NEH - "The American Maritime Commons" at the Frank C. Munson Institute

Organization: National Endowment for the Humanities

The purpose of "The American Maritime Commons" NEH Institute at Mystic Seaport is "to provide college teachers with the opportunity to enhance course offerings by studying the influence of maritime activities on U.S. history and culture." This, the sixth such NEH Institute, will build on the latest research in studies of the sea, which, given the world oceans' environmental crisis, has recently been the focus of increasing scholarly interest. In a series of seminars, "The American Maritime Commons" will employ interdisciplinary perspectives on American maritime studies, with an emphasis on the most recent social, cultural, and particularly ecological approaches.The campus for the five weeks of study will be Mystic Seaport–The Museum of America and the Sea. As the largest maritime museum in the nation, Mystic Seaport includes 17 acres of riverfront property, 60 historic buildings, 550 traditional watercraft, 1,000,000 manuscript pieces, and many thousands of artifacts. While the seminar hall will be the focus of the institute, Mystic Seaport and the maritime region of which it is a part, will be used to inform further study through tours, and exploration.

Award Recipients