRIDAY, 13 JULY:
9:30 FORUM Rozwadowski
Afternoon: Participants' research time

WEEK IV
Readings:
America and the Sea, Chapter 10-12
Way of the Ship, Part III
Fayle, "A Glory Departed" (Reader)
Albion and Folke articles (Reader)
Jensen, "Hospitals and Mariners" (Reader)
Whaling articles (Reader)

MONDAY, 16 JULY:
9:30 America's Inland Maritime Frontiers Jensen
1:00 Health and Social Welfare in the Maritime World
TUESDAY, 17 JULY:
9:30 Commercial Fisheries Jensen
1:00 Fishing Technology Seaport field seminar
WEDNESDAY, 18 JULY:
9:30 Whalers' Lives (meet aboard Charles W. Morgan) Bercaw Edwards
1:00 Recent Research on Melville
THURSDAY, 19 JULY:
9:30 Immigration by Sea: the "America and the Sea" exhibit Roorda
1:00 Sailortowns and Sailors' Reform Movements Gordinier
Presentation by Captain Josiah Gardner
FRIDAY, 20 JULY:
9:30 FORUM Bercaw Edwards, Jensen
Afternoon: Participants' research time

WEEK V
Readings:
America and the Sea, Chapters 13-17
Way of the Ship, Parts IV-V

MONDAY, 23 JULY:
9:30 Maritime Labor Unions Gordinier
1:00 Containerization
TUESDAY, 24 JULY:
9:30 Democratization of Maritime Recreation Gordinier
1:00 The Cruise Industry Roorda
WEDNESDAY, 25 JULY:
FIELD SEMINAR IN NEWPORT, RI Hattendorf
Visit to Naval War College and walking tour of the city
THURSDAY, 26 JULY:
9:30 Forum on Researching Maritime History Hattendorf
1:00 US Navy Culture
FRIDAY, 27 JULY:
9:30 Final Forum
5:00 Closing Dinner