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| Image // (c) 2011 Tauck |
Tour operator Tauck has provided the Civil War Trust with a $25,000 grant to help fund the organization’s efforts to promote Civil War education in America’s classrooms. The nonprofit Civil War Trust works to preserve Civil War battlefields and enhance Civil War awareness through community outreach and education. The grant was made recently during Tauck’s sold-out, five-day Ken Burns Civil War Event in Washington, D.C.
Tauck signed an exclusive agreement with Burns last fall to develop travel experiences based on the themes of his films including “The Civil War,” and the grant is a natural outgrowth of that partnership, said Tauck CEO Dan Mahar.
“Our company and Ken were drawn to each other because we share a passion for telling America’s story – something Tauck has been doing since our first tour in 1925,” said Mahar. “We learned about the great work the Trust is doing through Ken, and we realized their efforts to perpetuate and promote the story of the Civil War through preservation and education are perfectly aligned with our own mission as cultural storytellers.”
Tauck’s grant will help underwrite the Trust’s “Teaching the Civil War” professional development seminar to be held in Boston this October. The seminar, one of several regional events being offered by the Trust this year, provides teachers with the knowledge and resources needed to effectively teach the Civil War to K-12 students. For the past 10 years, the Trust has also operated a national seminar that has drawn over 1,000 educators from across the country.
Civil War Trust President James Lighthizer voiced his appreciation for Tauck’s support, noting the 150th anniversary of the Civil War runs from 2011 through 2015. “With the addition of the Boston seminar that Tauck is supporting and others like it, we hope to reach and empower 1,600 educators over the course of the war’s sesquicentennial,” said Lighthizer. “During their careers, these teachers will in turn educate some 1.4 million students, and with Tauck’s help, we’ll provide those teachers and students with a rich understanding of the Civil War befitting its pivotal role in America’s history.”
Along with the recent Ken Burns Civil War Event in Washington, DC, Tauck has also worked with Burns to develop a new 11-day “Most Hallowed Ground” tour which traces several themes of the Civil War through the mid-Atlantic region. Among other locations, “Most Hallowed Ground” (from $3,890 per-person, double occupancy, plus air) explores sites connected to the Civil War including Washington, D.C., Gettysburg, Antietam, Harpers Ferry, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello home, Appomattox Court House, Petersburg and Richmond. The Civil War Trust’s Lighthizer and Garry Adelman, its Director of History and Education, are among a rotating roster of speakers who will address guests on Civil War-related issues over the course of the tour.
Tauck and Burns are also collaborating on travel experiences based on the themes of other Burns films, including an exclusive five-day event in New Orleans in October exploring the birth and evolution of jazz.
Visit www.tauck.com.