Interpreting The Sweep of History Through Immersive Fieldwork
On an impossibly bright, sunny afternoon in May, UVA School of Continuing and Professional Studies professor David Corlett leads students from his Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies course American History through Public History across the narrow stretch of VA SR-156 just north of the Garthright House parking lot.
Visibility is great, and the few vehicles on the road do so at a measured clip, but as the class ambles along the shoulder of the route in preparation to cross, Professor Corlett deadpans, “You know, for these onsite days, I have one major rule: if you get hit by a car, you get an F.”
And the destination that causes them to risk life, limb and the potential for a bad grade? Cold Harbor National Cemetery, which from the outside more resembles a modest country home than the final resting place of over 2,000 American soldiers. If you didn’t know what to look for, you might miss it.
Letting the Landscape Guide the Lesson Plan
It’s that sense of discovery that Professor Corlett’s Maymester course hopes to instill. Returning to these historic sites is a homecoming for Corlett. He first developed the curriculum in partnership with Professor Jim Whittenburg at the College of William & Mary when both were working within the National Institute of American History and Democracy. With a strict focus on public history, the program incorporated museum studies, archaeology and active site visits. After launching a colonial history version in 1998 and an antebellum history track in 2005, Corlett taught the immersive course multiple times a year through 2016.
"Returning to my old haunts ten years later has been a real joy," he says.
That joy translates directly into the curriculum. While modern higher education increasingly emphasizes experiential learning, often framing it strictly as applied, work-focused training, Corlett views his onsite instruction as a vital precursor. By removing students from the online classroom space, he strips away abstract theories and places learners directly in the very spaces where historical figures negotiated power.
"Imagine having a theoretical discussion in the classroom about hierarchy of space and how this played into social and power relationships," Corlett notes. "Sort of dry and abstract. Having that same conversation in the places that real people negotiated allows you to understand, to use your imagination to inhabit that space. Nothing can replace that experience."
There’s an almost visceral sense of association in the field. When you’re swatting away mosquitoes and sweating along through the hillside below Gaines Mill Battlefield, it becomes very easy to identify with what soldiers were going through as they fought - and died - at that same spot during the Civil War.
Sparking Spontaneous Insights on 19th-Century Frontlines
Gazing out over the expanses of Malvern Hill, you feel a shiver of the bloody final assault that Union General George B. McClellan fought against his Confederate counterpart Robert E. Lee in the Civil War’s Seven Days Battles. Only the occasional airplane gliding in for a landing at Richmond International Airport betrays this feeling of traveling far back in time.
For Corlett, the physical environment dictates the pedagogy. Beginning with his days as a graduate teaching assistant in 1999, he has embraced "opportunity teaching": that is, discussing whatever organically arises within a specific historical space rather than sticking to a rigid syllabus.
"I found the freedom of open discussion and the informality allowed for a more open exchange," he explains. "I am visually and physically oriented in my own learning and try to replicate that in a virtual sense as much as possible. This beats the Las Vegas Sphere and 4-D theater."
That informal, open exchange consistently yields unscripted revelations. For example, a visit to Chimborazo Medical Hospital in Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood becomes the stage for a student lecture as, unprovoked, class member Tom Scagnelli delivers a substantive and impromptu oral report on Civil War-era surgery and anesthesia practices.
“I’ve always been a student of history,” remarks Tom. “And so for me, getting to spend this time with the class was a privilege. It wasn’t easy – I had to travel and make time away from home. But it was completely worth it.”
Forging Class Community on the Highway
Facilitating these moments requires intense logistical commitment. Over ten days, the class clocked roughly 2,000 miles on the road. Yet Corlett uses this windshield time as an asset rather than a burden.
"The upside is that we develop a wonderful connection and level of familiarity that doesn’t occur in other instances," he says. "Beyond a learning experience, this is a great opportunity to build community."
Looking ahead, the future of Maymester opportunities remain in active development. The immersive format demands significant time away from professional responsibilities, a steep hurdle for adult learners balancing full-time careers.
"Most folks cannot take two weeks off from work and other responsibilities, so we may need to rethink how my course could work spread over a full semester," Corlett says.
In recognizing the challenge a two-week class presents to most adult learners, the School is seeking ways to draw the best from what Corlett’s class offers while delivering it in additional ways that make it more accessible to more cohorts of busy professionals looking to trade their screens for the Virginia soil, swatting mosquitoes, walking the battlefields and discovering history exactly where it happened.
