*This blog is the third in a series by Sarah Sharp, Global Educator for World Heritage Philadelphia.

HSP has just launched a whole new lesson plan section and a virtual lecture series on its website, by-products of the 2015 Cultures of Independence teacher workshop.  Funded primarily by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the workshop’s foundational philosophy was that study of local landmarks provides entrée into national historical and cultural movements. 

Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, HSP spearheaded a weeklong teacher institute about Independence Hall as a landmark for teaching U.S. history – and not just July 4, 1776.  That holiday, which we are celebrating now, may be the moment most people associate with the Hall, but the principles embodied in the Declaration signed there permeated events for the next 200 years.