The Rochester Reform Trail: Women's Rights, Religion, and Abolition on the Genesee River and Erie Canal

FAIN: BH-250862-16

SUNY Research Foundation, College at Brockport (Brockport, NY 14420-2997)
Jose R. Torre (Project Director: February 2016 to February 2025)

Two one-week workshops for seventy-two schoolteachers on the iconic nineteenth-century reform landscape of Rochester, New York.

This workshop brings together teachers, public historians, and scholarly experts for two week long programs focusing on Rochester NY’s iconic 19th century technological, economic and reform landmarks. Through field trips, scholarly presentations, and seminar-style discussions, NEH summer scholars examine the complexities of American Reform as expressed in landmarks such as the Erie Canal, Broad Street Aqueduct, Susan B. Anthony House, Seneca Falls Women’s Rights National Historical Park, Mount Hope Cemetery, and others. Participants visit these sites while studying the writings of the men and women who made this a center for reform culture in antebellum America. The workshop will illuminate broader themes: the economic and technological changes that shaped the mindset, worldviews, and everyday experiences of 19th century American reformers; the role religion played in expanding reform movements; and the impact of African Americans and women on pre- and post-Civil War reform culture.