Academics

Through the Munson Institute’s Survey, Seminar, and Independent Research courses, participants will study the American maritime people – the vast number of seafarers and citizens of shoreside communities who have shaped this country culturally, economically, and diplomatically throughout its history. Working on the sea and on the inland rivers and lakes, these people transformed the United States through developments in transportation, technology, the national economy, naval forces, and international diplomacy. Their history offers a naturally dramatic and compelling way to understand the national identity. With an economy based on container shipping and a foreign policy that continues to make use of a navy deployed around the world, the United States citizenry continues to be deeply dependent on these maritime activities.

The Munson Institute employs interdisciplinary perspectives on American maritime studies, with an emphasis on the most recent social and cultural approaches. The institute samples 400 years of American maritime history. Attention is placed on the most influential recent work in maritime studies, much of it by scholars who are members of the Munson faculty.

Faculty studies examine a wide range of topics: Lisa Norling on the independent lives of whaling wives in New England; Jeffrey Bolster on the large population of “Black Jack” sailors of color in the ante-bellum cities of the East Coast, and the historic impact of fisheries on the natural stocks; John Hattendorf on the United States Navy; John Jensen on demographic portraits of Great Lakes sailors and the maritime cultural landscape; Mary K. Bercaw Edwards on Herman Melville’s career at sea and Helen Rozwadowski on the development of marine science and coastal recreation. While serving as co-directors, Glenn S. Gordinier and Eric Roorda will offer perspectives on Early National policy and conflicts with the citizenry, and on Cuban immigrant rafters and the contemporary cruise industry, respectively.

In addition to sessions led by the faculty and guest speakers of the institute, the curriculum will involve field seminars in nearby port communities. Trips to Stonington, New London and Groton, Connecticut, as well as Newport, Rhode Island, will be part of the curriculum. The field seminars will also feature maritime tours from the perspective of the water with cruises under steam, aboard a science vessel and a replica whaleboat.

Most of the Munson Institute takes place at beautiful Mystic Seaport, one of the largest and most comprehensive maritime museums of its kind in the world, in coastal Connecticut. The Museum covers 17 acres, with 60 historic buildings, and more than 500 historic vessels. The Institute will take special advantage of primary source materials from the vast manuscript collections of the G. W. Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport; the facilities of the Collections Research Center at the Museum, where artifacts and photographs are preserved for research; and the public exhibits of Mystic Seaport itself. All together, these facilities will make an inspiring campus for program participants.

These resources, in the way of faculty, skills, collections, and natural setting, have helped the Munson Institute to garner repeated awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities to host NEH Summer Institutes for College and University Faculty. This rare honor has been awarded to the Munson Institute three times within the past seven years.

Survey, Seminar, and Independent Research Courses

America Goes to Sea Maritime History Survey Course: Meeting three mornings a week, this course explores the history of maritime America from before Columbus to the present, tracing a variety of topics in roughly chronological order along the way. Subjects include the rise of the U.S. merchant marine and international commerce, the evolution of new technologies, the history of U.S. naval forces, and the development of seaport communities. Questions of gender, race, and class are examined closely. The survey closes with discussion of current issues facing the oceans and the United States, and builds on earlier environmental history and policy discussions.

Maritime History Seminar: Meeting two afternoons a week and on field explorations, students in this seminar will study an array of important considerations in maritime history, employing an array of contrasting approaches to the field. In a series of discussions and workshops, we will take in-depth looks at seaborne empires, naval warfare, maritime technology, the fisheries and whaling, the marine environment, the experience of the sea voyage, the culture of coastal societies, and considerations of race and gender in maritime settings. Sources for our examination will include many different kinds of evidence, including primary documents and classic works of literature.

Independent Research: This course involves the preparation of a major research paper of the student’s choice. All projects, based on the vast collections in the Museum’s G. W. Blunt White Library, will be under the direction of the Institute’s faculty. Participants must be qualified to do independent or original work using manuscripts or material culture resources. Prerequisite: America Goes to Sea course or equivalent, or prior agreement with directors.