Berry-LincolnJune 29 - July 31, 2009
Jacksonville, IL  

James E. Davis, Ph.D.

Letter From the Director:

November 2008

Dear Colleague:

Illinois College invited fifteen educators to participate in a Summer Seminar supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities to be held at our institution in Jacksonville, Illinois, from Monday, June 28, to Saturday, August 1, 2008. The basic topic that the Summer Seminar addressed was “The Frontier Experience in the American Midwest: Greater Illinois to 1860.”  Some of my earliest, most vivid memories spring from frequent visits my parents, brother, and I made to my mother’s place of birth in Cold Spring Township in southern Shelby County, Illinois. Staying with my aunt, uncle, and cousins, sometimes for weeks at a time, I explored with boyish wide-eyed wonder the farmstead and the nearby woods and fields, followed meandering creeks and swam and fished in some, poked around abandoned structures, read tombstones in cemeteries, listened to casual conversation by relatives and by people in nearby villages and towns, and strolled dusty roads and traces, always wondering about those who had lived in the area long before I arrived on the scene.

Various local features fascinated me: the old house, the farmstead, the orchard, fence lines and tree lines, nearby farmsteads, an abandoned village on the south edge of Williamsburg Hill, a gravel pit, the one-room school my mother and aunts and uncles had attended, decaying cemeteries, traces and roads, hamlets and villages, place names, and the names of local families. Over the years these features revealed stories to me, endlessly fascinating stories that were shaped and often reinforced by family lore, conversations that flowed from family gatherings in the warm evenings, and my imagination. The natural environment, those who created the social and cultural landscapes, and forces affecting the locale from remote corners of the country and the world impacted each other in ways that produced both enduring understandings and innumerable new questions.

These visits to my mother’s place of birth led me to spend most of my life studying the American frontier. Further encouragement stemmed from my youthful explorations of historical and geographical features associated with the early years of my boyhood home, Dearborn, Michigan. In any event, I have researched frontier history for over forty years and I devoted over eight years to researching and writing Frontier Illinois, published by Indiana University Press in 1998. In this work I address various themes associated with the “Illinois Country” and the Illinois frontier, processes involved in frontier formation, sources that promote understanding of the frontier, approaches to the topic, contradictions and paradoxes, and meanings of frontier experience within national and international contexts.  

The basic goal of the Seminar was to engage participants in the scholarly enterprise and to expand participants’ understandings of the humanities through readings, discussions, off-campus visits and talks, guest lectures, videos, reflection, presentations by participants, and writing. The Seminar examined essential features and processes associated with the Illinois frontier and nearby regions from pre-historic times to about the year 1860 and place these essential features and processes in evolving regional, national, and international contexts. Participants gained increased understandings of much, including the following:  significant works associated with the Illinois Country; sources, approaches, and skills associated with the study of the Lower Great Lakes; universal principles concerning migration; perceptions held by settlers of their natural and human environments and of their places in these environments; interactions and adjustments among settlers and between settlers and earlier occupants; ideas of ways to integrate these understandings, skills, and resources into classroom activities via the creation of a frontier unit, a unit that each participant created for use in the classroom and presented to all the other participants. Participants used a wide range of primary and secondary sources.  

Understandings of early Illinois provide foundations for understanding much American and world history. The term “Illinois Country” is vague, and any definition of it must include such places as Vincennes, Indiana, and portions of eastern Missouri. From pre-French exploration and occupation, present-day Illinois served as a keystone in trade and travel between the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes waterways to the Mississippi River-Gulf of Mexico waterways. It provided foodstuffs for French settlements as far away as Mobile, Alabama, and Haiti, and French influences entered the Illinois Country from Quebec, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, and France. Black slaves, for example, came into the Illinois Country via the Mississippi by 1720. The Great Lakes-Gulf of Mexico axis influenced early American history, reinforced heavily by sustained migration from the Upland South into southern and central Illinois. Illinois was not only the southernmost northern state geographically, but it was also the southernmost northern state in terms of culture, politics, and economic ties. Spats, quarrels, and even physical confrontations erupted between Illinoisans of Upland Southern extraction and Illinoisans from New England and elsewhere.

Contests over the state constitution, slavery, religion, and other matters flared after statehood in 1818, fueled by cultural differences in the evolving state. Only in the last two or three decades before the Civil War did the north-south axis yield in relative importance to the emerging Great Lakes-Atlantic Coast axis, an axis forged by such events as the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, the advent of Great Lakes shipping and major ports prior to the war, and the completion of rail links between Illinois and the East Coast during the 1850s. Powerful sentiments lingered, however, resulting in Abraham Lincoln’s losing most of southern and central Illinois in the elections of 1860 and 1864, including the counties in which he lived and practiced law prior to being elected President. In short, early Illinois reflected and shaped many of the forces and events that marked colonial, early national, and international history. 


The Seminar addressed some fundamental questions: 

  • What is the nature of a frontier? 
  • What were some essential features of the various frontiers in Illinois? 
  • How did people over the centuries interact with the natural environment, adapting to it and changing it? 
  • What roles did Indians play in the region before and during the frontier era? 
  • What motivated people to leave their homes? 
  • What motivated them to consider Illinois, come to Illinois, and settle here? 
  • How did they learn about Illinois, travel to Illinois, and actually settle? 
  • To what extent, for which reasons, and in which ways did they maintain ties with people and institutions they had known elsewhere? 
  • How did the various peoples who came to the frontier get along, and how did they resolve their differences? 
  • How did the frontier experience change people and change relationships among people? 
  • In which ways did the various peoples try to replicate conditions they had known elsewhere, and in which ways did they try to wipe the slate clean and start over? 
  • How prevalent was violence on the frontier, how did it manifest itself, and how was it curbed or channeled? 
  • What roles did the formation of new counties and county seats play? 
  • What “killed off” the frontier, and how was the death of the frontier in Illinois manifest? 
  • What are some good primary, contemporary, and secondary sources with which to study frontier Illinois? 
  • What are some profitable approaches and methods that facilitate understandings of frontier Illinois? 
  • What are some outstanding institutions and personnel who provide gateways to understandings?

The first week of the Seminar focused on significant physical features of the region around Illinois, Indian life in and around Illinois, French colonial life, and the “Middle Ground” created by exchanges between Indians and the French.

The second week stressed the transformation of early Illinois from Indian-French-British influences to American influences.

The third week examined pre-territorial, territorial, and early statehood years of Illinois, exploring the era’s key political, diplomatic, military, and constitutional issues. In the third week we attended sessions of the annual national conference of the Society of Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR) in nearby Springfield, a conference that focused on the life of Abraham Lincoln and the era in which he lived.

The fourth week highlighted many cultural, political, and technological post-statehood developments, providing an understanding of the powerful, mature, and emerging state on the eve of the Civil War.

The fifth week stressed the rapid conclusion of the frontier in Illinois and how its ending differed from the endings in nearby states, and participants presented their frontier units.

Off-campus visits graced the Seminar. Participants enjoyed a two-day trip to the “French Country” of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, and Fort Kaskaskia, the Pierre Menard Home, Fort de Chartres, Cahokia Mounds in Illinois, the Lewis & Clark Visitors Center, and related sites in Illinois. One-day trips will include travels to Lincoln’s New Salem, the Illinois State Museum, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and Illinois State Archives. Most sites show visitors worthwhile videos and feature bookstores. Personnel introduced each site, helped participants to understand the significance and opportunities for learning, and answered questions. The Illinois State Museum helped each participant take advantage of the institution’s fantastic learning center, a center devoted to helping teachers prepare useful materials for classroom use. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Illinois State Archives helped participants research early Illinois history and the history of surrounding regions. First-rate professional personnel and splendid learning opportunities awaited participants. We were able to linger at each site as time allowed for a week or more and not exhaust its learning opportunities.

Fifteen applicants were selected to participate in the five-week seminar, and those who were selected were participants during the five weeks they attended the Seminar. This Seminar keenly welcomed applications from school teachers, home school parents, librarians, and administrators in K-12 public, private, and parochial schools, and it eagerly encouraged applications from a wide range of disciplines.
   
Participants purchased and read relevant portions of Marilyn Klein and David Fogle, Clues to American Architecture, Don H. Doyle, The Social Order of a Frontier Community: Jacksonville, Illinois, 1825-1870, Helen Tanner, ed., Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History, Benjamin Thomas, Lincoln’s New Salem, and James Davis, Frontier Illinois, as well as a few articles. In addition, participants read portions of works from travel literature, works generated by visitors to the Lower Great Lakes region from the 1600s into the 1850s. These works are available in Schewe Library at Illinois College, which is open Monday through Thurday from 8:00am to 12:00am, Friday from 8:00am to 6:00pm, Saturday from 1:00pm to 5:00pm, and Sunday from 2:00pm to 12:00am, and the Jacksonville Public Library, which is about three-quarters of a mile from Illinois College which is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 to 9:00, Friday from 9:00 to 6:00, and Saturday from 9:00 to 5:00. Participants were designated as Visiting Scholars at Illinois College and had full campus privileges.      
   
Participants were active for parts of five days of the week. Seminar sessions met three days a week, and a fourth day per week involved off-campus visits. Participants also engaged in independent study, writing, presentation, and the creation of “frontier units” for use in the classroom. The fifth day, or parts of two or more days, offered a chance for participants to study in Schewe Library, read, write, and reflect. Some brief in-class, thought-provoking writing assignments preceded some class discussions. I was available for consultation and kept regular office hours. Participants had access to library facilities at Illinois College, nearby MacMurray College, and in Springfield, as well as access to the Internet, e-mail, and U.S. mail.     
    
Each participant received a $3,800 stipend, paid in two installments, one installment at the beginning of the Seminar and the other about two weeks later. From this stipend, each participant paid for housing (less than $550.00), meals, books, and transportation to and from the Summer Seminar. Participants were also able to earn in-service credit. 

Spouses were welcome to accompany participants and were welcome at such informal activities as receptions and extracurricular activities, but unless they were participants they were not able to take part in any formal seminar activities. Living together in close proximity enhanced intellectual and social cohesion, but Illinois College was willing to assist anyone wishing to find off-campus accommodations.
Participants lived in a recently constructed, air-conditioned dormitory on campus, Greene Hall. Greene is an interior hall, air-conditioned, suite style building. Each participant had a separate bedroom and shared a bathroom and a small study room that adjoins the two bedrooms. Greene Hall offers six free washers and eight free dryers. In the basement are a full kitchen, TV, vending machines, and pool table. Participants were able to prepare their own their lunches, dinners, late night snacks, etc., in the dorm’s kitchen. Every floor offers a study lounge area with a TV. An elevator serves the building.  
   
In addition, several fast-food restaurants and sit-down restaurants are located within half a mile from the dormitory for those wishing to purchase lunches and dinners there. They include authentic (more or less) Mexican and Chinese food, the “normal” fast-food places, a Perkins Restaurant, a Subway, and a couple of pizza places. For the more venturesome, some local restaurants await diners. Two or three watering holes are within a half a mile of the campus.  
   
Greene Hall, Schewe Library, my office in Kirby Classroom building, and classroom facilities are all located within less than a three-minute walk from each other. A modern athletic field is immediately diagonal from Greene Hall, and adjacent to it is the new Bruner Physical Fitness Center, which was available to Seminar participants.
   
Other recreational and cultural resources were within a mile. They include a YMCA, four movie screens in two theaters (six additional screens lie three miles south of the campus), the Public Library, live theater, the mansion of Governor Joseph Duncan (Governor of Illinois from 1834-1838), the Strawn Art Gallery, a variety of churches, a number of civic organization, and other attractions. MacMurray College is located about a mile and a half from Illinois College. The city and the region sport a number of golf courses. In addition, a number of museums, art galleries, theaters, shopping centers, institutions of higher learning, the State Capitol Complex, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and similar attractions are available in Springfield, some thirty miles by interstate to the east. On their own time, participants explored the attractions of St. Louis, Quincy, Alton, and other cities and towns, as well as sites associated with Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, Mark Twain, Vachel Lindsay, and other prominent individuals. Nearby small towns and the Illinois River Valley provided numerous scenic, historic, and other opportunities for learning. 

The neighborhood surrounding Illinois College is safe, quiet, pleasant to stroll through in mornings and evenings, and something of an architectural feast. It is chock-full of architectural styles that range from the late 1820s into the twenty-first century, including Queen Anne, octagonal, Greek Revival, colonial, Richardson Romanesque, second empire, Italianate, Gothic Revival, Whatnot, and other architectural styles. The Summer Seminar included an architectural tour of the neighborhood.   

                
James E. Davis
Director
NEH Summer Seminar, Illinois College

About the Director:
William and Charlotte Gardner Professor of History Department of History and Political Science

Education: Wayne State University, B.A. 1962; Wayne State University, M.A. 1966; University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Ph.D. 1971

Courses: U.S. History from 1848-1877; Historical Geography of North America; Seminar on Colonial/British History from 1774-1776; Senior Research Paper

Achievements: Recipient, Harry Joy Dunbaugh Distinguished Professor Award (1981,1993)

Research Interests: Civil War, geopolitics, theoretical geography

Professor James E. Davis may teach history but much of the reading material he assigns to students is current—with a copyright date of 2000 or later.

"When it comes to history, the significant conclusions one arrives at are almost always subject to revision," says Davis. "History is constantly changing for a variety of reasons and I spend every reasonable opportunity to refresh and update my readings and my scholarship. It's an endless feast of discovery."

Davis owes much of his interest in history to his father, an engineer who filled the family home in Dearborn, Mich. with books on history and political science. Every summer the family traveled to Civil War battlefields, national museums or national monuments.

"There's something humbling about standing on the same ground as your predecessors," Davis says. "You develop a sense of continuity and connection to those you've never known."

Davis began his career teaching history and English in junior and senior high schools in Dearborn. He taught for nine years before earning his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1971, the same year he joined Illinois College.

Davis first learned of Illinois College when he received a call from the president's office one afternoon while finishing graduate work in Ann Arbor.

"During my initial visit I was impressed with the campus but it was the students who won me over," Davis says. "There is an essential goodness to them. Their sincere desire to learn continually recharges me. Each morning I can hardly get to campus quickly enough."

Davis' teaching is not confined to the classroom. For more than 40 years, he has been taking students on study tours to such places as the former Soviet Union; Washington, D.C.; Israel and the West Bank; Turkey; and Civil War battlefields in Tennessee and Mississippi. He is a two-time recipient of the Harry Joy Dunbaugh Distinguished Professor Award, considered the highest honor bestowed upon an Illinois College faculty member.

Another benefit of teaching at Illinois College, Davis says, is the institution's close proximity to high quality libraries where he can conduct research with primary documents. He is the author of three books, Frontier America, Dreams to Dust and Frontier Illinois, and he is working on others. Much of his research is funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Davis also has directed Illinois College interns at the Illinois State Museum, the Illinois State Historical Library and the Illinois State Archives.

"I want my students to walk away with the kind of skills and confidence it takes to continue learning," Davis says. "I want them to be able to find sources, interpret them, come to logical conclusions and be able to defend themselves. In short, I want them to learn how to learn. These are valuable assets no matter what career path they choose; and these assets make life full and rich."