How can a college professor or K-12 teacher work with a public history institution like Ford’s Theatre to teach students about historical research? Learn from a collaboration between Ford’s and St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, that inspired college students and brought underrepresented voices into a digital history exhibition--and see how teachers at all levels can do such projects.

Since 2005, visitors to Ford’s Theatre have been able to step back in time with National Park Service volunteer Mike Robinson, who portrays Washington Police Chief A.C. Richards. As “The Chief,” Robinson offers the perspective of a man who both witnessed the Lincoln assassination and then investigated it. Learn about how he originated the role, how he prepared and how visitors react.

A teacher from our summer institute, The Seat of War and Peace, reflects on the program and a lesson she designed to help students examine the history of Confederate monuments and the push to have them removed.

Historic sites and museums provide a wide range of professional development opportunities for teachers, especially in the summer. What do educators really want to learn? And what makes a great learning experience? From 2016 to 2018, staff from Ford’s Theatre and researchers from George Washington University are partnering with the Institute of Museum and Library Services to find answers to these questions.

A field trip to Ford’s Theatre is a great way to teach the Lincoln assassination, what Washington was like during the Civil war, Lincoln’s presidency, Reconstruction and even historical memory and legacy. Here’s how to make place-based learning a memorable #BestTripEver for your kids this year.

The musical Ragtime tells a story set just after the turn of the 20th century, when the United States became known as a melting pot. As we see in the musical, Americans of this era experienced great social upheaval as a new century dawned.

The Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership features a winding staircase and 34-foot tower of books about Abraham Lincoln, symbolizing that the last word about this great man will never be written. 

Professor of Geography at the University of Connecticut Kenneth Foote, and author of Shadowed Ground, discusses the context of places that have been involved in tragedies. 

In spring 2016, Jason Rude, a seventh and eighth grade social studies teacher at New Hampton Middle School in New Hampton, Iowa, worked with Ford’s Theatre on a pilot project to transcribe primary sources from the Remembering Lincoln website with his students.

Editor’s Note: In conjunction with with the musical Come From Away, Kenneth Foote, Professor of Geography at the University of Connecticut and author of Shadowed Ground, discusses the context of places that have been involved in tragedies like the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.